JP2012231728A - Method for producing crouton - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide croutons of good texture and taste, sustainable in crisp texture even in food/beverages of high water content, keeping bread-inherent taste as well, and also causing no offensive sense-of-taste change of food/beverages after being incorporated therein.SOLUTION: A method for producing croutons is provided, including: baking bread dough followed by making a chopping and drying, wherein the outside of the resulting baked bread is loaded with one or more kinds of pregelatinized starch flour selected from the group consisting of pregelatinized hydroxypropyl starch, pregelatinized acetic starch, pregelatinized hydroxypropylated crosslinked starch and pregelatinized acetylated crosslinked starch; thereby the objective croutons are produced, with crisp texture and bread taste kept therein. The croutons thus produced, especially with good texture and taste, are sustainable in crisp texture even in food/beverages of high water content, keeping bread-inherent taste as well without any limitations on bread dough incorporation, also causing no offensive sense-of-taste change of food/beverages after incorporated therein.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing croutons having low water absorption and capable of maintaining a crunchy texture even in foods and drinks with high water content such as soups, and in particular, croutons produced by baking bread dough, chopping and drying In this production method, by attaching a specific pregelatinized starch to the outside of the baked bread, the crispy texture can be maintained even in watery foods and drinks, and the original taste of the bread is maintained. In addition, in the addition and blending of croutons to foods and drinks, the production method of croutons excellent in texture and taste, which does not cause a different taste change in the foods and drinks, the croutons obtained by the method, and the It relates to food and drink using croutons.

  A crouton is a food material used for topping materials such as soup floats, salads, and gratin, and has a crunchy texture. However, when used in foods and drinks containing a relatively large amount of water such as soups and salads, there is a drawback that the crispy texture is lost due to the penetration of water into the croutons.

  Therefore, various methods have been proposed in the past for the purpose of solving this problem. For example, a method of adding corn flour to bread dough to obtain croutons with fine pores (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 49-101555), a method of blending room temperature solid fat into bread dough (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 54-92648) A method of forming a thick film structure by mixing a certain amount of fats and oils (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-179939), adding transglutaminase to bread dough, allowing it to act, and then performing a heat treatment to obtain the necessary hardness for croutons. A method of changing the blending of bread dough itself, which is a raw material for croutons, and the processing of the dough, such as a method for imparting a crunchy texture (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-327584) is disclosed. However, although these methods give a certain water absorption suppression effect, it cannot be said that the penetration of moisture from the food and drink they come into contact with is sufficiently suppressed, and it is necessary to change the structure of the bread dough itself. Since the texture is hardened as described above, there is a problem that the crunchy light texture that croutons should have is impaired.

  As another method, the surface of the unoiled croutons is coated with solid fat to prevent water supply (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 255035/1990), the bread containing corn starch is dried, then the solid fat or pregelatinized Coating with a starch solution and further immobilizing the powdered starch, thereby reducing the water absorption of the water inside the croutons and maintaining a crunchy texture for a long time (JP 2002-51692 A), A first starch powder comprising an amylopectin content of 90-100% amylopectin and a cross-linked starch, and a pregelatinized starch or cross-linkage having amylopectin content of 90-100%. A method in which the second starch powder made of starch is attached in two stages to make the adhesion of the starch uniform, and to maintain the crispness even more (JP-A-200) -67647 JP) or the like, a method of performing coating on the surface of the croutons are proposed.

  However, these coating methods using solid fats and oils inevitably affect the taste of croutons due to fats and oils, making it difficult for croutons to retain the original taste of bread, and the presence of fats and oils is undesirable. For example, in soups, there is a problem that by dissolving the fats and oils in the soup, the taste of the soup is affected, and the food and drink using croutons are undesirably affected. In addition, the use of fats and oils leads to an increase in calories and ingestion of trans fatty acids, which has been regarded as a problem in recent years. In addition to this problem, there is a problem that the hurdles for practical use are high that the manufacturing process becomes very complicated.

JP-A 49-101555. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 54-92648. JP-A-1-179639. JP-A-2-255035. JP 2002-51692 A. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-327584. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-67647.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a crouton that has a low water absorption and can maintain a crunchy texture in a food and drink with a high amount of water such as soups. It can maintain the feeling of taste, and also keeps the original taste of bread without restricting the composition of the dough. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing croutons that do not wake up and have excellent texture and taste, croutons obtained by the methods, and foods and drinks using the croutons.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventor maintains a crispy texture in a food and drink with a lot of water such as soup, maintains the original taste of bread, and adds croutons to food and drink. In the process of earnestly studying the production method of croutons with excellent texture and taste that does not cause unusual taste changes in foods and drinks, a specific pregelatinized starch powder is attached to the outside of shredded bread and dried. This is a very simple method that allows you to maintain a crunchy texture even in high-moisture foods and drinks, keep the original taste of bread without restricting the composition of bread dough, It has been found that croutons that are particularly excellent in texture and taste can be produced without causing a different taste change in foods and drinks in the addition and blending of products, and the present invention has been completed.

  That is, the present invention relates to a method for producing croutons in which bread dough is baked, chopped and dried, and on the outside of the baked bread, α-hydroxypropyl starch, α-acetic acid starch, α-hydroxypropylated cross-linked starch It comprises a method for producing a crouton having a crunchy texture and bread taste by attaching one or more kinds of pregelatinized starch powder selected from the group consisting of pregelatinized acetylated crosslinked starch. According to the method of the present invention, croutons having particularly excellent texture and taste can be produced by a very simple method of attaching a specific pregelatinized starch to the outside of bread and drying it.

  In the method for producing croutons of the present invention, it is preferable that the pregelatinized starch powder adheres to the outside of the bread after the baked bread is shredded. In the crouton production method of the present invention, the amount of pregelatinized starch on the outside of the bread may be in the range of 1 to 60 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the crouton after baking the dough and before drying. preferable. The present invention includes the invention of croutons themselves that retain the crunchy texture and bread taste produced by the crouton production method of the present invention. Moreover, this invention includes invention of the food-drinks itself which added and / or mix | blended the crouton manufactured by the manufacturing method of the crouton of this invention.

  That is, the present invention specifically relates to (1) a crouton production method in which bread dough is baked, chopped and dried to produce α-hydroxypropyl starch, α-acetate starch, One or more kinds of pre-gelatinized starch powder selected from the group consisting of pregelatinized hydroxypropylated cross-linked starch and pregelatinized acetylated cross-linked starch is attached, and the crunchy texture and bread taste are maintained. The crunchy texture and bread taste as described in (1) above, wherein the crouton production method and (2) the pre-gelatinized starch powder are attached to the outside of the bread after cutting the baked bread And (3) the adhesion amount of the pregelatinized starch powder to the outside of the bread is in the range of 1 to 60 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the crouton before drying after baking the bread dough. The above characterized in that there is Produced by a crouton production method that maintains the crunchy texture and bread taste of 1) or (2), or (4) the crouton production method of any one of (1) to (3) above It consists of croutons that maintain a crisp texture and bread taste.

  The present invention can maintain a crispy texture for a long time even in watery foods and drinks by a very simple method of adhering a specific pregelatinized starch powder to the outside of the shredded bread and drying it. The original taste of bread is maintained without any restrictions on the blending of the croutons, and the addition and blending of croutons to foods and drinks does not cause any unusual taste changes in the foods and drinks. Provide croutons. The croutons of the present invention can be used in various foods and drinks to provide foods and drinks containing croutons that make use of the original taste of the food and drinks.

  In other words, conventionally, as a technique for improving the water absorption of croutons, which is the above-mentioned problem, the recipe itself of the dough as a raw material is changed, or the bread that has been baked and shredded is coated with an oil or a liquid coating agent. Was always. However, according to the present invention, when producing croutons that can maintain a crunchy texture for a long time, (1) it is not necessary to change the blending and manufacturing method of bread dough in order to solve the problem, so the ingredients and manufacturing method of bread dough are limited. (2) No need for oils and fats to solve the problem, so the health image is good. (3) Since the liquid coating agent (pregelatinized starch solution) is not used, the chance of contamination by microorganisms is reduced. (4) Coating operation It is possible to simultaneously enjoy the multiple merits of improving the economy because a complicated process such as repeating the above is unnecessary, together with the effect of maintaining a crisp feeling for a long time.

  The present invention relates to a crouton production method in which bread dough is baked, then chopped and dried, and on the outside of the baked bread, α-hydroxypropyl starch, α-acetic acid starch, α-hydroxypropylated cross-linked starch, α By attaching one or more kinds of pregelatinized starch powder selected from the group consisting of acetylated cross-linked starch, a crouton having a crunchy texture and bread taste is produced.

  The “cruton” in the present invention refers to a product obtained by manufacturing bread, etc., chopped and dried according to a conventional method. In addition, "bread" here is not limited to commonly used bread, but also bread made with fermentation, such as French bread, roll bread, croissant, Danish, yeast donut, pizza, biscuits, Also included are non-fermented confectioneries such as butter cake, sponge cake, steamed cake, buns, busses and cake donuts.

  The dough raw material such as bread is not particularly limited as long as it is a component that can be used for ordinary bread dough, and any material can be used. For example, in addition to the main ingredients such as wheat flour, salt, water, yeast, flour such as rice flour, rye flour, whole grain flour, wheat bran, corn flour, shortening, margarine, fat spread, butter, lard, salad oil, olive oil, powdered oil, Fats and oils such as emulsified oils, eggs such as whole egg, egg yolk, egg white, dried egg white, dried egg yolk, dried whole egg, sweetened egg yolk, sweetener, starch, processed starch, thickening stabilizer, colorant, antioxidant , Dextrin, casein, whey, cream, skim milk powder, fermented milk, cow milk, whole milk powder, yogurt, condensed milk, whole fat condensed milk, skimmed condensed milk, concentrated milk, and other dairy products, natural cheese, processed cheese, gouda cheese, cheddar Cheese and other cheeses, alcohols, glycerin fatty acid ester / glycerin acetic acid fatty acid ester / glycerin lactic acid Fatty acid ester, glycerin succinic acid fatty acid ester, glycerin diacetyl tartaric acid fatty acid ester, sorbitan fatty acid ester, sucrose fatty acid ester, sucrose acetic acid isobutyric acid ester, polyglycerin fatty acid ester, polyglycerin condensed ricinoleic acid ester, propylene glycol ester, stearoyl lactic acid Emulsifiers such as calcium, sodium stearoyl lactate, polyoxyethylene sorbitan monoglyceride, egg yolk lecithin, soybean lecithin, swelling agents, inorganic salts, baking powder, yeast food, dough improving agents, cacao and cacao products such as chocolate chips, coffee and coffee products , Herbs, beans, plant proteins such as wheat protein and soy protein, preservatives, bitters, acidulants, pH adjusters, shelf life improvers, fruits, seasonings, spices, incense , Foods such as vegetables, meat, fish and shellfish material, plant and animal extracts, such as consomme, bouillon, food additives, and the like. These components can be arbitrarily used as long as the object of the present invention is not impaired.

  In the present invention, the step of “drying” the shredded bread may be drying with hot oil in addition to heat drying with hot air or the like.

  As starch used as a raw material for hydroxypropyl starch, acetate starch, hydroxypropylated crosslinked starch, acetylated crosslinked starch in the present invention, potato starch, waxy potato starch, sweet potato starch, tapioca starch, waxyta pioca starch, corn starch, waxy corn starch, High amylose corn starch, sago starch, wheat starch, waxy wheat starch, rice starch, glutinous rice starch, bean starch, and other natural starches, as well as roasting, wet heat, enzymatic reaction and hypochlorous acid Examples include starch that has been subjected to bleaching treatment or oxidation treatment with sodium or the like, and of these, two or more types can be mixed and used without being limited to one type. In addition, when carrying out an oxidation process, it is prescribed | regulated that the carboxy group of starch shall be 1.1% or less by the prescription | regulation of the present food additive.

  The hydroxypropyl starch, acetate starch, hydroxypropylated cross-linked starch, and acetylated cross-linked starch in the present invention are one or two of chemical treatments of hydroxypropylation, acetylation, and cross-linking with respect to the starch as the raw material. It is obtained by applying a seed treatment.

  Of the above, hydroxypropyl starch or starch acetate is obtained by reacting an etherifying agent or an esterifying agent with the starch as the raw material. Specific examples of the etherifying agent include propylene oxide, and examples of the esterifying agent include acetic anhydride, vinyl acetate, octenyl succinic anhydride, orthophosphoric acid, potassium orthophosphate, sodium orthophosphate, and sodium tripolyphosphate.

  Hydroxypropylated cross-linked starch and acetylated cross-linked starch can be obtained by reacting the cross-linking agent with the above raw material starch, hydroxypropyl starch or acetic acid starch together with or separately from the esterifying agent and etherifying agent. In this case, examples of the crosslinking agent include sodium trimetaphosphate and phosphorus oxychloride, and when acetic anhydride is used as the esterifying agent, adipic acid can be used.

  The hydroxypropyl starch, acetate starch, hydroxypropylated cross-linked starch, and acetylated cross-linked starch obtained as described above are suspended in water to form a slurry in accordance with a conventional method, and a drum dryer, an extruder, or a spray dryer. By the heat treatment using, etc., powders of pregelatinized hydroxypropyl starch, pregelatinized acetic acid starch, pregelatinized hydroxypropylated cross-linked starch, pregelatinized acetylated cross-linked starch used in the present invention are finally obtained.

  In the present invention, in the above-mentioned pregelatinized starch attached to the outside of shredded bread, when the starch immediately before the pregelatinization is subjected to hydroxypropylation or acetylation, the resulting croutons have high water absorption. The inhibitory effect is exhibited, and when the crosslinking treatment is simultaneously performed in addition to the hydroxypropylation or acetylation treatment, a higher water absorption inhibition effect is exhibited. Among them, the degree of substitution (the number of hydroxypropyl groups or acetyl groups added per anhydroglucose residue of starch, which may be described as DS, which is an abbreviation of Degree of Substitution) is 0.09 or more, and When the cold water swelling degree is 40-80, a very high water absorption suppression effect is seen.

  The “cold water swelling degree” of the above-mentioned pregelatinized starch referred to in the present invention is measured according to the following method: 2 g of pregelatinized starch sample is uniformly dispersed in 100 ml of water and poured into a 100 ml graduated cylinder. The value which left still for a time and read the volume of the precipitation layer of starch is made into cold water swelling degree. That is, the maximum value of the degree of cold water swelling is 100.

  The method of adhering the starch of the present invention to the bread may be any method as long as it can adhere as uniformly as possible to the outside of the bread, for example, sprinkling while stirring the bread in a container or moving on a belt conveyor. There is a method of spraying. Further, the attaching step may be before or after chopping the bread, and may be performed before the drying step or at the same time as the drying step. However, in order to adhere starch to the entire surface of the croutons, it is preferable to carry out after shredding.

  The amount of starch to be attached to the croutons is not particularly specified, but if it is attached within the range of 1 to 60 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the croutons before drying obtained by baking bread dough, the desired amount The effect of can be obtained.

  In this invention, the 1 type (s) or 2 or more types of starch mentioned above can be used. After attaching the starch, it can also be coated with fats and oils, etc., but it is preferable to avoid it if you are concerned about calorie reduction or health image, or if you are concerned about the taste change of food and drink due to leaching of the coating agent .

  The croutons of the present invention thus obtained can maintain a crisp feeling for a longer time than conventional croutons in foods and drinks such as soups and salads.

  EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to the examples.

[Preparation of croutons before drying]
The pre-drying croutons used in the following examples were prepared according to the bread composition and process shown in Table 1.

  The bread obtained by the blending and process of Table 1 was chopped into 2 cm × 2 cm × 1 cm cuboids to obtain pre-drying croutons.

[Production of starch-attached croutons]
100 parts by mass of the croutons before drying and the starches shown in Table 2, that is, 50 parts by mass of each of the starches of Samples 1 to 15 and Comparative Sample 1, are placed in a vinyl bag and shaken, whereby various starches are applied to the surface of the croutons before drying. It was made to adhere evenly and dried in a convection oven at 130 ° C. for 14 minutes to obtain the croutons of Examples 1 to 15 and Comparative Example 1. The obtained croutons were increased in the range of about 20 ± 5% by mass due to starch adhesion. As a control, a crouton that was dried without attaching starch was prepared.

[Preparation of various starches]
In order to obtain various starch samples shown in Table 2 above, the following reactions were performed.

(1) For Samples 4, 6, 9-12 and Comparative Sample 1, the following reactions were performed:
Add 100 parts by mass of each starch as raw material to 120 parts by mass of water in which 20 parts by mass of sodium sulfate has been dissolved, and add propylene oxide and sodium trimetaphosphate as appropriate while stirring to maintain a pH of around 11 with caustic soda. (However, for sample 4, sodium trimetaphosphate was not added), reacted at 41 degrees for 20 hours, neutralized with sulfuric acid, washed with water, then gelatinized with a drum dryer and ground (except for comparative sample 1, α By pulverizing without conversion), the pregelatinized hydroxypropyl starch of Sample 4, the pregelatinized hydroxypropylated crosslinked starch of Samples 6 and 9-12, and the hydroxypropylated crosslinked starch of Comparative Sample 1 were obtained, respectively. It was.

(2) For samples 7 and 8, the following reaction was performed:
After adding 100 parts by mass of each starch as a raw material to 120 parts by mass of water to make a slurry, while maintaining pH at around 11 with caustic soda, sodium trimetaphosphate was appropriately added and reacted at 40 degrees for 5 hours, The solution was adjusted to pH 9.5 with sulfuric acid and cooled to 25 ° C. Subsequently, acetic anhydride was added as appropriate for acetylation, neutralized with sulfuric acid, washed with water, gelatinized with a drum dryer, and pulverized to obtain α-acetylated crosslinked starch of Samples 7 and 8.

(3) The pregelatinized starch starch of Sample 5 was obtained as follows:
It is obtained by adding 100 parts by mass of raw material starch to 120 parts by mass of water to form a slurry, adding an appropriate amount of acetic anhydride with stirring, acetylating, neutralizing with sulfuric acid, washing with water, then converting to α with a drum dryer, and pulverizing. It was.

(4) Sample 13 was obtained as follows:
Add 100 parts by weight of raw material starch to 120 parts by weight of water to make a slurry, add sodium trimetaphosphate with stirring while maintaining pH at around 11 with caustic soda, react at 40 degrees for 5 hours, It was obtained by adjusting the pH to 9.5, cooling to 25 ° C., neutralizing with sulfuric acid, washing with water, then converting to α and pulverizing with a drum dryer.

  The pre-gelatinized starches of Samples 1 to 3 and 14 to 15 were obtained by adding 100 parts by mass of each raw material starch to 100 parts by mass of water to form a slurry, which was gelatinized with a drum dryer and then pulverized.

[Evaluation]
Instant cup soup (made by Ajinomoto Co., Inc., trade name “Kunol (registered trademark)) prepared by melting 4 croutons obtained by applying each sample in Table 2 above by the method as described above with the amount of hot water as described in the product description. Cup soup, corn cream ") Each was put into one cup and stirred with a spoon for 3 minutes, and then a sensory test was conducted. The sensory test was performed by 10 panelists (6 males and 4 females), and was evaluated in 5 stages. The scores of all panelists were summed and averaged. The evaluation criteria at that time are shown in Table 3, and the evaluation results are shown in Table 4. In Table 4, the example numbers in the “Test Section Name” column correspond to the sample numbers in Table 2, and the control is a test section where starch is not adhered.
Note that the evaluation was not relative evaluation with other samples but absolute evaluation according to the evaluation criteria shown in Table 3. When the average score of all panelists is 4.5 or more, “very good” (◎), when 3.3 or more, “good” (◯) when 2.0 or more, “Yes” When (△), less than 2.0, it was determined as impossible (×).

  From the above results, in order to obtain croutons that can maintain a crisp feeling, starch pregelatinization is the most important, but specific chemical treatment is more important, and crosslinking, acetylation or propylation, acetylation It was found that the crispness improved in the order of cross-linking or propylation cross-linking.

The present invention can maintain a crispy texture for a long time even in watery foods and drinks by a very simple method of adhering a specific pregelatinized starch powder to the outside of the shredded bread and drying it. The original taste of bread is maintained without any restrictions on the blending of the croutons, and the addition and blending of croutons to foods and drinks does not cause any unusual taste changes in the foods and drinks. Provide croutons. The croutons of the present invention can be used in various foods and drinks to provide foods and drinks containing croutons that make use of the original taste of the food and drinks.

Claims (4)

  In the production method of croutons, which is produced by chopping and drying bread dough after baking, α-hydroxypropyl starch, α-acetate starch, α-hydroxypropylated cross-linked starch, and α-acetylated outside the baked bread A method for producing croutons having a crunchy texture and bread taste, wherein one or more pregelatinized starch powders selected from the group consisting of crosslinked starches are adhered.   The method for producing croutons having a crunchy texture and bread taste according to claim 1, wherein the pregelatinized starch powder is adhered to the outside of the bread after the baked bread is shredded.   The amount of adhesion of the pregelatinized starch powder to the outside of bread is in the range of 1 to 60 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of croutons after baking of bread dough before drying. A method for producing croutons with a crunchy texture and bread taste. A crouton that retains the crunchy texture and bread taste produced by the crouton production method according to claim 1.