MXPA01004497A - Method for preparing bakery goods having edible particles on a top surface and bakery goods prepared thereby - Google Patents

Abstract

A method is disclosed for preparing bakery goods having a plurality of edible particles on a top surface having substantially one hundred percent show and a home-made appearance. Also disclosed are novel baked goods prepared by the method and a novel cookie dough that has a transverse dimensional spread of at least 1.75 times after baking.

Description

METHOD FOR PREPARING BAKERY PRODUCTS AND BAKERY PRODUCTS PREPARED FROM THIS BAKERY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for making bakery products that show a high degree of visibility of edible particles. The method of this invention maximizes the visibility of edible particles in the surface portion of bakery products and provides a means to mass produce a product that has a desirable appearance as home-made. The invention also relates to bakery products and to the dough from which they are made.

Related Prior Art Bakery products, such as biscuits, biscuits, chocolate and nut biscuits and the like, were all made by hand until the early 19th century. From this time, in Europe and the United States, new varieties were born and commerce was rapidly developed. In the United States, an important result of the first trade, sweet bread is a relatively mature cookie and sweet bread industry. Modern cookies have innumerable shapes, from relatively soft, moist cookies, short-life biscuits to relatively hard, dry cookies that remain edible for relatively long periods of time. Other forms include cookies that have a frosting or filling, and biscuits with inclusions such as pieces of chocolate or nut. There are substantial differences between the homemade bakery product and the machine baked bakery product. In general, the texture of the homemade product is less homogeneous than the texture of the machine-made biscuit. When inclusions such as edible particles described are present, the inclusions are more evenly distributed in a machine-made cookie than in a homemade cookie. When the edible particles are distributed on the surface of the cookie, its distribution is more unequal to the homemade cookie. Such homogeneity of machine-made biscuits is generally the result of: (i) the large batches of material that are generally used and that require more mixing, (ii) the larger machinery that blends more fully and (iii) the high speeds at which work the mechanized processes for efficiency. Many types of homemade baked goods are generally characterized by non-uniform, random topography. The topography results from the hand molding of the dough in a desired shape prior to baking. Food product prepared at home may also contain small pieces of edible particles such as inclusions or edible particles may be placed on the surface of the food product. Examples of such particles include chocolate pieces, caramel pieces, pieces of nuts, pieces of fruit such as raisins, and sugar-coated sweets such as M &M® chocolate chips or Reeses Pieces®. The inclusion particles can be distributed throughout the bakery product. However, the inclusion particles have a greater degree of visibility when the particles are on the surface of the baked food product. In this way, the inclusion particles are often distributed over the top of the products baked at home prior to baking. In contrast, as already discussed, baked goods made commercially in general have a uniform topography due to the automated processes that are employed. As a result of large-scale speed and performance considerations, most of the high-speed manufacturing methods for making baked food products such as chocolate chip cookies, which contain inclusion particles, are commonly prepared by mixing the inclusion particles in the cookie dough. A continuous process is used to form a string of dough that has the particles randomly distributed within the cookie dough. The cookie dough is then cut into individual pieces, that is, dough preforms, using a cutter wire. The dough preforms are baked to form the cookie that contains the particles. A major disadvantage, however, is that most small particles are contained within the cookie and are not visible on the outer surface of the cookie. Surveys found that consumers generally prefer a food product that prominently displays edible particles compared to a product that has included particles that are less visible. In addition, this lack of "demonstration" in baked food products is economically disadvantageous since edible particles are generally a more expensive component than dough. Accordingly, processes to increase the visibility of particle inclusions on the surface of food products are highly desirable. An example of a method for improving the display of inclusion particles is described in U.S. Patent No. 4,643,904. This patent discloses a method for increasing the visibility of edible material in baked goods by continuously penetrating a mass, moving cord containing distributed food particles, with pins or some disc media that mesh and move a portion of randomly distributed particles transversely. through a preselected peripheral area of the continuously moving dough cord corresponding to a preselected surface of the baked goods. However, this method does not lead in a 100% display. In addition, dough containing large or hard edible particles is difficult to cut with wire. Current methods for producing baked goods employing a wire-cutting process to form dough preforms disadvantageously lead to the inclusion of only small food particles in the dough. Larger food particles will often cause the cutting wire to break or the particles may be forced by the wire to leave the mass as it passes through the mass of the extruder nozzle. This results in a waste of food particles and in some cases the complete interruption of the production process to fix the broken wire. In addition, large particles can prevent the wire from cutting the dough all the way through, causing random separation of portions of dough pieces. Also, when the wire encounters relatively large particles, the wire can cause excessive lateral movement of a given mass piece or non-uniform lateral movement of a given mass piece to the dough piece. The random displacement of the separated dough pieces results in a non-uniform arrangement of the dough pieces in the conveyor belt or on the web in which the dough pieces are deposited. The uneven arrangement of the dough pieces can lead to problems of transferring the dough pieces with respect to other bands or to a non-uniform baking of the pieces. One way to avoid the use of a cutter wire is described in U.S. Patent No. 4,741,916. This patent describes a method and apparatus for producing individual dough pieces or of substantially constant shape and size by the passage of a continuous dough cord between a pair of reciprocating cutting elements in the horizontal direction. The use of the cutting apparatus does not provide a method for improving the display of edible particles and it is doubtful that it will be a mass success that contains large particles. The use of a cutter wire is also avoided in U.S. Patent No. 5,104,667 which describes the preparation of a preformed cookie of a continuous dough cord through the use of mechanical fingers. The resulting cookies mentioned above have a highly veined topography. Although it is claimed that the visibility of the inclusions can be improved, this method does not offer a hundred percent visibility. In addition, the fingers can damage certain inclusions. A potential solution for increasing the visibility of the edible particles in a baked food product would be to distribute additional pieces of the edible particles on the outer surface of the dough preform prior to baking the preform. Such an attempt is described in U.S. Patent No. 4,643,084, which describes a cookie making machine in which dough is extruded from a cylinder and deposited on a conveyor belt. The machine sprinkles particulate material on the conveyor belt for application on the bottom of the cookie and sprinkles on the same cookies. However, depending on the thickness of the outer surface of the preforms, it is quite likely that much of the particulate material could fall, before or during the baking step. Consequently, such methods in general are not commercially feasible without a dough formulation developed specifically for the required thickness and which maintains good cooking and other processing properties. In addition, U.S. Patent No. 4,643,084 forms the figure of the cookie with cutting knives after the dough has been deposited. This cut in bulk makes it difficult to get the look done at home. There are certain limitations inherent in the known mass formulas and the methods by which they are prepared. Known masses are limited, for example, in the "extension" that is reached when the raw dough is baked. The maximum attainable extent in common masses for known biscuits, is believed to be approximately 15%. That is, in the example of a round cookie, the maximum achievable ratio of the diameter of the cooked cookie to the diameter of the raw dough preform is 1.5 to 1. Such limitations of known doughs impose undesirable restrictions on products that can be manufactured from the masses. For example, the amount of dough required to produce a cookie of a desired diameter is greater than would be the case with a dough that shows a greater "extension". The greater amount of mass required by the limitations of the known masses presents an obstacle hitherto insurmountable in the further reduction of the cost to produce a cookie of any given diameter. In another aspect, the achievable extension ratio of the known masses orders that for a given mass diameter, a cookie should have a thickness that can not be further reduced without any additional process step to flatten the preform. A method for overcoming the problems described above would be very favorable and providing a bakery product that looks like home-made and edible particles that have maximum visibility would be highly desirable.

COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION The present invention is related to a high-speed processing method for producing various types of bakery food products or products that show a high degree of visibility of edible particles, ie, the edible particles are easily visible by inspection casual of the outer surface of the products. The high-speed brewing method also provides a bakery food product with a desirable B-baked appearance at home. For example, the edible particles appear to have been placed hand in the dough of baking. As used herein, the bakery food product or products include baked goods and preforms that can be subsequently baked, for example, at home by the consumer. The preforms can be partially baked or unbaked can be fresh or frozen. In particular, one embodiment of this invention is directed to a method of preparing a bakery product having a plurality of edible particles on top of said bakery product.

The bakery method comprises the steps of: (i) forming a dough portion of a raw dough for baking; (ii) depositing the dough portion on a conveyor surface having edible particles 20 disposed thereon so that the plurality of edible particles is incorporated into a surface of the dough portion; (iii) inverting the dough portion so that the incorporated edible particles are on an upper surface of the dough portion; and (iv) optionally, baking the dough portion to form a baked product with a plurality of edible particles on the upper surface.

Another embodiment of this invention is directed to the bakery product prepared by the method already described. Preferably, the bakery product of this invention is a baked product and more preferably a cookie. Yet another embodiment of this invention is directed to a cookie dough comprising a mixture of: (a) fat in an amount of about 15 to about 20% by weight of the dough, wherein the fat is selected from the group consisting of in: edible vegetable fat, margarine, butter and mixtures thereof; (b) sugar in an amount from about 20 to 35% by weight of the dough, wherein the sugar is selected from the group consisting of: sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose and mixtures thereof; (c) flour in an amount of about 30 to 40% by weight of the dough; (d) egg or egg substitute in an amount from about 0 to about 10% by weight of the dough; (e) ammonium bicarbonate from about 0.1 to about 1.5% by weight of the mass; and (f) salt in an amount from about 0.25 to about 0.6% by weight of the dough. Of particular importance is that the baked goods prepared with the dough described above have an improved "extension", ie, the final dimension in a transverse direction of the baked product, for example, the diameter of a cookie is at least 1.75 times more larger than an initial dimension in the transverse direction of the raw dough portion. The extension associated with the dough of this invention helps to provide a commercially produced bulk baked product having edible particles on the surface thereof which appear to have been placed by hand. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The drawings do not imply any limitation of the scope of the invention and minor variations in the placement and detailed design of the features described herein are considered within the point of view of this invention. Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a preferred embodiment of the method of the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of a particulate material spout that can be employed in the method of this invention. Figure 3 is a top plane view of a portion of a corrugated discharge bed of the particulate material jet shown in Figure 2. Figure 4 is a front view of the corrugated discharge bed shown in Figure 3. Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the dough hopper, the wire cutting machine and the conveyor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Bakery products prepared by the method of this invention, preferably biscuits, also include other areas of the baked goods technique, including, for example, biscuits, rolls, pastes, brownies or chocolate biscuits and nut and the like. As used herein, the term "dough" is intended to include a wide variety of edible materials such as biscuit dough, pasta dough, bread dough, pastry, etc. The term "dough" cord or simply "cord" is intended to mean a continuous amount of such edible material formed by one of several known techniques such as extrusion molding, roller milling, etc. The term "dough portion" is intended to mean a relatively small piece of dough that has, for example, been cut or sliced from a dough string for processing in the final food product. The term "biscuit" as used herein is intended to include any baked product being similar to a cookie no matter what the form. Similarly, the term "dough" is meant to mean any dough suitable for preparing bakery products within the broader meaning of this term. Such a dough is usually an unbaked mixture of ingredients that usually contain, for example, flour, baker's fat (such as margarine or butter), fat, water and a leavening agent, for example, sodium bicarbonate or ammonium bicarbonate. The term "edible particle" is intended to include a wide variety of small pieces of edible particulate material (also known as food particles, flavor bits, inclusions and small bits) that are any solid or semi-solid that can be flavored naturally or artificially , which includes, without limitation, jams, nuts, dough pieces, coconut, fruit and the like. Particular examples of edible particles include chunks such as chocolate, butter caramel, or peanut butter, caramel; pieces of fruit or pieces of dehydrated fruit such as orange, banana, strawberry, apple, pineapple, mango, raisin, currant, or Izmir raisin; nuts or pieces of nuts such as smooth nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts, almonds, macadamia nuts or other types of nuts; pieces of hard or soft candy, including chocolate candies confectioned with sugar such as M &M® or Reeses Pieces® chocolate candies; cereals; or mixtures of particulate flavoring ingredients. The sugar confectional chocolate confections used in this invention may have complete centers of chocolate or other centers such as peanuts, almonds, peanut butter, roasted centers and the like. The present invention provides a method for increasing the visibility of small edible particles on a surface of the bakery food product. Significantly, the method of this invention succeeds in exhibiting substantially 100% of the edible particles, that is, none of the edible particles is hidden below the surface of the bakery product, thereby providing maximum visibility. As previously indicated, one embodiment of this invention is directed to a method of preparing a bakery product having a plurality of edible particles on a top surface of bakery product, said method comprising the steps of: (i) forming a portion of dough from a dough for raw baking, raw material; (ii) depositing the dough portion on a conveyor surface having edible particles deposited therein, so that the plurality of edible particles are incorporated in a surface of the dough portion; (iii) invert the dough portion so that the incorporated edible particles are on an upper surface of the dough portion; and (iv) optionally, baking the dough portion to form a baked product with a plurality of edible particles on the upper surface. Preferably, the dough portion having the plurality of edible particles on the upper surface is baked. However, the dough portion can be left unbaked or only partially baked, if desired, and supplied to the consumer for final baking. It is also possible to freeze the dough portion having the plurality of edible particles on the upper surface. Of course, the baked product can also be frozen, if desired. The dough portion can be formed by any desired means, for example, extrusion molding, roller milling, rotary molding or use of a positive displacement cavity. Usually, the dough portion is formed by extrusion or in rolls and then the raw baking dough is cut with wire. The dough portion can have any shape or shape as desired. Although it is generally cylindrical or disc-shaped to form a round cookie, other novel forms are also possible, for example, stars, trees, characters and the like. The dough portion can be deposited by any desirable means on a conveyor surface carrying the edible particles. For example, the mass portion can be deposited in one place, then cut or put in place by mechanical means. While any surface of the dough portion can be placed on the edible particles on the conveyor surface, it is preferable that the surface opposite the last cut surface is deposited on the edible particles. Preferably, the edible particles are placed on the conveyor surface in a single layer. Generally, the conveyor surface having the edible particles disposed thereon moves continuously. However, it is also possible to practice the invention by increasing the movement of the conveyor surface after each deposit. It is preferable to recycle edible particles that are not incorporated in the lower portion of the dough portion. This recycling can be achieved quickly by making a space between two conveyor surfaces. The space should be large enough to allow the particles to pass through and not allow the bakery product to do the same. Although it is preferable to recycle, it is also necessary to reduce recycling because recycling can cause broken or damaged food particles. In order to preserve the edible particles, as well as to reduce the need to recycle and the potential damage to the particles during recycling, it is preferable to practice the method of this invention on a conveyor surface having rails for directing the edible particles to a storage area. of the mass portion. In this way, the edible particles will be directed on a rail or rails running longitudinally in the conveyor direction. Each rail is aligned in relation to a deposit area of the dough portion on the conveyor surface to maximize the incorporation of the particles on the lower surface of the dough portion. The rails do not need to travel the entire distance of the conveyor surface, but instead need only be large enough to provide the desired direction to the particles being transported on the surface of the conveyor. The efficient use of the edible particles and reduction of recycling can also be improved by supplying the edible particles to the lanes described above in segmented or discontinuous lots. Each batch of particles is provided to the surface of the conveyor in a synchronized manner to provide this batch in the deposit area of the conveyor surface at the time of depositing a dough portion. This can be achieved simply by preventing a continuous flow to create a batch. This can be done, for example, by providing a gate or pulsed start-interruption mode to the lanes that is coordinated (for example, by electrical or mechanical means of communication) with the cutter wire so that a batch of edible particles is left in each lane in an appropriate time. In a particularly preferred embodiment of this invention, such batches of edible particles are created by pressing a vibrating tray that releases edible particles towards the conveyor surface. After the dough portion has been deposited on the edible particles on the conveyor surface the dough portion having the edible particles incorporated in the bottom surface thereof moves downstream. As previously indicated, an opening in the conveyor surface can be provided to assist in recycling. If desired, the dough portion can also be worked under pressurizing rollers which ensure that the edible particles are secured to the lower surface of the dough portion. The pressure provided by such lines needs only to be light. The portion of dough that has the edible particles secured or incorporated in it is then inverted so that the particles are now on the upper surface of the dough portion. This step is critical to achieve the desired length and appearance of "home-made" baked products. If the dough portion does not turn, then the edible particles are not "carried" satisfactorily by the extension and in this way there will be an undesirable concentration of particles. In addition, without turning, bakery products do not have the desired appearance at home and the display of edible particles will not increase to the maximum. The inversion of the portion of the dough can be done by any means, for example, by manual or mechanical means. For large-scale production, however, the preferred means is to move the dough portion along a first transportation surface to the end point of the first transportation surface and then to drop the dough portion onto a second transportation surface. conveying surface so that the dough portion is turned 180 °, that is, the lower surface of the dough portion on the first transportation surface is now the upper surface on the second transportation surface. Many techniques exist to flip the mass portion. See, for example, U.S. Patent No. 5,460,843 which discloses a means for selectively inverting a single cookie in a series so that the top surface of the cookies is directed outwardly. The. Vertical distance between the first transportation surface and the second transportation surface necessarily causes an inversion of the mass portion that can be quickly calculated by one skilled in the art. Similarly, it is also known that by providing an inclined ramp before transferring from one conveyor surface to another a cookie is inverted. Of course, if desired, a plurality of dough portions may be deposited on the conveyor surface of the present invention having edible particles disposed therein. More preferably, the present method can be practiced by employing a plurality of rails on the conveyor surface to preserve the particulate material. As already described, the term "lane" means an area on the conveyor surface that can be defined by fences, rails, a channel or any means guiding the edible particles along a desired path on the conveyor surface. After the dough portions have been inverted, the dough portions can be baked, pre-baked or frozen for later baking. Preferably, the raw dough portions having the edible particles on an upper surface are transported to a baking oven. The temperature of the baking stove will generally be in the range of about 176 ° C to about 215 ° C. More preferably, the baking stove should have a plurality of temperature zones, and preferably will have controls for the upper and lower zone as well as the lateral zones. The baking stove will preferably also have air flow means, and more preferably each zone will have airflow means capable of independent adjustment. The optimum temperature rea and the fixing of air flows for each zone can be quickly determined by one skilled in the baking art. After baking, the bakery products are cooled to room temperature or with the help of cooling. Assisted cooling is particularly preferred if the edible particles are sensitive to the heat generated during baking, for example, chocolates. In a preferred embodiment of the method of this invention, the raw dough for baking is a cookie dough comprising: (a) fat in an amount from about 15 to about 20% by weight of the dough; (b) sugar in an amount from about 25 to 35% by weight of the dough; (c) flour in an amount of about 30 to about 40% by weight of the dough; (d) egg or egg substitute in an amount from about 0 to about 10% by weight of the dough; (e) at least one leavening agent; and (f) salt. Significantly, when the cookie dough described above will be baked, the baked goods have a final dimension in a transverse direction that is at least 1.75 times larger than an initial dimension in the transverse direction of the dough portion. More preferably, the final dimension is at least approximately twice as large as the initial dimension. Preferably, at least one leavening agent is selected from the group consisting of: ammonium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate and mixtures thereof. More preferably, ammonium bicarbonate is present in the raw dough in an amount from about 0.1 to about 1.5% by weight of the dough. By using the cookie dough described, baked cookies are obtained with a moisture content of about 4 to about 7% by weight of the cookie and a desirable extension, for example, 1.75 times or greater. Preferably, the fat used in the cookie dough is selected from the group consisting of: edible vegetable fat, tropical oils, margarine, butter and mixtures thereof. Fats, which can be from any edible source, can be pure, modified or hydrogenated. As already defined, the term "fat" also includes natural and synthetic fats, substitutes such as, for example, Olestra®, fruit pectins, gums and the like. As used herein, the sugar may be a natural sugar, a non-nutritive, or mixtures thereof. Preferably the sugar is selected from the group consisting of: sucrose, glucose, fructose lactose, maltose and mixtures thereof. More preferably, the sugar is sucrose selected from the group consisting of: refined sucrose, brown sucrose and mixtures thereof. The flour used in the biscuit dough of this The invention can be obtained from any edible source, such as wheat flour, oatmeal or the like, and can be bleached or unbleached; preferably, the flour is an unbleached pastry flour. In addition, it is preferable that salt be present in an amount from about 0.25 to about 0.6% by weight of the dough. The cookie dough may also contain at least one additive selected from the group consisting of: flavorings, preservatives, dyes and dough conditioning agents. Significantly, it has been discovered that the baked products prepared by the method of this invention can use relatively small amounts of dough to achieve a relatively larger baked product. In a particularly preferred embodiment, it was found that the transverse dimension in millimeters of said baked product for the weight in grams of the dough portion is a ratio of at least 4: 1. Yet another embodiment of this invention is directed to a bakery product having a plurality of edible particles on the top surface of said bakery product. Said bakery product prepared by the method comprises the steps of: (i) forming a dough portion from a raw dough for baking; (ii) depositing the dough portion on a conveyor surface having edible particles disposed thereon so that the plurality of edible particles is incorporated into a surface of the dough portion; (iii) inverting the dough portion so that the incorporated edible particles are on an upper surface of the dough portion; and (iv) optionally, baking the dough portion to form a baked product having a plurality of edible particles on the upper surface. The preparation of the preferred bakery products of this invention have already been described in general. The most preferred bakery products are cookies; more preferably, baked cookies. A particularly preferred biscuit can be prepared by mixing suitable quantities of biscuit, margarine, sugar and water flour in proportions giving a relatively small mass being suitable for splitting in a traditional wire-cutter apparatus.

The cookie dough is fed from a hopper down to one or more nozzles located on a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is covered with a layer of piece of candy, for example, milk chocolates M &M®. When the dough is extruded from the nozzle, a cutting wire passes through the dough so that small pieces of dough referred to as a dough portion are separated from the bulk dough and fall onto the dough pieces on the conveyor belt. The small pieces of candy adhere to the lower face of the dough portions. The dough portions are then transported through an opening in the web that allows any excess pieces of candy to fall through the opening and return to the candy hopper that feeds the conveyor belt. The portions of dough with the pieces of candy located on the lower side of the dough are moved to a belt inclined at an angle that allows the dough portions with the pieces of candy to rotate so that the sweets are on the surface of the dough , then disembarking in a subsequent tape. The dough portions with the sweets are then passed through a rapid baking stove. Or the dough portions can be collected from the conveyor belt for later cooking. The final baked cookie with pieces of candy has a substantial number of pieces of candy that are on the upper surface area of the cookie. With the casual inspection of the outer surface of the cookies, substantially 100% of the pieces of candy are visible, the baked cookies can be placed in a suitable package for packaging. The baked cookies of this invention are also highly suitable for use in the preparation of ice cream sandwiches, particularly when prepared with ammonium bicarbonate as a leavening agent. It is considered that the ammonium bicarbonate that reacts early in the baking cycle gives a good extension and provides a hermetic grain structure that prevents the migration of moisture. In this manner, another embodiment of this invention is directed to a sandwich comprising two layers of baked, opposite biscuits and a layer of fat-based cream disposed therebetween. Each opposing cookie has a plurality of edible particles on its outer surface. The cookies used in the edible snack are baked cookies prepared by the methods described herein. Yet another embodiment of this invention is directed to a cookie dough comprising a mixture of: (a) fat in an amount of about 15 to about 20% by weight of the dough, wherein the fat is selected from the group consisting of in: edible vegetable fat, margarine, butter and mixtures thereof; (b) sugar in an amount from about 25 to about 35% by weight of the dough, wherein the sugar is selected from the group consisting of: sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose and mixtures thereof; (c) flour in an amount of about 30 to about 40% by weight of the dough; (d) egg or egg substitute in an amount from about 0 to about 10% by weight of the dough; (e) ammonium bicarbonate from about 0.1 to about 1.5% by weight of the mass; and (f) salt in an amount from about 0.25 to about 0.6% by weight of the dough. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cookie dough described above is formulated and formed in portions of raw dough. The dough portions can be transported to an oven where portions of raw dough are baked to form finished cookies. In one aspect of the invention, the novel dough formulation of the invention provides a finished cookie having a diameter that is preferably about 175%, and more preferably up to about 200% the diameter of the raw dough portion. This degree of increase in the diameter of the baked cookie in relation to the raw dough portion is new for the baking technique, and it provides important advantages. A cookie having a desired diameter can be produced with less mass than with the known formulations. It is considered that the dough formulations of the prior art provided, at best, approximately 15% increase in diameter with baking. Therefore, the masses of the above techniques require more dough to achieve a desired diameter of cookie in comparison with the dough of this invention. In another aspect of the invention, the biscuit dough incorporates a consistency that satisfies the requirements of a dough bake suitable for handling in the highly automated process steps commonly employed in the manufacture of commercial biscuit. In particular, the raw dough is sufficiently thick and viscous to be suitable for use with extruders or dough molds, and at the same time is capable of extending to preferably at least about 175%, and more preferably up to about 200% of the diameter of the dough. the portion of raw dough. Stated another way, in a baking dough according to the invention, a round dough portion weighing x grams, when baked, is expanded to a cookie having a diameter of at least about 4x millimeters. At the same time, the dough safely produces finished cookies that have a uniform shape and diameter.

As previously noted, in the method of this invention, the extruded dough portions are placed on top of a layer of edible particles such as candy or nuts. In a preferred embodiment, the particles are the well-known M &M® brand chocolate candies in lentil form. The portion of raw dough is turned to change up the surface that carries the particles. The particles remain substantially on the surface of the dough portions during transport to the baking oven and during baking. Using the novel cookie dough of this invention, the particles remain exposed on the upper surface of the cookie and also extend when the cookie is expanded during cooking. The high degree of expansion during cooking provides a finished product having the desirable number of particles distributed on the upper surface of the cookie. This commercially "automated" placement of a repeatable number of particles on the raw dough portion produces a baked product that has a homemade appearance that can be prepared with high speed processing. The following example is proposed as an illustration of certain preferred embodiments of the invention, and does not imply limitation.

EXAMPLE A baked biscuit with a diameter of 3 inches (7.6 cm) of a portion of raw dough weighing approximately 19 grams was proposed. In addition it is desired that the top surface of the cookie contains 11-13 round candies on the upper surface of the cookie, each candy with a diameter of approximately 3/8 of an inch (0.95 cm). It was also essential that this combination of features be achieved using automated processing equipment. This combination of features was achieved by the present invention as follows. First a dough was formulated for baking by combining 150 pounds of edible vegetable fat; 31.5 pounds of margarine; 159 pounds of Backer's special sugar, 145 pounds of brown cane sugar, (C &H 6251 available from California and Hawaiian Sugar Co., San Francisco, California); 1.58 pounds of natural butter flavor; and 5.35 lb. vanilla N & A. After vigorously mixing the above for 5 minutes, 88 pounds of whole liquid egg and 1.16 pounds of ammonium bicarbonate were added, and the resulting mixture was mixed vigorously for two minutes. Then, 317 pounds of unbleached bakery flour (Spear brand white flour from Fishcer Mills, Seattle, Washington) was added to the mix without mixing. Finally, 5.23 pounds of fine granular salt and 4.22 pounds of baking soda were placed on top of the flour, and the entire mixture was mixed gently for 3 minutes. During the formulation, the temperatures of the ingredients were controlled to provide a finished raw dough temperature not exceeding 65 ° F (18.3 ° C). The baking dough was placed in the hopper of a dough extruder as explained in more detail below. With reference to Figure 1, the candies 2 were distributed from the edible particle distribution apparatus 10 on a first mobile conveyor belt 20. While the particles were M &M® brand chocolate candies, other particles such as nuts, portions of fruit, other pastry sweets, or other preformed figures could be substituted, when desired. Figure 2 illustrates a dispensing apparatus with reference 10 including a hopper 12, a corrugated discharge belt 14 and an agitator 16. The terminal end of the discharge bed is located on the conveyor belt 20. The candies are loaded into the hopper 12, and by gravity and the action of the agitator 16 in the "rails" 18 in Figure 4 is a front view of the corrugated discharge belt 14. In the embodiment shown in Figure 3, which is a top view of the conveyor belt. Corrugated discharge 14, the corrugated discharge belt includes 11"rails" in which the sweets are transported from the hopper and unloaded on a mobile conveyor belt 20 (Figures 1, 2). In an important aspect of the invention, the candies are unloaded in a packed relationship on the conveyor 20. By tightly packed it is meant that the candies are unloaded on and along the conveyor 20 spaced apart, preferably by touching, in a single layer. As will be further discussed, by providing lanes of closely spaced sweets, or other particles as desired, in combination with a pre-determined mass portion of diameter, the number of sweets or particles placed in each portion of raw dough can be controlled with acceptable precision . Referring again to Figure 1, a dough extruder 30 is located at a second "downstream" location of the conveyor from the particulate dispensing apparatus 10 and the dough portions 3 are discharged therefrom from there onto the sweets 2. With reference to Figure 5, the extruder 30 includes a hopper 32, a pair of feed rollers 34 for drawing the dough from the hopper 32 and carrying it through an extrusion die 36. When the dough is molded by extrusion from the die it is cut by a tensioned wire, supported by a steel structure 38, which passes through the face of the dies. The frequency of cuts varies by the desired production speed, which is achieved by adjusting the speed of the machine. The cups of the matrix and the corresponding filling blocks are manufactured to produce the desired product in shape and size. The shape of the cups of the matrix and filling blocks required to achieve the desired shape of the raw dough portion is well known to those skilled in the art. The thickness / weight of the cookie is controlled by increasing or decreasing the speed of the rolls to give more or less cleavage for each stroke of the wire. In the preferred embodiment, the extruder 30 includes multiple molding heads 36 spaced laterally across the conveyor half 20. Each of the multiple extrusion heads is laterally aligned with the anus of the discharge lanes 11 of the particulate dispensing apparatus. . When the mass is injected from each extruder head 36, a wire cutter 38 periodically cuts a "portion" of mass 3, which falls on the preceding conveyor 20. The wire cutter 38 accepts a volume or metered feed of dough into the hopper mounted on the top. A pair of toothed rollers pull the dough from the hopper and push it through the filling block to the dies. By virtue of the alignment of the derogatory discharge lanes 11 and the heads of the extruder 36, each portion of dough falls on an area of the conveyor 20 that is covered with a single layer of solidly packaged candy (or other particles). By distributing the sweets on the conveyor 20 in a solidly packaged model, and by producing dough portions having a predetermined size and shape, a predetermined number of particles can be applied for each dough portion by placing or dropping the dough. portion of dough on solidly packed particles. In this way, a predetermined number of sweets or particulates can be applied to each cookie with fewer variations. Then, the conveyor 20 travels under a roller 40 which provides a soft compressive force on the dough portion, it passes under the roller, ensuring that the confectionery adhere to the lower surface of the dough portion. The conveyor 20 ends at the end 22, which is placed on a final conveyor 24. When each portion of dough discharges from the conveyor 20 on the conveyor 24, the dough portion is turned so that the surface on which the confections are Adhered, rotate approximately 180 ° C with the side facing up. In this process, the excess candy falls from the conveyor 22 and can be separated from the dough portions by the slightly angled conveyor 24 so that the excess candy runs from the conveyor and is discharged or preferably recycled to the hopper 12 of the dispensing apparatus 10. The conveyor 24 transports the dough portions to a baking oven. With reference to Figure 1, it is also possible to transport dough portions 3 through an opening 5 to a second conveyor 6 and collect particles for recycling as shown by the recycle stream 7. In this embodiment, if desired, the Conveyor 6 can be tilted to help flip the dough portion. In the preferred embodiment, the cookie bakes up to a final moisture content of 4.5-6%. The applicant has achieved better results with multizone furnaces that use recirculating hot air to bake the product transported to the furnace in a steel band or mesh belt. The baking of the product on the band is achieved by convection (direct heat) and radiation (indirect heat). The lower part of the product is baked by conduction, with the band heated by convection or radiation. The choice of heating by convection or radiation is controlled by dampers located on both sides of each heating zone. A fan removes a portion of the recirculating air from the upper and lower conduits. After baking, the cookie is further processed or packed as required, before boarding. Other variations and modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art. This invention is not limited except as stated in the clauses.

Claims (57)

1. CLAIMS A method of preparing a bakery product having a plurality of edible particles on a top surface of the bakery product, the method comprising the steps of: (i) forming a dough portion from a raw dough for baking; (ii) depositing the dough portion on a conveyor surface having edible particles deposited therein so that the plurality of edible particles is incorporated onto a surface of the dough portion; (iii) inverting the dough portion so that the incorporated edible particles are on an upper surface of the dough portion; and (iv) optionally, baking the dough portion to form a baked product having a plurality of edible particles on the upper surface.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dough portion having the plurality of edible particles on the upper surface is baked.
3. 3. The method according to claim 1 further comprises the step of freezing the dough portion having the plurality of edible particles on the upper surface.
4. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dough portion is formed by extrusion molding and wire cutting the raw dough for baking.
5. 5. The method according to claim 5, wherein the edible particles are selected from the group consisting of confectionery, nuts, pasta, coconut and fruit.
6. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the confectionery products are chocolate sweets covered with sugar.
7. 7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising directing the edible particles in a rail on the conveyor surface which is longitudinal in a transport direction that is aligned relative to a deposit area of the dough portion on the surface of transportation.
8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising providing the edible particles to the lane in batch batches in a synchronized manner to provide a single batch of edible particles in the storage area of the transport surface at a time of each deposit .
9. 9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of recycling excess edible particles.
10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of inverting consists of dropping the dough portion from an end point of a first transport surface onto a second transport surface in a manner that the portion of mass so that the edible particles remain on the upper surface of the dough portion.
11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the dough portion is rotated approximately 180 ° C.
12. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of mass portions are simultaneously deposited on the transportation surface.
13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the baking step comprises heating the dough portion to a temperature of about 176 ° C to about 215 ° C.
14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bakery product is selected from the group consisting of: biscuits, bagels and brown and chocolate brownies.
15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the raw dough for baking is a dough for biscuit containing: (a) fat in an amount of about 15 to about 20% by weight of the dough; (b) sugar in an amount from about 20% to about 35% by weight of the dough; (c) flour in an amount of about 30 to about 40% by weight of the dough; (d) egg or egg substitute in an amount from about 0 to about 10% by weight of the dough; (e) at least one leavening agent; and (f) salt.
16. The method according to claim 15, wherein at least one leavening agent is selected from the group consisting of: ammonium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate and mixtures thereof.
17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the baked product is baked and the baked product has a final dimension in a transverse direction that is at least 1.75 times larger than an initial dimension in the transverse direction of the dough portion .
18. 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the ammonium bicarbonate is present in the raw dough in an amount from about 0.1 to about 1.5% by weight of the dough.
19. 19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the baked product has a moisture content of about 4 to about 7% by weight of the baked product.
20. The method according to claim 15, wherein the fat is selected from the group consisting of: edible vegetable fat, tropical oils, margarine, butter and mixtures thereof.
21. The method according to claim 15, wherein the sugar is selected from the group consisting of: sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose and mixtures thereof.
22. 22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the sugar is sucrose selected from the group consisting of refined sucrose, brown sucrose and mixtures thereof.
23. 23. The method according to claim 15, wherein the flour is selected from the group consisting of: bleached flour, unbleached flour and mixtures thereof.
24. The method according to claim 15, wherein the salt is present in an amount from about 0.25 to about 0.6% by weight of the dough.
25. The method according to claim 15, wherein the cookie dough further comprises at least one additive selected from the group consisting of: flavors, preservatives, dyes and dough conditioning agents.
26. The method according to claim 15, wherein the transverse dimension in millimeters of the baked product will give a weight in grams of the dough portion with a ratio of at least 4: 1.
27. A bakery product having a plurality of edible particles on an upper surface of the baked bakery product comprises the steps of: (i) forming a dough portion from a raw baked dough; (ii) depositing the dough portion on a conveyor surface having edible particles deposited thereon so that the plurality of edible particles is incorporated onto a surface of the dough portion; (iii) inverting the dough portion so that the incorporated edible particles are on an upper surface of the dough portion; and (iv) optionally, baking the dough portion to form a baked product having a plurality of edible particles on the upper surface.
28. 28. The bakery product according to claim 27, wherein the dough portion having the plurality of edible particles on the upper surface is baked.
29. 29. The bakery product according to claim 27, wherein the bakery product is frozen.
30. 30. The bakery product according to claim 27, wherein the edible particles are selected from the group consisting of: confectionery products, nuts, pasta, coconut, fruits and mixtures thereof.
31. 31. The bakery product according to claim 30, wherein the confectionery products are chocolate sweets covered with sugar.
32. 32. The bakery product according to claim 28, wherein the baking step comprises heating the dough portion to a temperature of about 176 ° C to about 215 ° C.
33. 33. The bakery product according to claim 27, wherein the bakery product is selected from the group consisting of biscuits, bagels and chocolate and nut cookies or brownies.
34. 34. The bakery product according to claim 27, wherein the raw dough for baking is a dough for biscuit containing: (a) fat in an amount from about 15 to about 20% by weight of the dough; (b) sugar in an amount from about 25 to about 35% by weight of the dough; (c) flour in an amount of about 30 to about 40% by weight of the dough; (d) egg or egg substitute in an amount from about 0 to about 10% by weight of the dough; (e) at least one leavening agent; and (f) salt.
35. 35. The bakery product according to claim 34, wherein at least one leavening agent is selected from the group consisting of ammonium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate and mixtures thereof.
36. 36. The bakery product according to claim 34, wherein the bakery product is a baked cookie having a final dimension in a transverse direction that is at least 1.75 times larger than an initial dimension in the transverse direction of the portion of dough.
37. 37. The bakery product according to claim 36, wherein the ammonium bicarbonate is present in the raw dough in an amount from about 0.1 to about 1.5% by weight of the dough.
38. 38. The bakery product according to claim 37, wherein the baked product has a moisture content of about 4 to about 7% by weight of the baked product.
39. 39. The bakery product according to claim 34, wherein the fat is selected from the group consisting of edible vegetable fat, tropical oils, margarine, butter and mixtures thereof.
40. 40. The bakery product according to claim 34, wherein the sugar is selected from the group consisting of: sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose and mixtures thereof.
41. 41. The bakery product according to claim 40, wherein the sugar is sucrose selected from the group consisting of: sucrose-refined coffee sucrose and mixtures thereof.
42. 42. The bakery product according to claim 34, wherein the flour is selected from the group consisting of: bleached flour, unbleached flour and mixtures thereof.
43. 43. The bakery product according to claim 34, wherein the salt is present in an amount from about 0.25 to about 0.6% by weight of the dough.
44. 44. The bakery product according to claim 34, wherein the cookie dough further contains at least one additive selected from the group consisting of flavorings, preservatives, dyes and dough conditioning agents.
45. 45. The bakery product according to claim 34, wherein the transverse dimension in millimeters of the baked product will give a weight in gram of the dough portion in a ratio of at least 4: 1.
46. 46. A cookie dough consisting of a mixture of: (a) fat in an amount of approximately 15 5 to about 20% by weight of the dough, wherein the fat is selected from the group consisting of edible vegetable fat, tropical oils, margarine, butter and mixtures thereof; ^ fc 10 (b) sugar in an amount from about 25 to about 35% by weight of the dough, wherein the sugar is selected from the group consisting of: sucrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, maltose and mixtures thereof; 15 (c) flour in an amount of about 30 to about 40% by weight of the dough; (d) egg or egg substitute in an amount from about 0 to about 10% by weight of ^^ the dough; 20 (e) ammonium bicarbonate from about 0.1 to about 1.5% by weight of the dough; and (f) salt in an amount from about 0.25 to about 0.6% by weight of the dough.
47. 47. The cookie dough according to claim 46, wherein the cookie dough is in the form of a dough portion having an initial dimension in a transverse dimension that increases at least 1.75 times after baking.
48. 48. The cookie dough according to claim 46, wherein a top surface of the dough portion has deposited thereon a plurality of edible particles.
49. 49. The cookie dough according to claim 18, wherein the edible particles are selected from the group consisting of: confectionery, nuts, pasta, coconut, fruits and mixtures thereof.
50. 50. The cookie dough according to claim 49, wherein the cookie dough further comprises sodium bicarbonate in an amount from about 0.1 to about 1.5% by weight of the dough.
51. 51. The cookie dough according to claim 50, wherein the cookie dough further comprises flavorings selected from the group consisting of: butter flavor, vanilla and mixtures thereof. 2.
52. The cookie dough according to claim 51, wherein the edible particles are chocolate sweets covered with sugar.
53. 53. The cookie dough according to claim 47, wherein the transverse dimension in millimeters of the dough portion after baking will give a weight in grams of the dough portion in a ratio of at least 4: 1.
54. 54. An edible snack comprising two opposite baked cookie sheets, each having a plurality of edible particles on an outer surface thereof and a layer of fat-based cream disposed between an inner surface of each cookie, wherein the cookies are prepared by the method of claim 14.
55. 55. The edible snack according to claim 54, wherein the edible particles are chocolate sweets covered with sugar.
56. 56. The edible snack according to claim 54, wherein the fat-based cream layer is selected from the group consisting of: cream ice cream, marshmallow and mixtures thereof.
57. 57. The edible snack according to claim 56, wherein the layer of fat based cream is cream ice cream.