WO1998046085A1

WO1998046085A1 - Punctured laminated dough product

Info

Publication number: WO1998046085A1
Application number: PCT/US1998/007518
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ronald O. Bubar
Original assignee: Paulucci, Jeno, F.
Priority date: 1997-04-14
Filing date: 1998-04-13
Publication date: 1998-10-22
Also published as: AU7117398A

Abstract

A laminated dough product is disclosed herein. The product comprises a laminated dough sheet including alternating layers of a dough and a fat. The sheet includes at least two separated perforate surfaces defined on the sheet along the first and second edge portions of the sheet, and the imperforate surface lies between the perforate surfaces. The dough product utilizes the perforate surfaces to allow it to exhibit improved baking characteristics and to reduce puffing of the pastry near the edges. This allows for an improved baked crust which can be topped with pizza or other ingredients and frozen, and upon reheating the crust exhibits an improved texture, flakiness, and flavor.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of pending U.S. application

Serial No. 08/496,894, filed June 30, 1995 entitled Laminated Pizza Crust. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to baked products and methods for making

them. In particular, the invention relates to a method of making a

laminated dough product that may be used as a crust for cooked items

such as pizzas and pastries. The laminated dough product of the present

invention demonstrates improved palatability and stability when heated in a microwave oven.

Microwave ovens have provided a convenient means for heating a

variety of frozen food products. Within this category of frozen food

products, frozen store-bought pizzas and pastries continue to be a popular microwave-heatable item for consumers. These frozen items offer the

convenience of being heatable in either a conventional oven or a

microwave oven. The crusts for these items have traditionally been made

from a simple yeast-based dough, similar to that used for making other bread products.

As an example, frozen pizzas of the thin-crusted variety tend to be more generally favored by consumers if the crust has a crispy quality

when cooked. These characteristics are easily accomplished in a

conventional oven due to such an oven's direct surface heating and drying effects. In microwave ovens, however, excess moisture within the frozen crust often causes it to become soft and soggy. After prolonged

exposure, the crust becomes tough and unpalatable, with the crumb of the

crust becoming rubbery and gummy. Reducing the amount of time the

crust is exposed to microwave energy is usually not a possibility, because the pizza toppings must be heated to a proper serving temperature. By

the time the toppings are adequately heated, the crust can already be

unpalatable.

Various attempts have been made to overcome the problems associated with the exposure of pizza or pastry crusts to microwave

energy. These improvements, however, have been only minimally

successful. For example, dough formulas have been manipulated to

make them homogeneously higher in shortening content and eggs. The

inclusion of these additional ingredients slows the crust's absorption of

microwave energy. These types of crusts do not have a pleasant taste or

texture.

Other cures such as pre-cooking or pre-toasting have been

attempted to reduce the amount of moisture in the bread product and thus

alleviate the problems caused when the product is exposed to microwave

energy. However, the pre-cooking can degrade the taste and instead

create a dry, unappealing product. In the case of pizzas, the reduction of

moisture in the pre-cooked crust becomes somewhat futile, because the

low moisture is counteracted by the addition of the pizza toppings, such as tomato sauce, cheese, meats, and vegetables, all of which re-contribute moisture to the crust. Moreover, the pre-toasting adds an additional,

expensive step to the entire pizza-making process.

Other methods for incorporating fat into crusts have been

developed to improve the overall texture of the crust. One method

includes incorporating flakes of shortening or fat into a homogenous

dough. This crust is not specifically formulated for improved

microwavability, however, and such a crust does not adequately possess

the flaky texture of traditionally cooked thin-crusted pizzas or crispy

pastries. Finally, some dough products for commercial foods such as pies

and pastries are made using a laminated dough. A laminated dough typically comprises thin layers of dough separated by either a layer of fat

or a layer of dough of a differing type. These laminated doughs have

previously been used for puffed, highly risen pastries, which have little

value for thin pizza crusts and thin pastries. Pizza crusts have also been

made from a pressed laminated dough, although the advantages of using

a multiple-layer dough tend to be lost during the steps of pressing or stamping the dough into discs. The pressing or stamping homogenizes

much of the layered structure. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved frozen laminated dough product that exhibits improved

palatability and crispness when exposed to microwave energy. It is another object of the present invention to provide a formulation

for an improved frozen laminated dough product that exhibits improved

palatability and crispness when exposed to microwave energy.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an

improved frozen dough product that exhibits improved baking

characteristics and crispness after being baked during the manufacturing

process.

In one aspect of the present invention, a laminated dough product

is produced by resting a formulated dough mixture, cutting the dough,

rolling the dough into a sheet, extruding high-melt margarine on to the middle third of the sheet and folding the dough over the margarine to form

a fatted dough, stretching the fatted dough, piling the fatted dough onto

itself to create several layers, stretching the dough a second time, piling

and rolling the dough again, stretching the dough a final time to a

predetermined thickness, puncturing (docking) the dough sheet in a

pattern of rows along the edges of the sheet, cutting the dough sheet into

pre-determined shapes, and finally baking the shapes. The baked,

laminated crusts can be topped with pizza ingredients or other toppings and frozen. Upon reheating by the consumer in either the microwave or a

conventional oven, the resulting crust exhibits an improved texture,

flakiness, and flavor.

In another aspect of the present invention, a laminated dough product includes a laminated dough sheet comprising alternating layers of a dough and a fat. The sheet defines at least two separated, perforate

surfaces and an imperforate surface. Each perforate surface is preferably

defined along an opposite edge of the dough sheet, and each perforate

surface includes a plurality of perforated openings punctured through the

sheet. The imperforate surface includes substantially no perforations and

is defined on the dough sheet between the two perforate surfaces.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, a laminated dough

product is made by mixing a dough and rolling the dough into a sheet,

extruding a fat onto the sheet, folding the sheet over the fat to form a

fatted dough, rolling and folding the fatted dough to form a plurality of

alternating layers of fat and dough, cutting the sheet into a shape, and

forming at least two perforate areas separated by at least one imperforate

area on each of the shapes. Preferably, the perforate areas include

substantially structured rows of punctures, and the imperforate area is

substantially free of punctures.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will

become apparent upon the review of the following detailed description of

the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction

with the appended figures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be explained with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a high-level flowchart of the process for making the

laminated dough product of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a high-level flowchart of the process for producing

the dough mixture used in the present invention.

Figure 3 shows a detailed flowchart of the sheeting and laminating

process used in the present invention.

Figure 4 is a top view of a first embodiment of a laminated dough

product of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a top view similar to that of Figure 4 of a second

embodiment of a laminated dough product of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In accordance with the present invention, the method for making a

preferred embodiment of a laminated dough product such as a pizza crust

is shown generally in Figure 1. After ingredients for the dough are mixed

(10-11), the dough is allowed to rest a period of time (12). After this

resting period, a sheeting and laminating process (13) is performed on the

rested dough to produce a layered sheet of dough and fat. When the

laminated dough is of the proper thickness and comprises the desired

number of layers, the dough is "docked" or punctured with holes in a

specific pattern where the puncture holes are preferably placed on the

outer inch of each side of the dough sheet, and cut into sized portions

(14). Finally, the portions are baked in gas-fired impingement ovens (15). The following example shows the ingredients used in the manufacture of a preferred crust in accordance with the present invention.

The crust mixture which is used in the preparation of the laminated crust

includes approximately 60% by weight of a flour having a protein content

of approximately 12%. 1.83% by weight of active dry yeast is also added,

along with 1.22% salt, 1.22% sugar, and 32% water at a temperature

between 50 and 60 degrees F (all percentages are by weight of total

dough). A dough conditioner is added in a quantity of about 3% by

weight. The conventional dough conditioner, preferably of the type

manufactured by Microgold, stabilizes the mixture. A table summary of

these ingredients in an example batch (quantitized by weight of

ingredients) is listed below.

INGREDIENTS (example)

As shown in the flow diagram of Figure 2, the indicated ingredients are first weighed (boxes 20-23 in the flow diagram), and the water, sugar

and yeast are mixed into a slurry (25). The water used at step 20 is

filtered water brought to the specified temperature. The slurry solution is

then mixed and pumped to a use tank. The measured flour, slurry, salt and Microgold are then loaded (26-27) and mixed together (28). The

mixing occurs at high speed for 2 to 3 minutes until a preferred target

temperature of approximately 80-89 degrees F is reached. After mixing,

the dough is discharged onto an incline conveyor belt and conveyed

slowly for 45 minutes to 1 hour (29 in Figure 2, 12 in Figure 1). This

"resting" or "proofing" stage allows the yeast in the dough to activate and

cause the dough to rise.

As shown in Figure 1 , following the resting period 12, the sheeting

and laminating process 13 is performed on the dough. This process is illustrated by the flow diagram of Figure 3. As shown in this figure, various

cutting, rolling, and stretching operations are performed.

At box 40 in the flow diagram, a dough chunker divides the dough

into approximately 60-pound chunks in order to properly load a dough

feeder. At 41 , the conventional dough feeder receives the chunks of

dough dumped into a hopper. The feeder uses a belt and cutting blade to

deposit overlapping dough strips on a moving conveyor. The line of strips

measures 35-50 mm thick and 480-570 mm wide. A roller is next run

across the overlapped dough to spread and even the distribution of the

dough (42). The dough is then run through three sets of rollers to gently

work it into a thin sheet 6.5-8 mm thick (43).

High-melt margarine at a temperature between 65 and 71 degrees

F is extruded through a rectangular nozzle into a strip on the middle third section of the dough sheet (44). The quantity of margarine added by weight is equal to 10% of the total weight of the dough. The outer portions

of the dough are then folded in overlapping thirds, thus sandwiching the

margarine in the middle of the dough and forming a fatted dough.

The fatted dough is then stretched by a first stretcher at 45. In this

operation, a series of rollers are rotated in a circular fashion. The dough

passes underneath these rollers on three different conveyors at a speed

determined by a speed ratio setting. This setting in combination with the

clearance between the rollers and the belt determines the final thickness

of the dough after the rolling.

As shown in box 46, the fatted dough is "piled" by a first piler to

create a first series of layers. The piler travels back and forth distributing

the dough onto a conveyor belt situated at a 90 degree angle from the

direction of feed. The conveyor is thus loaded with a sheet of dough

having overlapping folds. The number of folds across the width of the

dough sheet is multiplied by two to determine the number of layers

presently in the dough. The dough is then stretched by a second stretcher

at 47 into a fatted sheet, and piled by a second piler at 48 to create a

layered sheet having a thickness between 15 and 20 mm. At this point,

the dough has its final sixteen-layer structure. The dough is then

smoothed by a cross roller at 49. Finally, at 50, a third stretcher rolls the

dough to a final thickness of 3-5 mm.

In order to determine the total number of layers the dough will eventually have, the number of layers present after the first piler is multiplied by the number of layers present after the second piler. For

example, if 4 layers are run after the first piler and 4 layers are run after

the second piler, the dough sheet will have a total of 16 layers.

After the final thickness is achieved, the dough sheet is cut into six

strips for rectangular pizza shapes or smaller individual sheets. For other

pizza shapes, the dough is left intact and lightly smoothed by a touch-up

roller at 51. The dough is then "docked" or punctured at 52 to prevent the

dough from expanding or "ballooning" in the punctured areas, and to

improve the baking characteristics of the dough in the oven. The

puncturing is performed by a docking roller with a large number of

projecting pins to punch a pattern of holes through the dough sheets.

Referring now to Figure 4 of the drawings, the particular and preferred pattern punched by the docking roller in the preferred

embodiment is shown. Preferably, the docking roller punctures three rows

of holes through the outside one-inch of each length of dough, thus

leaving the middle 2.5 inches free from any punctures. As shown more

particularly in the drawings, the dough sheet 100 includes perforate areas

103 and 102 located along elongated edges 108 of the sheet 100. Each

of the perforate areas 102 and 103 preferably contains three parallel rows

of punctures 114 spaced substantially apart to be defined within the outer

one-inch edge area of the sheet 100. The total width of the sheet 100,

and the length of leading or trailing edges 110 or 112, is preferably 4.5 inches. Similarly, on the perforate area 102, three rows punctures 114 are also spaced and defined within the outer one-inch area of the edge 108.

Located between the perforate areas 102 and 103 is an imperforate area

106 which is substantially free from punctures. Preferably, the imperforate

surface 106 contains no punctures; however, any number of punctures

which is substantially fewer than the density of punctures located in

perforate areas 102 and 103 can be considered to be imperforate for the

purposes of this disclosure and invention.

The docking holes are preferably punctured completely through the

dough, although the width and thickness of the holes may vary.

Preferably, the holes are no more than 2 millimeters in diameter at the top

surface of the dough, and the diameter may vary through the thickness of

the dough. The particular pattern shown in Figure 4 allows the dough

sheet 100 to exhibit improved baking characteristics, such as edge

crispiness, decreased puffiness, and a slight separation of layers upon

baking in the imperforate area 106 to improve flakiness.

Referring now to Figure 5, the dough sheet 200 is shown having

perforate areas 202 and 203 similar to those shown in Figure 4. In this

second embodiment, however, the imperforate area 206 is relatively wider

than the perforate areas 202 and 203. Preferably, as long as the rows of

docking holes are positioned substantially near the edges of the dough

sheet 200, improved baking characteristics as outlined above are still

exhibited by this embodiment. As noted above, the docking pattern as shown in the embodiments

of Figures 4-5 preferably comprises three spaced-apart rows of punctures

aligned with the outer edges of the dough sheets. In these embodiments,

the holes are regularly spaced .20 inches apart within the same row, and

the rows are preferably spaced .30 inches apart from each other and the

outermost row is .30 inches from the edge of the sheets. While this

arrangement is preferred, it may be modified to remain within the scope of

the contemplated invention. For example, the docking holes need not be

arranged in straight rows, nor need they be uniformly spaced.

Referring again to previous Figures 1-3, after the docking

procedure is finished, the dough is put into its final form at 53 by a cutter,

which cuts the dough into pizza shapes. The shapes are spaced evenly

on a conveyor to promote even baking.

The cut dough shapes are then baked into crusts in gas

impingement ovens set between 475 and 575 degrees F for 1.5-2.3

minutes.

The dough conveying system used in the above-described process

is preferably a Model 710 manufactured by Stephan Machinery. The high¬

speed dough mixer is a Model TK160, also preferably manufactured by

Stephan. The sheeting and laminating system preferably comprises

components manufactured by Rheon, and include the following

components and model numbers: Surface Cleaner Model SV013, Sheet

Folder Model FF111 , Stress Free Stretcher Model SM231 , Flour Duster Model DF103, Dough Feeder Model EX050, Underneath Conveyor Model

PC502, CWC Cross Action Roller Model M103, Fat Pump Model XC230,

Roll-In Conveyor Model WC303, Sheet Folder Model FF101 , Stress-Free

Stretcher Model SM501 , Pile-Up Table Model PC011 , Parallel Piler Model

LM608, Pile-Up Table Model PC103, Cross Roller Model CM523, Flour

Sweeper Model FV376, Stress-Free Stretcher Model SM318, Circular

Cutter Model OK833, Spacing Conveyor Model 2C672, Press Roller

Model MR308, Single Rotary Cutter Frame Model RK013, Synchronized

Conveyor Model MC013, and Guillotine Cutter Model GK013. The various

ranges settings for these devices are shown in the table below.

PREFERRED RANGES AND SETTINGS FOR EQUIPMENT

The preferred parameters for various dough dimensions and

temperatures are summarized below. These ranges are useful when the

process of the present invention is performed on alternative equipment.

The present invention is not limited to these parameters, although those

listed have been found to be optimal for the equipment used.

After the crusts are baked, they are cooled for a period of time before traditional pizza toppings are applied. The various stretching, rolling and docking procedures result in a

unique 16-layer laminated pizza crust with excellent taste and texture, and

improved baking characteristics. The crust is crispy and flaky, and is able

to withstand topping, freezing, and microwaving without any significant

degradation in these qualities.

Of course, it should be understood that a wide range of changes and

modifications can be made to the embodiment of the method described above. For example, variations in the ingredients, temperature

parameters, layering steps, or other parameters may be applied while

remaining within the contemplated scope of the invention. It is therefore

intended that the foregoing detailed description be regarded as illustrative

rather than limiting and that it be understood that it is the following claims,

including all equivalents, which are intended to define the scope of this

invention.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A laminated dough product comprising: a laminated dough sheet comprising alternating layers of a dough and a fat, said sheet including at least two separated perforate surfaces and an imperforate surface; said perforate surfaces being defined on said sheet along at least a first and second edge portions of said sheet, and including a plurality of perforated openings through said sheet; and said imperforate surface being defined on said sheet between said perforate surfaces.

2. The laminated dough product of claim 1 wherein each of said perforate surfaces further comprise at least three rows of said perforated openings extending substantially parallel to at least one of said first and second edge portions.

3. The laminated dough product of claim 2 wherein said dough sheet is substantially rectangular in shape.

4. The laminated dough product of claim 2 wherein said dough sheet is substantially circular in shape.

5. A laminated dough product comprising: a laminated dough sheet made by mixing a dough and rolling said dough into a sheet, extruding a fat onto said sheet, folding said sheet over said fat to form a fatted dough, rolling and folding said fatted dough to form a plurality of alternating layers of fat and dough, cutting said sheet into a shape, and forming at least two perforate areas separated by at least one imperforate area on each of said shapes.

6. The laminated dough product of claim 5 wherein said dough sheet defines a rectangular shape having a pair of substantially parallel, elongated edges, and the perforate areas are located adjacent the elongated edges of said rectangular shape.

7. The laminated dough product of claim 6 wherein said imperforate area is positioned between said perforate areas.

8. The laminated dough product of claim 6 wherein each of said perforate areas further comprises at least three substantially parallel rows of perforations extending substantially parallel to an elongated edge.

9. The laminated dough product of claim 8 wherein said laminated dough sheet further comp╧Çses at least sixteen layers of fat and dough.

10. A dough product comprising: a laminated dough sheet made by mixing a dough and rolling said dough into a sheet, extruding a fat onto said sheet, folding said sheet over said fat to form a fatted dough, rolling and folding said fatted dough to form a plurality of alternating layers of fat and dough, cutting said sheet into a rectangular sheet, forming a first perforated area along one edge of said sheet, forming a second perforated area along an opposite edge of said sheet, said perforated areas each comprising at least three straight rows of perforations.