WO2017108335A1

WO2017108335A1 - Packaged ready-to-bake dough product

Info

Publication number: WO2017108335A1
Application number: PCT/EP2016/078925
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chantel GREWAL; Marla BELZOWSKI; Samuel Lamar Huffman; Carrie CHEW
Original assignee: Nestec S.A.
Priority date: 2015-12-21
Filing date: 2016-11-28
Publication date: 2017-06-29

Abstract

The present invention relates to apackaged ready-to-bake dough product comprising a package having an interior cavity, a supporting base and a groove at the periphery of the supporting base; a raw dough; and a material enclosing, sealing off and/or covering the package. A further aspect of the invention isamethod for preparing a baked dough product with making use of the packaged dough product.

Description

Packaged ready-to-bake dough product

The present invention relates to a packaged ready-to-bake dough product comprising raw dough and which is intended for being decorated with toppings and sauces before baking.

Examples of such products are pizza, pie and cookie crusts. A further aspect of the invention is a method for preparing such a baked dough product.

Dough products such as for example pizza products are very popular with consumers around the world. Thereby, consumers do not only want to consume such products out-of-home as for example in specialized restaurants such as Pizzeria's, but also want to prepare them in an as much as possible authentic style at home. One way of producing such pizza products at home typically consists of buying and using a prepared chilled dough which is typically provided in the form of a packaged block of raw dough which needs to be sheeted by the consumer in his kitchen. Alternatively, the chilled dough can be bought already in the form of a sheeted piece of raw dough which is typically provided rolled and packaged in a container such as a box or can.

For example US 2008/0193612 Al discloses a refrigerator-stable packaged dough product in the form of a block of raw dough. The dough comprises a chemical leavening agent and expands in the package until a certain internal pressure is obtained. A consumer can the use this dough for preparing e.g. breads and bread-like products such as French bread, bread rolls, pizza crust, raised donuts etc.. Depending on what dough product the consumer wishes to make, he or she then needs to further form and/or sheet this block of raw dough. US 2004/0241292 Al describes a packaged raw dough composition inside of a flexible package and which can proof and expand within this flexible package without substantially stretching the package and not needing substantial headspace. The dough composition can be refrigerated or frozen, proofed or un- proofed. Here as well, the consumer has to process the raw dough composition further to bring it into its ultimate shape and form for the desired product application. US 5,084,284 describes a spiral wound tubular container for vacuum packing a refrigerated dough product. Particularly disclosed is a method of proofing a raw dough, adapted for refrigeration, in an improved container. US 7,604,827 describes a dough package that has a sheet of dough and another sheet of a non-adhesive separator media cooperatively wound in a spiral assembly which is then fit inside a rigid container. Today, a consumer at home wishing to make his own home made pizza product with using commercially available raw dough's as known from the prior art, needs to further process this dough into an appropriate shape by sheeting, kneading or other manipulation, to form for example a rim at the outer periphery of a dough sheet. Besides being messy in the kitchen, such manipulations rarely result in good looking authentic artisan- looking pizza products which have a nice dough rim that prevents leakage of e.g. tomato sauce or molten cheese from the pizza top surface.

Hence, there is still a persisting need in the art and the food industry to find alternative and better solutions for providing packaged raw dough to a consumer which he can use immediately for making for example a pizza product and this without any further need to form or manipulate the raw dough. Furthermore, there is also a desire to provide consumers with a pre-formed raw dough product which looks artisan-like and which has a functional and authentic looking rim to prevent dripping off of added toppings and sauces.

Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to improve the state of the art and to provide an improved packaged ready-to-bake dough product which has an artisan-like authentic looking rim to prevent e.g. dripping or leaking of added toppings and sauces . The object of the present invention is achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. The dependent claims further develop the idea of the present invention.

Accordingly, the present invention provides in a first aspect a packaged ready-to-bake dough product comprising:

- a package having an interior cavity, a supporting base and a groove at the periphery of the supporting base;

- a raw dough comprising water and flour, wherein the raw dough fills the interior cavity and the groove of the package; and - a material enclosing, sealing off and/or covering the package comprising the raw dough.

In a second aspect, the invention relates to a method for preparing a baked dough product with making use of the

packaged ready-to-bake dough product of the present invention comprising the steps of: - removing the material enclosing, sealing off and/or covering the package of the packaged dough product;

- inverting the package filled with the raw dough upside down onto a baking surface;

- removing the package from the raw dough;

- optionally decorating or topping the raw dough with edible ingredients; and

- baking the raw dough in an oven. It has been found by the inventors that a packaged ready-to- bake dough product can be produced by placing a raw dough, which has not been pre-baked and therefore still has the viscosity of a freshly prepared raw dough, into a package tray which has a substantially flat supporting base and a groove basically running around the periphery of said supporting base, and then placing in or sealing off the so filled

packaged dough with a material which encloses and protects the packaged dough from the environment. The still plastic

viscosity of the raw dough will allow the dough to ^xfall' into and completely fill the groove of the tray over time, e.g. during the shelf-life, helped by natural gravity of the dough. This will then define the ultimate 3 dimensional shape of the raw dough which it will keep while stored e.g. at a

distributor for sale or at home for example in a refrigerator.

Upon use, a consumer will then open the pack, remove the packaged dough product from its enclosing material and invert it upside down onto a backing paper or other baking surface. After careful removal of the package tray, the raw dough typically stays in its 3 dimensional form as adapted and provided for by the shape of the package for quite some time, and typically long enough for being topped with different food ingredients such as e.g. tomato sauce and cheese, and then being brought into an oven for baking.

The package filled with the raw dough is designed to have a groove at the periphery of the supporting base. Once opened and flipped over onto e.g. a backing paper, the temporary stable form of the raw dough provides a quasi-flat surface having a raised rim at the edge of the flat surface. This rim prevents liquid toppings from leaking off the flat surface when applied, and upon baking this rim will create a raised crust as known from typical artisan-type pizza products.

Therefore also for example melted cheese will not leak from the top surface of such a pizza product after baking. The newly developed such packaged dough product has several advantages over the prior art solutions as indicated above. Particularly, the new solution is much more convenient for consumers. It allows a consumer to just unpack the packaged dough product at home, add the toppings he or she likes, and then put everything straight into an oven for backing. No handling of the raw dough is needed anymore.

A further advantage of the present invention is that the final quality of the dough product is improved over the prior art solutions. The present solution allows optimal air cell retention in the dough. As the consumer does not need to manipulate the dough after it has been removed from the package, the dough will be able to raise more and to better maintain the designed airy structure upon baking, than when the dough needs to be freshly sheeted again or when using a raw dough sheet which has been rolled and compressed before. Thus, the present solution provides a dough product with an improved air cell strength which finally results in a better baked pizza type product.

A still further advantage of the present invention is that the present solution allows adding a natural, artisan-like visual aspect to the shape of the dough product. Particularly, for example, the rim does not need to be in a perfect geometrical shape but could have imperfections such as embossments. The same is true for the supporting base which does not need to be perfectly flat. All this is not possible with currently industrially produced dough products which are always provided in a perfect form and/or pre-sheeted and rolled, not allowing to introduce deliberate shape imperfections mimicking

artisanal hand-work.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 : View of a first package tray used in Example 1. A) shows photograph picture, B) shows schematic cross section. Figure 2 : Schematic drawing of second package tray used in Example 1.

Figure 3: Results of baking trails performed by a regular consumer .

Figure 4 : A package tray having a supporting base with an embossed pattern.

Figure 5: Different shapes and forms of package trays with regular and irregular grooves.

Figure 6: Schematic presentation of method of use of the packaged dough product. Detailed Description of the invention

The present invention pertains to a packaged ready-to-bake dough product comprising: - a package having an interior cavity, a supporting base and a groove at the periphery of the supporting base;

The term "ready-to-bake dough product" herein refers to a dough which does not need to be further manipulated or

treated, e.g. by mixing further ough ingredients' into the dough as e.g. a leavening agent, water and/or flour.

Furthermore and preferably, the dough does not need to be changed or modified in its shape as already provided by the package form, once it has been removed from said package.

A "raw dough" means that the dough has not been baked or pre- baked after its preparation. The raw dough is still in the form of a viscous, plastic substance. In one embodiment, the package of the packaged dough product is a tray. This has the advantage that any specific and desired 3 dimensional forms can be adapted and implemented quite easily. In said tray the groove is a protrusion wherein the protrusion is directed from the interior cavity of said tray outwards .

Typically, the package of the present invention is made of a plastic material, paper material, cardboard, or a combination thereof. For example, the material can be laminated plastic material, laminated paper material or a combination thereof. Typical plastic materials which can be used are Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) or a multi-layer barrier construction consisting of Ethyl Vinyl Alcohol (EVOH) or similar barrier layer. Typical paper materials which can be used are pressed or molded paper that may also contain greaseproof properties, either obtained mechanically or through chemical additives or treatments .

In one embodiment, the supporting base of the packaged dough product is substantially flat. "Substantially flat" herein means essentially flat relating to a general visual aspect in view of an entire food product, such as e.g. a pizza crust, and not absolutely flat as would be understood in a strict geometric, mathematical view.

In a further embodiment, the supporting base of the packaged dough product is embossed with a regular or irregular pattern. Such a regular or irregular pattern could consist of a dimpled or textured surface as for example shown in Figure 4. An advantage of having such an embossed supporting base is to reduce the level of adherence of the dough product to the base. An additional benefit of having such an embossed

supporting base is aesthetic appeal to the consumer. The consumer may feel that the product is more artisanal or homemade if it doesn't have perfectly smooth surfaces.

In a preferred embodiment, the packaged dough product

comprises the groove, wherein the groove surrounds the entire periphery of the supporting base of the package. This will, after removal from the package, provide a raw dough product which has a rim which extends along the entire periphery of the dough area which is substantially flat. This will most effectively prevent leaking of any liquid toppings from said substantially flat dough surface area. In a specific embodiment, the groove of the packaged dough product has a depth in the range from 2mm to 5cm. Preferably the depth is in the range from 4mm to 3cm, and more preferably from above 7mm to at least 2.5cm.

In another specific embodiment, the groove of the packaged dough product has a width in the range from 2mm to 5cm.

Preferably the width is in the range from 1cm to 4cm, and more preferably from about 1.5cm to 3cm.

In a further specific embodiment, the groove of the packaged dough product has an irregular depth and/or width along its extent. Such an irregular depth and/or width can be for example in the form of embossments. This allows for example to provide a form of a dough rim which has the aspect of a man- made artisanal pizza rim. Examples are shown in Figure 5.

Furthermore, Figure 5 illustrates different possible forms of packaging trays and/or grooves. It is understood that such different forms of packages and/or grooves can also be

combined with the groove having an irregular depth and/or width along its extent.

In one embodiment, the raw dough of the packaged dough product according to the present invention comprises flour which is un-gelatinized. "Un-gelatinized" means that the intermolecular hydrogen bonds of the starch molecules in the flour are not broken down in the presence of water as the flour was never heated in the presence of water to or above the critical gelatinization temperature of said flour. Hence, the flour and starch granules are not in a water swollen state.

Typically, the raw dough of the packaged dough product

comprises water in a range from 35 - 45 wt% (weight percent of total raw dough) . Preferably, the water content of the dough is in the range from 38 - 41 wt% (weight percent of total raw dough) . Typically, the water activity is below 0.97 Aw and above 0.94 Aw. Preferably, the water activity is at around 0.96 Aw. Packaged dough products produced under such

conditions can be stored for 4-6 weeks at a temperature ranging from 2 to 8°C. The dough is typically packaged 0-24 hours of production. In a preferred embodiment, the raw dough of the packaged dough product comprises a leavening agent. The leavening agent can be a chemical or a biological leavening agent. Use of a leavening agent provides a dough which is more fluffy and has more and larger cells enclosing air. Typically, leavened dough' s also provide a dough crust which has more taste and flavor. Therefore in a further preferred embodiment, the raw dough of the packaged dough product is proofed or partially proofed . In one embodiment, the packaged dough product according to the present invention comprises the material enclosing the package filled with the raw dough in the form of a pouch. Advantages of using the material in the form of a pouch are that it allows for the product to be packaged for example with a modified atmosphere of either nitrogen, carbon dioxide or a mixture of the two. The pouch format also allows for more flexibility when changing the design of the interior tray because this could reduce changeover during manufacturing. Having the pouch around the entire tray means that the tray itself may not require barrier properties of the material, which could reduce production cost. In a specific embodiment, the material enclosing the package comprises a venting mechanism. Particularly, the material enclosing the package, which is in the form of a pouch, comprises a venting mechanism. The venting mechanism for example allows evacuating excess gas produced by the raw dough within the packaged dough product, if needed. This would prevent unnecessary blowing up of the material enclosing the package such as a pouch or even to prevent rupture of the material enclosing the package in case of excess production of gas by the raw dough.

In a particular embodiment of the present invention, the material enclosing the package filled with the raw dough is a film re-movably sealed to the border of the package. This particular solution can be for example in combination with a material enclosing the package in the form of a pouch, or an alternative to the solution where the material enclosing the package is a pouch. In one embodiment of the present invention, the packaged dough product is an unbaked pizza crust, an unbaked pie crust, an unbaked cookie crust, an unbaked bread crust or an unbaked pastry crust. The packaged dough product of the present invention is suitable for being stored at a refrigerated temperature.

In a second aspect, the present invention relates to a method for preparing a baked dough product with making use of the packaged ready-to-bake dough product of the present invention comprising the steps of:

- removing the material enclosing, sealing off and/or covering the package of the packaged dough product; - inverting the package filled with the raw dough upside down onto a baking surface;

- removing the package from the raw dough;

- optionally decorating or topping the raw dough with edible ingredients; and

- baking the raw dough in an oven.

Upon use, a consumer will open the pack, remove the packaged dough product from its enclosing material and invert it upside down onto a backing paper or other baking surface. After careful removal of the package tray, the raw dough typically stays in its 3 dimensional form as adapted and provided for by the shape of the package for quite some time, typically at least 30 minutes, and therefore long enough for being topped with different food ingredients such as e.g. tomato sauce and cheese, and then being brought into an oven for baking.

A schematic presentation of the method of use is shown in Figure 6.

Those skilled in the art will understand that they can freely combine all features of the present invention disclosed herein. In particular, features described for the product of the present invention may be combined with the method of the present invention and vice versa. Further, features described for different embodiments of the present invention may be combined. Further advantages and features of the present invention are apparent from the figures and examples. Example 1 :

First package trays (1) according to Figure 1, having an interior cavity (2), a supporting base (3) and a groove (4) at the periphery of the supporting tray (1) have been produced by standard thermoforming technology. The tray was made of a copolymer polypropylene material. Second package trays (1) according to Figure 2, having an interior cavity (2), a supporting base (3) and a groove (4) at the periphery of the supporting tray (1) have been produced by standard thermoforming, cutting, and packing technology.

Particularly, here the supporting base (3) was made of

cardboard, and the part comprising the groove (4) was made with copolymer polypropylene material.

Raw pizza dough was prepared as known in the art with using wheat flour, active dry yeast, water, some salt, olive oil and sugar as ingredients. The raw dough had a water activity of 0.96 Aw .

12 hours after production of the raw dough, the dough was portioned into about 300 g individual portions which were then used each to fill round trays as specified in Figure 1 or 2. The diameter of the trays was about 24 cm, the groove had a width of 2cm and a depth of 1.5cm. The individually filled trays where then packaged and sealed each into pouches made of PET, flashed with a 50/50 blend of CO₂ and N₂, and stored at 4°C for 5 weeks. Thereafter, the packaged ready-to-bake pizza dough products were provided to a panel of consumers in a controlled consumer test and the following instructions were provided :

pre-heat oven to 480°F (249°C) for 1 hour

- prepare and pre-weigh tomato sauce and cheese to be used as pizza topping into souffle cups and keep in refrigerator until ready to use use scissors to open package. Once open, take a photo of the underside of the tray. We'd like to record how much the dough 'seeped' into the rim of the package

place baking paper on a 'black' HP Denver pan

- flip package upside down and gently pull the dough out of the package onto baking paper - there should be a distinct rim facing upward

take a photo of the dough without docking or sauce

dock 15 times with fork (plastic is good)

- top the pizza with only 75 grams of sauce - leaving about 1/2" (about 1.3 cm) around the edge free of sauce

bake the pizza for 8 minutes on the pan, on the center rack in the oven

top the pizza with 75 grams of cheese - also only putting cheese on top of the sauce, leaving 1/2" free around the edge bake for an additional 5 minutes

transfer to a pizza peel (including paper) and take a photo

The results as presented in Figure 3 showed that the rim of the dough crust was very uniform and had a 'large' and good appearance. The dough texture of the rim was soft and good. Those results compared very well with an artisanal hand-made pizza .

Claims

A packaged ready-to-bake dough product comprising:

- a package having an interior cavity, a supporting base and a groove at the periphery of the supporting base ;

- a raw dough comprising water and flour, wherein the raw dough fills the interior cavity and the groove of the package; and

- a material enclosing, sealing off and/or covering the package comprising the raw dough.

The packaged dough product according to claim 1, wherein the package is a tray.

The packaged dough product according to claim 2, wherein the groove is a protrusion in said tray and wherein the protrusion is directed from the interior cavity outwards.

The packaged dough product according to one of the claims 1-3, wherein the package is made of a plastic material, paper material, cardboard, or a combination thereof.

The packaged dough product according to one of the claims 1-4, wherein the supporting base is substantially flat.

The packaged dough product according to one of the claims 1-5, wherein the supporting base is embossed with a regular or irregular pattern.

The packaged dough product according to one of the claims 1-6, wherein the groove surrounds the entire periphery of the supporting base of the package.

The packaged dough product according to claim 7, wherein the groove has a depth in the range from 2mm to 5cm.

9. The packaged dough product according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the groove has a width in the range from 2mm to 5cm.

10. The packaged dough product according to one of the claims 7-9, wherein the groove has an irregular depth and/or width along its extent.

11. The packaged dough product according to one of the claims 1-10, wherein the flour is un-gelatinized.

12. The packaged dough product according to one of the claims 1-11, wherein the raw dough comprises water in a range from 35 - 45 wt% .

13. The packaged dough product according to one of the claims 1-12, wherein the raw dough further comprises a leavening agent .

14. The packaged dough product according to claim 13, wherein the leavening agent is a chemical or a biological

leavening agent .

15. The packaged dough product according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the raw dough is proofed or partially proofed.

16. The packaged dough product according to one of the claims

1-15, wherein the material enclosing the package filled with the raw dough is in the form of a pouch.

17. The packaged dough product according to claim 16, wherein the material enclosing the package comprises a venting mechanism.

18. The packaged dough product according to one of the claims 1-15, wherein the material enclosing the package filled with the raw dough is a film re-movably sealed to the border of the package.

19. The packaged dough product according to one of the claims 1-18, which is an unbaked pizza crust, an unbaked pie crust, an unbaked cookie crust, an unbaked bread crust or an unbaked pastry crust.

20. The packaged dough product according to claim 19, which is suitable for being stored at a refrigerated

temperature .

21. A method for preparing a baked dough product with making use of the packaged ready-to-bake dough product of one of the claims 1-20 comprising the steps of:

- removing the material enclosing, sealing off and/or covering the package of the packaged dough product;

- inverting the package filled with the raw dough

upside down onto a baking surface;

- removing the package from the raw dough;

- optionally decorating or topping the raw dough with edible ingredients; and

- baking the raw dough in an oven.