TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to food technology concerning the dough composition for enhancing suitable crispness of food product for better customer satisfaction when consuming food comprising said dough composition.

BACKGROUND ART

In the field of food development technology, particularly in some types of food such as crunchy snacks, bakery or tempura flour that require the dough to provide crispy on the outside and soft on the inside to achieve satisfying its texture when consumed by the consumers. This can be done by physically adding air into the dough ingredient. The methods of adding air into the dough can be done by, for example, mixing or steaming, etc. Another method for enhancing crispness quality of the dough also includes adding leavening agent such as baking powder, baking soda, ammonia or yeast. These leavening agents will produce air cells or air pockets within the dough. Once exposed to heat, such as by deep frying or baking, these air cells or air pockets will expand and eventually enhance food crispness quality. With the main purpose of leavening agents being to improve dough texture in terms of lightness and fluffiness, however, any excessive use of these materials can result in lower crispness and taste quality (bitter) and may even result in gritty texture of the dough as well.

Generally, the application of flour in crunchy snacks manufacturing industry for improving crispness quality of the snacks, flours containing high amylose level, such as corn flour, rice flour and wheat flour, are commonly used. Tapioca flour, on the contrary, is commonly used as coating flour in the crunchy snacks due to its transparent, non-flavor and glossiness qualities or used in substitution of wheat flour in the bakery. A number of studies showed the common use of various types of starch and flour such as corn flour, rice flour and wheat flour in the production of crunchy snacks. For instance, US Patent No. 6,491,959 and U.S. Patent No. 5,747,092 described the production method for baked crunchy snack product containing air pockets produced from air cells on the surface of the snack product using pre-gelatinized potato or corn starch, pre-gelatinized waxy corn starch and/or wheat flour. According to these patents, production quantity and conditions had mainly been adjusted by adding chemical leavening agent not over than 5% by weight. Publication of U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0067282 Al described the production method of coated nuts or dehydrated f uits coated with risible and crispy dough made from pre- gelatinized waxy starch (of corn, rice, sorghum, etc.) mixed with wheat flour and raw potato starch added with chemical leavening agent not over than 1% by weight. Publication of PCT Application No. WO2015/157702 described food products produced from non-gelatinized flour, corn starch, waxy corn starch, potato starch or tapioca starch and may added chemical leavening agent not over than 2% by weight. Publication of U.S. Patent Application No. 2016/0165901 Al described the production method for frozen dough sheets having air pockets or air cavities structure by mixing chemical leavening agent and yeast into the dough prior to dough freezing process.

In addition, some prior works also revealed the method for producing dough that given the desired range of air cavity size. For instance, the Publication of PCT Application No. WO 03/079798 described the use of dough containing, at least, flour, yeast and water with air cavity size ranging between about 90 to about 220 microns, which give cellular matrix between the range of about 14% to about 45% of the dough without adding chemical leavening agent. European Patent No. 2 387 320 Bl described the method for producing honeycomb-structured air pockets within leavened food products containing fibers and hydrolyzed wheat flour by low heating evaporation (below 75 °C) under partial vacuum condition.

Furthermore, there has been a disclosure of leavening agent mechanism. For instance, U.S. Patent No. 5,773,068 described leavening agent composition comprising carbonate derivatives and hemi-potassium phosphate derivatives for use in frozen dough products. Based on the above, it can be found that in spite of the common use of various types of starch and flour in producing dough for crunchy snacks production, the use of waxy tapioca starch in the development of dough on international scale continues to remain relatively low.

In Thailand, however, there are several examples disclosed by academic articles revealing the use of tapioca flour in the adjusting of crunchy snacks recipe. For instance, crispy snacks recipe containing sweet potato flour, tapioca starch and dried fish powder to provide coloring and excellent crispness and non-gritty texture (Theerawat Thepchaikas and Kamolwan Chaengchad, Development of Crunchy Foods Recipe Containing Tapioca Flour, Sweet Potato Flour and Dried Fish Powder, The 39 ^th Academic Conference Kasetsart University: Fishery and Agricultural Industries, 5-7 February 2001, ISBN: 974-553-929-5 pages 500-507); Calcium-fortified French Fries Made from Mashed Cassava Variety Ha-Natee Mixed with Fine Ground Calcium Carbonate (Netnapit Wattanasuchart, Development of French Fries Made from Calcium-fortified Mashed Cassava, Food Journal, 34 ^th Year, 2 ^nd Edition, April 2 - June, 2004). Nevertheless, there has been no report on the use of dough composition containing waxy starch, especially waxy tapioca starch, in industrial-level production of crunchy snacks with suitable air cell diameter and cracking resistance and texture, such as crispness, and can be used in the production of other products.

DISCLOSURE

The objective of this invention is to develop food using dough composition with key ingredients, at least, including flour made from grains, waxy starch and leavening agent to produce food products with excellent crispness quality. This can be achieved by reformulating product recipe to have appropriate quantity to achieve the desired crispness profile, including suitable air cell diameter size and cracking resistance.

In a first embodiment of this invention, dough composition comprises a) grains flour of at least 50% by dry weight; b) waxy starch in the range from 20% to 50% by dry weight; and c) leavening agent in the range from 0.5% to .2% by dry weight. In a further embodiment of this invention, the waxy starch according to b) is waxy starch, in which derived from tapioca.

In another embodiment of this invention, the dough composition of this invention is one of the ingredients of the products relating to food in which the said products have texture, particularly in terms of excellent crispness, due to the suitable air cell diameter size and cracking resistance of the dough.

DETAIL OF INVENTION

According to the first embodiment of this invention, waxy starch used in the dough composition of this invention may originate from corn, rice, potato, tapioca or previously described mixed-starch. Waxy starch deriving from tapioca, however, is more preferable for use as the ingredient of the dough composition of this invention.

In addition, one example embodiment of this invention described that waxy starch which is the ingredient contained in the dough composition of this invention may require certain modification using the methods commonly recognized among the specialists of this field such as physical modification, chemical modification or both. Physical modification method may include heating-cooling methods such as pre-gelatinization, extrusion, spray drying, drum drying, annealing, heat moisture treatment or other methods such as pressurizing, depressurizing or using electromagnetic field. Chemical modification may include dextrinization; esterification by adding acetate groups, ethylene glycol, polyethylene or phosphate; adding acids such as organic or inorganic acid; starch crosslinking by using commonly recognized crosslinking agents. Nevertheless, waxy starch which is the ingredient contained in the dough composition of this invention must still undergo through one or more following modification processes, namely pre- gelatinization, extrusion, spray drying, dextrinization, adding acetate group and starch crosslinking.

In another example embodiment of this invention, the type of flour or its origin, which the flour is used as the ingredient of the dough composition of this invention, is normally not specified as long as it is the flour made from grains which also include but not limited to the flour deriving from, for example, corn, wheat, rice, sorghum, rye, barley, beans, tapioca, potato, buckwheat, chestnuts or mixture of the prescribed flours. However, flour deriving from wheat, rice or combination of wheat and rice flours are found to be more preferable for use as the ingredient of the dough composition of this invention.

Another example embodiment of this invention is the use of leavening agent as the key ingredient in controlling the air cells. The leavening agent used as the ingredient of the dough composition of this invention is the leavening agent commonly recognized among the specialists of this field. Single leavening agent is, for example, baking powder, yeast, bicarbonate derivatives such as sodium bicarbonate or ammonium bicarbonate or combining agent of the bicarbonate derivatives. Multiple leavening agents as indicated in U.S. Patent No. 5,773,068 or combining agent of the previously described leavening agents could also be used.

The content of each ingredient of the dough composition of this invention is determined in a suitable range, namely: grains flour of at least 50% by dry weight, such as preferably at least 55%, 60%, 65%, 70% or 75%, etc.; waxy starch ranging between 20% to 50% by dry weight, preferably at least approximately 27%; and leavening agent ranging between 0.5% to 2% by dry weight, preferably at least approximately 0.6%. This is to ensure enhanced crispness texture of the food product as a resulted of the air cell diameter ranging between 0.1 to 1 millimeter and cracking resistance not exceeding 20 Newtons.

In an additional embodiment of this invention, some ingredient may also be added, for example, hydrocolloid which is normally used for enhancing food thickening or viscosity to achieve the desired texture. In this invention, however, hydrocolloid is added not exceeding 1% by dry weight to avoid any adverse effect on the overall texture of food product. The said hydrocolloid might be deriving from plants or animals such as carrageenan, gelatin, pectin, and even cellulose derivatives such as carboxymethyl cellulose or alginate cellulose.

In the preferred embodiments for this invention, the dough composition of this invention is used for producing food products according to the embodiment of the invention. The method of which is comprising of the following steps: Mix dough ingredients which are grains flour, waxy starch and leavening agent together, and hydrocolloid may be added optionally, for the pre-determined quantity. The preferable example embodiment of mixing dough ingredients is to mix the four ingredients which are grains flour, waxy starch, leavening agent and hydrocolloid until they become homogenously. Additionally, in an optional embodiment, if it would be used as food coating material, only the two ingredients which are grains flour and waxy starch are mixed together. Then, the leavening agent are separated from the dough blend for later use such as by spraying on top of the dough blend while using.

Prepare dough lumps by adding water into the mixture of the dough obtained from the previous step. The preferable water content for the dough lump preparation ranges between 70% to 150% by dry weight.

Start kneading and shaping the dough using the methods recognized by the specialists of this field such as dough pressing machine to become dough sheets or extruder. In an optional embodiment, the dough may be shaped in a form of food coating using drum coating machine.

Conduct dehumidification and production to produce food product, examples, but not limited to, of the dehumidification may include baking, frying or roasting. The preferable embodiment of dehumidification according to this invention is baking, such as using hot air ovens or various dryer machines, including rotary dryers, drum dryers, conveyor dryers and fluidized bed dryers. As the baking allows heat to be transferred to the dough, causing moisture inside the dough to evaporate, thereby producing air cavities inside the dough and causing it to rise and then developing lightly crisp texture. An additional embodiment of the dehumidification by means of baking is to hold a preferable temperature. In baking, the preferable temperature for dehumidification ranges between 140 °C to 180 °C for 10 to 40 minutes. This temperature range will result in the dough expansion and also a perfect lightly crisp texture.

Food products resulting from the above described production process may be used as crunchy snacks directly or tempura flour or bread crumbs in the production of food products requiring crisp texture such as coated nuts, dehydrated fruits or fried meat tempura, etc.

The followings describe additional examples of this invention for the purpose of providing examples only and does not limit the scope of this invention.

Examples of Invention

Example 1 - Dough Production Mix dry ingredients of the dough comprising of 75% grains flour, 20% waxy tapioca starch, 2% salt, 1.5% leavening agent, 1.5% emulsifier and/or hydrocolloid with water in the dry ingredients/water ratio of 1 :0.9 together in the mixing machine until they become a dough. Then, the dough is fed into a pressing machine to produce dough sheets with approximately 1 millimeter thickness or is used as an element for food coating before heating until it is cooked.

Example 2 - Coated Nuts Production

In this example, the dough is used to coat nuts for coated nuts production. This is done by double-layer coating for 100 grams of nuts. The first-layer coating acts as priming coating and is produced by using drum coating machine at the speed of 25 rounds per minute with a mixture comprising of 12% wheat flour by total weight and alternates with spraying with binding agents including 0.1% leavening agent by total weight. The second-layer coating is produced by using drum coating machine at the speed of 25 rounds per minute with the dough composition of this invention including 15% wheat flour by total weight and 15% waxy tapioca starch by weight and alternates with spraying with binding agent including 0.5% leavening agent by total weight. This will produce peanuts coated with the dough composition of this invention along the external surface of the nuts. Then, the coated peanuts is baked at 160 °C for 20 minutes, followed by measuring air cell diameter of the baked and coated peanuts by using Stereo Microscope, Model Stemi 508 under the Zeiss brand and measuring cracking resistance using Texture Analyzer, Model TA-XT2i under the Stable Micro Systems brand with Cylinder Probe P/36R with 36 mm in diameter, the measuring results are shown in Table 1.

Comparison Example 1

An experiment was conducted by using the same materials and. equipment as those of Example 2, except the dough composition used for the second-layer coating. In this case, native tapioca starch is used in replacement of waxy tapioca starch. The test results are shown in Table 1. Comparison Example 2

An experiment was conducted by using the same materials and equipment as those of Example 2, except the dough composition used for the second-layer coating. In this case, chemically modified native tapioca starch is used in replacement of waxy tapioca starch. The test results are shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Example Air Cell Diameter Cracking Resistance

(millimeter) (Newtons)

Example 2 0.89 ± 0.09 19 ± 1 Comparison Example 1 0.11 ± 0.03 87 ± 5

Comparison Example 2 0.28 ± 0.08 64 ± 4

Based on the test results, Example 2 profile significantly showed wider air cell diameter (in millimeter) comparing to other examples. In terms of cracking resistance, however, Example 2 profile significantly showed lower cracking resistance (in Newton) comparing to other examples. This indicates that coated nuts according to Example 2 has better crispness profile comparing to other examples by holding level of significance.

Despite the above descriptions which referred to various examples, it can be comprehended among the specialists of this field that certain adjustment or substitution of dough composition can be performed within the scope of this invention. Furthermore, such adjustment can be performed for the purpose of conditioning or adjusting the ingredients to ensure consistency with the disclosure of this invention while significant maintaining the scope of the invention.

BEST MODE

As described in the detailed Description of the invention.