The related art A trend in daily living which has become apparent in recent years is that more and more meals are taken out-of-home. In its most simple form this is the consumption of a bread snack. In the context of this patent the term bread snack will be generally used for a relative small piece of bread, usually denoted as sandwiches, rolls etc., which has been prepared with a tasty filling of cheese, fish or meat, often combined with various kinds of vegetables. The sale of such bread snacks is often found in gas stations, waiting rooms, snack bars, office restaurants etc.

The average consumer highly appreciates the fresh appearance and taste of a served bread snack which is freshly prepared at demand. This is quite common practice in a snackbar, but happens less often in a gas station. There pre-fabricated bread snacks are offered in a packaged take-away form which is practical for hurried people. However, a bread snack, particularly when stored under cooled conditions, quickly looses its freshness quality, usually within one day after the preparation of the snack. This process of deterioration is

generally accepted as unavoidable for bread snacks not prepared at the day of consumption.

The bread snacks which are the object of the present invention are prepared with ingredients which are quite sensitive to withering and fading. The snacks are characterized by a filling comprising one or more ingredients chosen from the group consisting of cheese, fish, meat and pesto and one or more kinds of fruits and vegetables, one of which is lettuce.

Generally, the meaning of freshness varies with the type of food. Some kinds of food have lost their freshness already the day after harvesting or preparation (cooking or baking), other ones may remain fresh for several days or even longer, but always for a limited time. Freshness by its nature is a temporary property of a food product.

Bread is a product which is consumed preferably within 24 hours after baking. After a day the staling process becomes perceptible. The freshness related aspects texture, firmness and resilience of the crumb can be easily tested by softly pressing the bread, and when not satisfactory the snack is no longer considered as fresh. Bread snacks when prepared with a filling, may loose their freshness even earlier because moisture from the filling ingredients migrates into the bread.

For hygienic reasons bread snacks are stored under cooled conditions which, however, accelerate the staling process.

In this specification the freshness property of a bread snack is defined as being present when the appearance and the taste of the bread snack do not. substantially differ from those of a similar snack but prepared and packed at the day of the freshness assessment. The freshness property particularly

includes the tactile perception caused by said soft pressing the bread crumb.

The appeal to a prospective consumer of the present bread snack is based on its healthy, colourful and particularly fresh appearance., To obtain such appeal the usual one-day freshness of a common bread snack had to be prolonged preferably up to four days after its preparation. This would allow a reasonable shelf life for a selling point where daily change of stock is not possible. The development, however, of a snack with prolonged freshness appeared to be a serious challenge.

Traditionally, wrapping some plastic foil is the common method for preserving the freshness of a bread snack. This measure, however, is insufficient for obtaining the wanted several days freshness, particularly when the bread snack has the described meat and vegetables filling.

Summary Of The Invention It has been found that the presence of olive oil in bread has an advantageous effect on the freshness of bread snacks prepared with such bread. The present invention relates to the bread snack as defined in claim 1. The snack is characterized by a freshness which persists beyond the first 24 hours after its preparation.

Details Of The Invention The snack preferably is prepared with"Italian"bread, more preferably ciabatta bread. For the present snack a soft crust variant is chosen. The traditional recipes for ciabatta bread contain olive oil, preferably virgin olive oil. The bread

contains 0.1-10% of olive oil calculated on the dry matter of the bread, preferably 0.5-8%, more preferably 1-6%. A suitable amount is about 6% of olive oil. The olive oil may be supplemented by another suitable vegetable oil. Preferred oils are sunflower oil, sesam oil or nut oil.

Focaccia bread like ciabatta bread originates from Italy and its composition comprises typical herbs. Recipes for ciabatta and focaccia bread dough are well known or easily accesible to the skilled baker. The focaccia herbs, when added to the ciabatta dough have a favourable effect not only on the taste but also on the freshness of the packed bread snack.

The dough used for preparing the snack bread further contains the usual ingredients for bread preparation. The addition of bakery emulsifiers, particularly diacetyl tartaric acid esters of glycerides (DATA) and/or diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monoglycerides (DATEM), further improves the prolonged freshness condition. Preferred amounts of DATA and/or DATEM are 0.05 to 0.5%, preferably 0.1 to 0.3%..

Other emulsifiers known in the art may be added in addition to DATEM and/or DATA. Examples of such emulsifiers are mono- and/or diglycerides, polyoxyethylene stearates, sugar esters of fatty acids, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, lactic acid esters of monoglycerides, acetic acid esters of monoglycerides, lecithins or phospholipids.

A dough according to the invention will generally comprise flour, water and one or more leavening agents. Examples of suitable flours are soy flour, whole meal, wheat flower, high gluten flour or combinations thereof.

Suitable leavening agents are yeast, baking powder, sodium carbonate and sodium hydrogen carbonate.

The amount and ratio of flour, water and leavening agent can be easily determined by the person skilled in the art depending on the type of bread to be prepared. A typical dough according to the invention comprises 45-70 wt% of flour, 45-20 wt% of water and up to 10 wt% of leavening agent.

In accordance with established baking practice the dough may comprise one or more further components selected from the group consisting of: seeds, nuts, dried raisins, sultanas, milk powder, gluten, granulated fat, anti-oxidant (e. g. ascorbic acid, potassium bromate, potassium iodate, ammonium persulfate), amino acids (e. g. cysteine), a salt chosen from the group consisting of sodium chloride, calcium acetate, sodium sulfate, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, sodium carbonate and sodium hydrogen carbonate, sugar, colourants, preservatives and flavours.

The bread, for a snack according to the invention is prepared, for example, by first mixing and kneading the dough ingredients except the oil. Then the oil is added to the mixture, preferably in the last three minutes of the kneading step.

Preferably the kneading lasts at least 5 minutes. Then the dough is proofed, formed, allowed to rest, optionally pricked and cut, proofed, pre-baked, cooled, blast frozen and baked.

The bread when taken from the oven is allowed some cooling time before it is prepared with the filling and packed. For hygienic reasons cooled storage conditions are applied.

The choice of a proper package form considerably contributes to the improved fresh appearance of the final packed bread snack.

Preferably a package is chosen which is shaped as an at least partially transparent, shallow tray, for the major part consisting of a stiff, rigid material, preferably a thermoformed polyethylene polyester plastic. See figure 1.

Shallow means that the depth is less than both length and breadth. During eating, the open tray may suitably function as a spoiled bread crumbs collector.

The package transparancy serves to show up the snack's characteristic oval form and bread decoration and the filling which is made partially visible.

A further aspect of the package is that the tray by its oval form tightly fits to the oval shaped snack. See figure 2. The tightly fitting shape accentuates the characteristic three- dimensional snack form. The stiff pre-formed material provides an effective mechanical protection until the package is opened by the consumer. It protects the soft and pressure sensitive snack in the display against undesirable touching and squeezing for proof of freshness.

A package of this type allows easy print of information and decoration and the display of the snacks in standing as well as in hanging position.

After filling the tray with the prepared snack, it is sealed at its back side by a plastic foil which preferably has a dark colour and so provides a contrasting background for the inside snack.

The sealed package effectiveley protects the snack against microbiological contamination and drying and guarantees that the package has not been opened after production.

The filling of the snack comprises one or more kinds of vegetables, one of which always is a leaf of lettuce. Further ingredients are chosen from the group consisting of cheese, fish, meat and pesto. Preferably, the ingredients composition is chosen such that it supports the"Italian"image of the snack. Suitable fillings are various kinds of salads, pesto, tuna, smoked fish, cheese, tomato, aubergines, cucumber, spreads, mayonnaise, ham, chicken, prawns, herbs, spices, or combinations thereof.

Often freshness quality is outwardly judged by the appearance of the vegetables, particularly of the lettuce leaf. Therefore and for an attractive showing up in the shop's display, the filling is arranged preferably such that the contents, at least partially, are clearly visible through the transparant package.

The snack's freshness persists during a period of more than 24 hours after the snack's preparation. Preferably the bread snack has a freshness which persists during a period of at least two days, preferably at least three days, more preferably at least four days after the snack's preparation.

Unless otherwise stated percentages abbreviated in this specification indicated with"wt%"refer to weight percentages.

Percentages indicated with"%"are meant to refer to weight percentages based on the total amount of flour and meal used unless stated otherwise. This amount equals to the dry matter content of bread when the dough has been baked.

The invention is illustrated by the following examples.

EXAMPLES DOUGH COMPOSITIONS Table 1 shows a dough composition according to the invention.

TABLE 1 Ingredient Gram wt. % based on total amount of flour Flour (ex Ibis) 2000 100 Yeast 72 3. 6 Water 1180 59. 0 Olive oil 120 6. 0 Salt 44 2. 2 Sunflower oil 12 0. 6 Sugar 20 1. 0 Gluten 40 2. 0 Soy flour 10. 000 0. 5000 Ascorbic acid 0. 200 0. 0100 DATEM 5.000 0.2500 (Admul datem 1953) Ca-Carbonate 68. 000 3. 4000 Table 2 shows a whole meal dough composition according to the invention.

TABLE 2 Ingredient Gram wt. % based on total amount of flour Flour 1000 50 Wholemeal 1000 50 Yeast 72 3. 6 Water 1300 65. 0 Olive oil 120 6. 0 Salt 44 2. 2 Sunflower oil 12 0. 6 Sugar 20 1. 0 Gluten 40 2. 0 Soy flour 10. 000 0. 5000 Ascorbic acid 0. 200 0. 0100 DATEM 5.000 0.2500 (Admul datem 1953) Ca-Carbonate 68. 000 3. 4000 Seed mix 175 8. 7500

The dough compositions were prepared at ambient temperature by first mixing and kneading the ingredients except the oil. The oil was added during the last three minutes of the kneading process. In total, the kneading process lasted 10 minutes. The dough was subsequently divided in portions of 85g.

PROCESSING EXAMPLE A bread was prepared from the dough compositions according to table 1 or 2. A dough of 85 g weight prepared as described above was proved at 34°C for 60 minutes, then flattened and set on a pastry break and allowed to rest for 10 minutes.

The dough was then proved for 50 minutes at 34°C and pre-baked for 13 minutes at 200°C prior to be cooled down to ambient temperature for 30 minutes.

The dough was submitted to blast-freezing at-30°C, packed in plastic and stored at-18°C. The final bread was obtained by

baking the dough at 180°C for 14 minutes. The bread was then cooled down to ambient temperature over 30 minutes.

PREPARATION OF A SNACK A bread prepared according to the above example was cut in halves. One halve was spread with red pesto (Pesto Rosso from Grand Italia), followed by a layer of iceberg salad leaves, followed by a layer of mozarella cheese (5 mm thick slices), followed by a layer of iceberg salad leaves, followed by a layer of freshly cut tomatoes. The other half of the bread was placed on the top of the tomato layer.

STORAGE AND STABILITY OF THE SNACK The snack as prepared above was placed in a hard plastic tray of suitable shape and sealed with a flexible black foil. After cooled (< 10°C) storage for 3 days, appearance and taste were assessed and judged to be of same quality as those of a similar sandwich prepared at the test day.