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 eatable 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) Ingredient Pounds Hour-11. 5-12% Protein 100 Yeast-Dry Instant Active 3 Salt 2 Sugar 2 Water 52 Microgold Dough Conditioner 5 Hi-melt Margarine Roll-In %10%

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 Low High Mixer Mix Time (seconds) 100 180 Dough Chunker Intervals per minute 2 5 Dough Feeder I Flour Setting # 1 (Beginning of Line) 10 30 I Dough Intervals 230 280 Flour Setting # 2 (Before Cross Roller) 10 30 Cross Roller Gage (mm) 15 40 ActionRoller Flour Setting # 3A (Top of Action Roller) 0.5 1.5 Flour Setting # 3B (Bottom of Action Roller) 10 30 Roller Gage (mm) 4 7 Set Dough Width (mm) 650 725 Output Belt Speed (m/min) 1.00 2.75 Stretch Ratio 2 4 Roll-In Belt Speed (m/min) 1.0 2.8 Screw Speed (rpm) 0.2 1.15 Low High l Stretcher # 1 s Flour Setting # 4A (Top of Stretcher # 1) 20 35 Flour Setting # 4B (Bottom of Stretcher 1) 10 30 ll No. 1 Belt Speed/lncline Angle 1. 0/15 2. 75/40 deg. deg. Speed Ratio 2.5 4. 5 Roller Clearance (mm) 0.8 2.0 Number of layers after Piler # 1 2 6 Folding Width (mm) 25/25 40/40 ll Piler Belt Speed 300 700 Flour Setting # 5 (After Piler # 1) 10 20 . II Stretcher # 2 Flour Setting # 6A (Top of Stretcher # 1) 10 40 Flour Setting # 6B (Bottom of Stretcher # 1) 15 35 Gage (mm) 0.8 3 Speed Ratio 2. 0 6. 0 Input Thickness (mm) 15 25 Belt # 1 Speed (m/min) 1 3 Number of layers after Piler # 2 2 6 Folding Width (mm) 650 700 Piler Belt Speed 4 14 Flour Setting # 7 1 3 Flour Setting # 8 (After Piler # 2) 0. 8 2 Stretcher # 3 Flour Setting # 9A (Top of Stretcher # 3) 1 2. 5 Flour Setting # 9B (Bottom of Stretcher 3) 10 50 Belt # 1 Speed (m/min) 0. 5 2. 5 Speed Ratio 2 5 Crank Clearance (mm) 0.5 5 Guillotine Cutter (for rectangular shapes) Cut Length (mm) 150 170 Gas Impingement Oven Bake Time (minutes) 1.5 2.3 Oven # 1 Temp (deg. F) 500 575 Oven # 1 Fan (% of maximum) 20 80 Oven # 1 Height (inches) 1*53*5 Oven # 2 Temp (deg. F) 475 550 Oven # 2 Fan (% of maximum) 20 80 Oven # 2 Height (inches) 1. 5 4. 5

Low High l l 11 Baffles (Top/Bottom) 50/50 80/20 J, q 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. PREFERRED MEASUREMENT PARAMETERS Low High Room Temperature (deg. F) 60 70 Formula Water Temperature (deg. F) 50 65 Yeast Solution Temperature (deg. F) 50 65 Dough Temperature after mix (deg. F) 80F 89F Dough Width after feeder (W1-mm) 480 570 Dough Thickness (T1-mm) 35 50 Dough Temperature (deg. F) 75F 85F Dough Width before butter roll-in (W2-mm) 650 800 Dough Thickness before butter roll-in (T2-mm) 6.5 8 Roll-In Temperature (deg. F) 65F 71 F Dough Width after butter roll-in (W3-mm) 280 320 Dough Thickness after butter roll-in (T3-mm) 20 30 Dough Width after stretcher #1 (W4-mm) 300 400 Dough Width after 1 st Piler (W5-mm) 300 350 Dough Thickness after 1st Piler (T5-mm) 12 25 Dough Width after stretcher #2 (W6-mm) 250 350 Dough Width after 2nd Piler (W7-mm) 600 700 Dough Thickness after 2nd Piler (T7-mm) 15 20 Dough Width after stretcher #3 (W8-mm) 600 700 Final Dough Thickness (T8-mm) 3 5 Cut Width (W9-mm) (for rectangular shapes) 110 120 Cut Length (L9-mm) (for rectangular shapes) 148 160 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.