METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR KNEADING FLOUR

Abstract: This invention provides powdered material kneading method and apparatus capable of uniformly kneading a powdered material and water only by carrying out the steps of uniformly mixing a powdered material, such as noodle-making flour, buckwheat flour, bread-making flour, or earth used as clay for ceramic ware with particulate ice, melting the ice in the mixture of the powdered material and ice in an atmosphere of a temperature higher than 0°C, and applying a pressure to the resultant product during or after the melting step so as to remove the air from the interior of the mixed product, the method and apparatus being capable of manufacturing noodle-making dough, bread-making dough, or clay for ceramic ware and bricks in a very short period of time with ease.

Description: The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming dough from flour for bread or vermicelli making. A dough of vermicelli, buckwheat vermicelli or bread is prepared by sufficiently kneading a starting powder such as wheat flour or buckwheat flour with predetermined amounts of water and additives. As the conventional method for kneading such a powder with water, there is generally adopted a method in which predetermined amounts of the starting powder, water and additives are charged in a kneading vessel and the mixture is then kneaded manually or by using a machine. In this conventional kneading method, kneading should be conducted for a long time in order to obtain a good dough having a softness resembling that of the earlobe, and especially in case of the manual operation, an extended period is required for kneading and the quality of the formed dough is variable. The present invention has a primary object the rapid production of high quality dough without a prolonged kneading operation. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method of forming dough comprising the mixing step of mixing precooled flour with fine particulate ice, the melting step of melting the fine particulate ice mixed in the flour, and the compressing step of applying pressure to the mixture of the flour and fine particulate ice. Furthermore, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising, as shown in Figure 1, mixing means A for mixing a flour with fine particulate ice, melting means B for melting the fine particulate ice mixed in the flour, and compressing means C for applying a pressure to the mixture of the flour and fine particulate ice. The term fine particulate ice includes snow. When a flour is mixed with fine particulate ice by mixing means A, in order to prevent generation of water until the flour is mixed completely with fine particulate ice, it is preferred that the flour be precooled to below 0°C before it is charged in mixing means A. It also is preferred that the mixing operation be carried out in an atmosphere maintained at a temperature lower than 0°C, especially at a temperature of -30 to -5°C. The compression for deflation can be carried out at the step of melting fine particulate ice or after this melting step. The compression force to be applied at the compressing step is sufficient to remove air from the interior of the mixture. Melting of fine particulate ice mixed in the flour can be accomplished by natural melting, that is, by allowing the mixture to stand still in open air at a temperature higher than 0°C, or by heat melting that is, by heating the mixture by heating means. By using fine particulate ice having a finer size, especially powder ice, the kneaded mixture can be made more homogeneous. As the flour, there can be mentioned wheat flour and buckwheat flour as the starting material of vermicelli powder, bread flour and Chinese vermicelli. In the present invention, additives can be incorporated when the flour is mixed with fine particulate ice. The additives can be added to the flour in advance or be incorporated into fine particulate ice in advance. EP-A- 0,191,864 and EP-A-0,241,554 disclose mixing cement-based mortar with ice and the application of pressure to the mortar. Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating the apparatus for carrying out a method according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an ice-making vessel used in an example of the method according to the present invention. Figs. 3-(A) and 3-(B) are diagrams illustrating a slice machine for preparing powder ice used in examples of the present invention. Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an attachment structure for a projection of a projection drum of the slice machine shown in Figs. 3-(A) and 3-(B). Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating a vessel used in examples of the present invention for mixing a flour with powder ice. Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating a vessel used at the powder ice melting step in examples of the present invention. Examples Examples of the present invention will now be described. Example 1 Materials The salt water was charged in a saucer-like vessel shown in Fig. 2 (a=350mm, b=250mm, c=200mm, d=400mm and e=280mm) formed of an iron plate and was kept in a freezing chamber maintained at -25°C to effect freezing and form ice. In a refrigerator, the formed ice was sliced by using a slice machine shown in Figs. 3-(A) and 3-(B) to form a powder similar to snow. The preparation of powder ice by the above-mentioned slice machine will now be described in brief. Formed ice 2 is set on a chain conveyor 1, and a chain conveyor-driving motor 3 is driven to move the chain conveyor 1 hung between a pair of chain wheels 4 and to deliver ice 2 in the direction indicated by an arrow in the drawings. Delivered ice 2 is sliced by a projection 7 of a projection drum 6 rotated an driven by a drum-driving motor 5 arranged at the terminal end of the chain conveyor 1 to form powder ice. Formed powder ice is blown out to the outside of the machine from an extrusion opening 10 by a blower 9 driven by a blower-driving motor 8. The projection 7 of the projection drum 6 has a flat, substantially triangular shape similar to that of a chip used for a cemented carbide tool, as shown in Fig. 4. Many projections 7 having such a shape are fixed in a line to a long plate 7a having a length almost equal to the length in the axial direction of the drum 6. These plates 7a are fitted and fixed into grooves 6a formed equidistantly in the circumferential direction of the drum 6. The plates 7a are arranged so that the projection 7 of one plate 7a is located between projections 7 of the adjacent plate 7a. The driving conditions of the slice machine used in the present example are described below. Electric Capacities of Respective Driving Zones projection drum: 5.5 KW blower: 2.2 KW chain conveyor: 0.2 KW Powder Ice-Preparing Conditions Separately from the production of powder ice, wheat flour was cooled for 2 hours in a refrigerator maintained at -5°C in advance. Then, 500g of the cooled wheat flour and 230g of the powder ice prepared from salt water ice were charged in an atmosphere maintained below 0°C in a lidded vessel of wood shown in Fig. 5 (a=300mm, b=200mm and c=150mm) and the wheat flour was mixed with ice powder by the mixing apparatus. After the mixing, the wheat flour/powder ice mixture was charged in a wide-mouthed saucer-like vessel shown in Fig. 6 (a=400mm, b=200mm and c=30mm), transferred into a chamber heated and maintained at 30°C and allowed to stand still for about 90 minutes to melt the powder ice. When the powder ice was substantially melted, a transparent film was spread on the mixture and a weight W of 16kg was placed thereon, and the mixture was thus compressed for 30 minutes. The compressing force applied at this step was such a pressure as removing air from the interior of the mixture, and in the present example, the compressing force was 0.02kg/cm² or 0.66kg/cm³. By this compression, deflation of the interior of the mixture was effected. In this state, the powder ice in the interior of the mixture was completely melted and uniformly diffused into the wheat flour. The formed vermicelli dough had a good softness resembling that of the earlobe. Example 2 Materials Wheat flour 1000g water 400g At first, the water was frozen in a freezing chamber to form ice. In the same manner as described in Example 1, the formed ice was sliced in a refrigerator maintained at -10°C by using the slicing machine to form powder ice. Separately from the production of ice powder, the wheat flour was cooled in a refrigerator maintained at -5°C in advance. Then, the cooled wheat flour and the powder ice were charged in a vessel in an atmosphere maintained below 0°C and were mixed by a mixing apparatus. After the mixing, the wheat flour/powder ice mixture was charged in the saucer-like vessel shown in Fig. 5 in the same manner as described in Example 1 and was transferred into a chamber maintained at 20°C, and a transparent film was spread on the mixture and a weight was placed thereon. A compressing force of 0.02kg/cm² was applied to the mixture for deflation, and in this state, the mixture was allowed to stand still to completely melt the powder ice and diffuse it uniformly into the wheat flour. The withdrawn vermicelli dough had a good softness resembling that of the earlobe. It is said that the reason why salt water is used for kneading a vermicelli dough is not that a taste is given to the dough but that the dough is rendered viscous. However, when Example 1 using salt water was compared with Example 2 not using salt water, it was found that there was no substantial difference of the viscousness between the vermicelli dough obtained in Example 1 and the vermicelli dough obtained in Example 2. It is considered that the reason is that the mixing property between powders is excellent over the mixing property between a powder and a liquid and if water is mixed in the form of fine particulate ice, preferably powder ice, with wheat flour and is then melted, water permeates into the wheat flour sufficiently and uniformly. When granulated sugar-like ice (the particle size is about 0.5mm) having a size coarser than powder ice is used, if the granulated sugar-like ice is incorporated in an amount of 45 to 46 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of wheat flour and is then melted, there are formed a portion where water is not diffused into wheat flour and a portion in which water is diffused into wheat flour, and a uniform dough cannot be formed in this case. However, if the mixture is lightly crumpled under compression, a good dough can be formed. Example 3 Materials wheat flour 200g warm water (35°C) 5000cc sugar 700g table salt 100g egg yolk 600g dry yeast 170g Sugar, table salt, egg yolk and dry yeast were dissolved in warm water, and the solution was frozen in a freezing chamber maintained at -25°C over a period of 24 hours to form ice. Since the ice formed by freezing water in which the above additives had been incorporated did not become hard, the ice was finely pulverized in a freezing chamber maintained at -25°C by using a pulverizer to form snow-like particles. The formed ice had a viscousness because of the presence of syrup covering the surfaces of the particles. Separately, 200g of wheat flour was placed in a freezing chamber maintained at -25°C for about 1 hour and cooled to -10°C in advance. Then, 140g of the ice was added to the cooled wheat flour, and the mixture was sufficiently stirred by using a stirrer in the freezing chamber so that lumps were not formed in the mixture. The formed mixture was divided into portions, each having a weight of about 40g. Then, each portion was enveloped with a transparent film to form a thin layer having a thickness of about 10mm. If the mixture is formed into such a thin layer, the difference of snow-melting time between the interior portion and outer portion of the mixture can be diminished. Then, the thin layers were allowed to stand still in a room heated and maintained at 30°C for 120 minutes, whereby the ice was melted. When the temperature of the mixture was elevated to 25°C, the mixture was lightly compressed by a compressing apparatus for deflation, whereby a bread dough having a fermentation smell before the primary fermentation was obtained. Since the wheat flour/ice mixture was in the frozen state, fermentation of the yeast plant was controlled and therefore, the wheat flour/ice mixture could be stored for a long time, for example, in the state charged in a vessel. The bread dough could be prepared easily in a short time by thawing the stored mixture when baking of bread was desired. The bread dough obtained in the present example was placed in an oven maintained at 30°C for about 40 minutes to effect primary fermentation. At this stage, the volume of the dough was increased 2.5 to 3 times the original volume. After the primary fermentation, the dough was taken out from the oven and degassing was carried out, and the dough was allowed to stand still for about 10 minutes. Then, secondary fermentation was effected in an oven maintained at 40°C over a period of about 30 minutes. At this stage, the volume of the dough was increased two times. Then, the temperature was elevated to 200°C for about 10 minutes to effect baking and obtain bread. Example 4 Materials wheat flour 500g powder ice (salt water ice) 230g At first, 3 parts of a salt powder comprising carbonates and phosphates of sodium and potassium was dissolved in 100 parts by weight of water, and table salt was added to the solution to form salt water. The salt water was frozen in a freezing chamber maintained at -25°C to form ice and powder ice was prepared from the ice by using the slice machine shown in Figure 3. Separately from the production of the salt water ice, wheat flour was cooled in a freezing chamber maintained at -10°C in advance. Then, the cooled wheat flour and the powder ice were charged in the vessel shown in Figure 5 and mixed in a refrigerator maintained at -5°C. Then, the ice was melted in a chamber maintained at 30°C and the mixture was compressed, whereby a Chinese vermicelli dough having an appropriate softness was obtained. As is apparent from the foregoing description, according to the present invention, a vermicelli or bread dough having a high quality can be prepared by mixing fine particulate ice uniformly with a starting powder and then melting the fine particulate ice in the mixture, and therefore, a kneading operation, for which a long time is required in the conventional technique, becomes unnecessary. As is apparent from the foregoing illustration, the method and apparatus for forming dough from flour according to the present invention are very effective for increasing the manufacturing efficiency, reducing the manufacturing cost and improving the quality in food industries, for example, industries of the production of vermicelli and bread.

Claims: A method of forming dough comprising the mixing step of mixing flour with fine particulate ice, the melting step of melting the fine particulate ice mixed in the flour, and, to remove air, the compressing step of applying pressure to the mixture of the flour and fine particulate ice, the flour being precooled to prevent melting prior to mixing. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the flour is precooled to below 0°C in advance. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the mixing step is conducted in an atmosphere maintained below 0°C. A method according to Claim 3, wherein the atmosphere at the mixing step is maintained at a temperature of -30° to -5°C. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the melting step is a natural melting step of allowing the mixture to stand still in open air maintained at a temperature higher than 0°C. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the melting step is a heating melting step of melting the mixture by using heating means. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the compressing step is conducted during the melting step. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the compressing step is conducted after the termination of the melting step. A method according to Claim 1, wherein at the compressing step, a pressure of 0.02kg/cm² or 0.66 kg/cm³ is applied. A method according to Claim 1, wherein at the mixing step, additives are added to the flour and the fine particulate ice. A method according to Claim 10, wherein the additives are mixed into the flour in advance. A method according to Claim 10, wherein the additives are mixed in the fine particulate ice in advance. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the flour is a vermicelli-forming flour. A method according to Claim 13, wherein the vermicelli-forming flour is wheat flour and salt is incorporated into the fine particulate ice. A method according to Claim 14 wherein the salt is in the form of salt water used as the ice. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the flour is a bread-forming flour. A method according to Claim 16 wherein the fine particulate ice in which sugar, table salt, egg yolk and a dry yeast plant have been incorporated in advance is used as the fine particulate ice. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the fine particulate ice is powder snow. A method according to Claim 1, which further comprises the step of crumpling the mixture of the flour and the fine particulate ice, to be conducted simultaneously with or after the compressing step. An apparatus for carrying out the method of Claim 1 comprising mixing means for mixing a flour with fine particulate ice, melting means for melting the fine particulate ice mixed in the flour, and compressing means for applying a pressure to the mixture of the flour and fine particulate ice.

Inventors: YOKOYAMA, RYOSUKE
Applicants: YOKOYAMA, RYOSUKE
Application year: 1989
Main classification: B01F3
IPC codes: A21C1, A23G3, A23L1, A21D8, B28C5, B01F3