Patent Publication Number: US-2006019014-A1

Title: Biscuit flatbread and method of making same

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM AND CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
      The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/586,336 filed Jul. 8, 2004, entitled, “BISCUIT FLATBREAD AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME,” which is herein incorporated by reference to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The invention relates to a method for preparing biscuit flatbread. Specifically, the invention relates to a method for preparing a biscuit dough pad in a flatbread format that is easily packaged, stored, separated and baked for use as a food carrier or complementary side item.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      Biscuits have been used as a food item for centuries. Early biscuits comprised unleavened, hard, thin wafers with a very low moisture content. These early biscuits could be stored for long periods of time due to their low moisture content. As such, biscuits often accompanied explorers around the world and could be stored for months at a time within airtight carriers. In its origin as a food type, biscuits were not a very appetizing food. Named “pain bis-cuit” or “twice cooked bread,” they originally were very hard and dry, and were especially useful to the traveler and the soldier because they were very light and did not spoil. Modern biscuits are more appetizing in that they are not twice baked to such a dry state. Modern biscuits are characterized by being prepared using chemical leavener(s) rather than yeast, and the biscuit dough is mixed only enough to incorporate all the ingredients without developing the gluten in the dough. The end product preferably has a light and moist crumb texture that has been described as flaky. The characteristic flavor of a biscuit is generally bland in nature.  
      Today&#39;s biscuits tend to be more moist and flaky and cookbooks include directions for making them as such. These biscuits tend to contain as much water as bread. The biscuit dough is mixed only enough to incorporate the ingredients while limiting the gluten development. Shortening is then added and kneaded into the dough. The biscuit dough is then rolled into a sheet and cut into desired units.  
      While methods for preparing biscuits have existed for centuries, it would be advantageous to have an method for manufacturing flatbreads from biscuit dough to provide a biscuit dough in a fast and convenient configuration that facilitates packaging, transport, shipping and baking.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The invention addresses the aforementioned needs by providing a flavorful biscuit product, optionally incorporating one ore more flavors, and/or visual enhancing elements. Further, a method is provided for manufacturing and providing a freezer-to-oven biscuit flatbread. A continuous thinly sheeted biscuit dough is perforated and sliced to form an individually separable perforated dough pad. The perforated dough pad can be directed through a freezing process such as a freezing tunnel such that the dough pad is frozen. The frozen dough pad is sufficiently rigid to facilitate packaging and storage. In addition, the frozen dough pad is easily separated or broken along the perforations to form individual pieces of frozen biscuit units, where such units can be in a variety of shapes. The frozen biscuit unit can be baked such that a baked biscuit unit can be consumed as a side item, a dessert item or as a sandwich carrier. In some embodiments, the frozen biscuit unit can comprise a partially or par-baked biscuit unit that is at least partially cooked prior to freezing so as to reduce preparation time for a user.  
      In one aspect, the invention pertains to a method for preparing a biscuit flatbread dough pad. A method for preparing a biscuit flatbread dough pad can comprise: perforating a continuous thinly sheeted biscuit dough with at least one slitter to form at least one continuous perforated slit in the biscuit dough so as to define at least two attached biscuit flatbread units; and slicing the biscuit dough in an orientation generally transverse to the at least one continuous perforated slit, wherein a biscuit flatbread dough pad is separated from the continuous thinly sheeted biscuit dough.  
      In another aspect, the invention pertains to a method for preparing a biscuit flatbread. A method for preparing a biscuit flatbread can comprise: perforating a continuous sheet of biscuit dough with at least one slitter to form at least one continuous perforated slit in the biscuit dough; slicing the continuous sheet of biscuit dough in an orientation generally transverse to the at least one continuous perforated slit, wherein a pad of flatbread biscuit dough is separated from the continuous sheet of biscuit dough; freezing the biscuit flatbread dough pad to form a rigid, frozen dough pad adapted for packaging and storage; separating the rigid, frozen dough pad into at least two frozen flatbread biscuit units; and baking at least one of the frozen flatbread biscuit units to form a baked flatbread biscuit unit.  
      In a further aspect, a portioned biscuit flatbread dough product is provided. The dough product comprises a biscuit flatbread dough sheet formed in a generally rectangular shape, wherein the sheet comprises at least two biscuit flatbread dough units attached at a perforated slit.  
      The above summary of the various embodiments of the invention is not intended to describe each illustrated embodiment or every implementation of the invention. The figures in the detailed description that follow more particularly exemplify these embodiments. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The invention may be more completely understood in consideration of the following detailed description of various embodiments of the invention in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an embodiment of a biscuit dough pad.  
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of an embodiment of a biscuit dough pad.  
       FIG. 3  is a top view of an embodiment of an individual biscuit unit.  
       FIG. 4  is a top view of an embodiment of an individual biscuit unit.  
       FIG. 5  is a top view of an embodiment of an individual biscuit unit.  
       FIG. 6  is a schematic view of a process for forming a biscuit dough pad.  
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a freezable container filled with a plurality of frozen biscuit dough pads.  
       FIG. 8  is a top view of a plurality of individual biscuit units arranged in a baking implement.  
       FIG. 9  is a perspective view of an embodiment of a baked biscuit unit for use as a side items.  
       FIG. 10  is a perspective view of an embodiment of a baked biscuit unit for use as a sandwich carrier.  
       FIG. 11  is a perspective view of an embodiment of a multi-layer biscuit dough pad. 
    
    
      While the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.  
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      As used herein, the term “unproofed” indicates that that a biscuit dough is provided in a state wherein it contains sufficient unactivated leavening agent that the biscuit product will at least double in volume when baked from the frozen state. Thus, while some chemical leavening agent may have interacted with ingredients in the dough process during mixing to generate some gases, a sufficient amount of the leavening agent is still available to be utilized to proof the dough during baking. The term “frozen” describes dough products that are maintained at a temperature below the freezing point of water, regardless of whether all ingredients in the dough product are actually in the frozen state.  
      As used herein, the term “dough pad” refers to an article that is in an intermediate condition and requires further thermal processing such as baking, microwaving, or the like, to fully cook the dough pad into a biscuit flatbread unit suitable for consumption by a consumer.  
      As used herein, the term “flatbread” refers to a thinly sheeted biscuit dough.  
      The biscuit dough is a dough comprising flour, water, chemical leavening system, sugar and fat, characterized by being an undeveloped or underdeveloped dough. The biscuit dough is prepared by mixing the dough composition only enough to incorporate all the ingredients without fully developing the gluten in the dough. As is appreciated by those of skill in the baking art, a biscuit dough is distinct from bread-like doughs due to the degree of development of the dough. Thus, a biscuit dough is stickier and it tends to break when stretched. A bread dough is typically more extensible than a biscuit dough. A tool to quantify the nature of the extent of development of the dough is a farinograph, which is a common flour and dough quality measuring device which measures the resistance of the dough to mixing. As dough is mixed, the resistance to mixing increases until a peak is reached, after which the resistance to mixing decreases. Typical bread doughs tend to peak within about 3 minutes, indicating that the dough is fully developed. A biscuit dough, in contrast, will take longer to reach a peak resistance, indicating that the dough is underdeveloped. Biscuit doughs typically reach a peak of resistance in a time period greater than about 7 minutes, and preferably greater than about 10 minutes. The biscuit dough is mixed using a mixer suitable for the size batch to be prepared.  
      An embodiment of a biscuit dough pad  100  is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Biscuit dough pad  100  generally comprises a first major surface  102 , a second major surface  104 , side surfaces  106   a ,  106   b  and end surfaces  108   a ,  108   b . Biscuit dough pad  100  generally comprises a unitary structure of individual biscuit units  110  being partially defined and connected along perforated margins  112 . Individual biscuit units  110  can comprise a variety of shapes dependent upon processing capabilities and end uses. Representative shapes for individual biscuit units  110  can comprise rectangles, squares, triangles and elongated or stick-like units as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Biscuit dough pad  100  can comprise a wide variety of physical configurations based upon the number of attached biscuit units  110 . In one representative example, biscuit dough pad  100  can comprise a 2×4 arrangement  114  of generally rectangular biscuit units as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Another representative configuration for biscuit dough pad  100  can comprise a 1×12 arrangement  116  of stick-like biscuit units  110  as illustrated in  FIG. 2 .  
      Various embodiments of individual biscuit units  110  are illustrated in  FIGS. 3, 4  and  5 . As illustrated in  FIG. 3 , individual biscuit unit  110  can comprise a generally rectangular configuration  118  corresponding to the 2×4 arrangement  114  illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Alternatively, individual biscuit unit  110  can comprise a generally stick-like configuration  120  as illustrated in  FIG. 4  corresponding to the 1×12 arrangement  116  of  FIG. 2 . Finally, individual biscuit unit  100  can further comprise a generally triangular configuration  122  as illustrated in  FIG. 5  or other suitable geometrical and shaped configurations based upon production capabilities and consumer requirements.  
      A representative method for forming dough pad  100  is illustrated schematically in  FIG. 6 . Dough pad  100  can be formed using a pad formation process  123  generally comprising a mixing stage  124 , an extrusion stage  126 , a sheet formation stage  128 , a pad formation stage  130  and a freezing stage  132 . In addition, pad formation process  123  can comprise additional optional processing steps such as, for example, a baking or par-baking stage  134  and a packaging stage  136 . In addition, other optional process stages can be added to pad formation process  123  depending upon the desired characteristics of the end product. For example, pad formation process  123  can further comprise a dough stacking stage for forming a dough pad  100  that can ultimately be distinguished split and separated longitudinally upon final baking by a user.  
      As illustrated in  FIG. 6 , dough ingredients  138  are combined and mixed in mixing stage  124  to form a biscuit dough  140 . Mixing stage  124  generally comprises adding dough ingredients  138  into a mixer  142  suitable for use in dough processing. Examples of suitable mixers  142  can comprise mixers available from the Hobart Corporation of Troy, Ohio.  
      Biscuit dough  140  can comprise a wide variety of dough ingredients  138  depending upon the desired properties such as, for example, taste and texture of a finished biscuit product. One representative biscuit dough  140  can be formulated to comprise dough ingredients  138  in the following amounts:  
                                                   Ingredient   Weight Percent                          Flour   40-50           Salt   0.5-1.5           Water   25-35           Shortening   10-20           Leavening   2-3                      
 
 In addition to the ingredients recited above, biscuit dough  140  can comprise a wide variety of additional flavor(s) and/or visual enhancing elements. Representative examples of flavor(s) and/or visual enhancing elements can comprise shredded or grated cheese, sliced onions, sliced tomatoes, sliced green peppers, sliced red peppers, sliced jalapeno peppers, minced garlic or garlic powder, spices, seasonings, herbs, meat bits such as, for example, bacon bits, ham bits and sausage bits, fruit bits, sweetened bits, syrup bits, nut bits and a variety of fat or sugar based flavor bits having flavors such as, for example, fruit flavors, meat flavors, cheese flavors, gravy flavors, vegetable flavors, garlic flavor and pesto flavor. These additional flavor(s) and/or visual enhancing elements can be added to biscuit dough  140  as part of mixing stage  124 , or alternatively, the flavor and/or visual enhancing elements can be added subsequently to mixing stage  124  so as to be externally visible on biscuit dough  140 , for example, on first major surface  102  and/or second major surface  104 . 
 
      Upon formation of biscuit dough  140  in mixing stage  124 , biscuit dough  140  can be pumped and/or extruded in extrusion stage  126  with a suitable extruder  144 . Representative extruders  144  for use with biscuit dough  140  can comprise extruders available from Bepex GmBh of Leingarten, Germany, Robert Reiser &amp; Co., of Canton, Mass. and Albert Handtmann Holding Gmbh &amp; Co. KG, of Biberbach, Germany. Extruder  144  extrudes biscuit dough  140  to create a dough stream  146  and directs dough stream  146  for transport using one or more dough transport mechanisms  148 . Dough transport mechanism  148  can comprise one or more conveyors for transporting dough stream  146  through the additional stages of pad formation process  123 . A representative dough transport mechanism  148  can comprise a conveyorized system such as, for example, conveyorized systems as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,561,235 and 6,838,105 to Finkowski et al., each of which is herein incorporated by reference to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure.  
      Dough transport mechanism  148  directs dough stream  146  through the sheet formation stage  128  to form a dough sheet  150  having a generally uniform thickness. Sheet formation stage  128  can comprise a plurality of rollers, for example a first roller  152   a , a second roller  152   b  and a third roller  152   c  for sequentially rolling dough stream  146  to a desired sheet thickness  154  as dough transport mechanism  148  transports dough stream  146 . As dough sheet  150  passes third roller  152   c , sheet thickness  154  can range from about 1 mm to about 10 mm in thickness. More preferably, sheet thickness  154  can range from about 1 mm to about 6 mm in thickness. In a presently preferred embodiment, sheet thickness  154  can range from about 1 mm to about 5 mm in thickness.  
      After the formation of dough sheet  150 , dough transport mechanism  148  transports dough sheet  150  through the pad formation stage  130 . Within pad formation stage  130 , dough sheet  150  is processed to form dough pad  100  as well as the individual biscuit units  110  that comprise dough pad  100 . Pad formation stage  130  generally comprises one or more perforating stages  156  as well as a cutting stage  158 . As illustrated in  FIG. 8 , perforating stages  156  can comprise a first perforating stage  156   a  for perforating dough sheet  150  generally parallel to movement of dough transport mechanism  148  and a second perforating stage  156   b  for perforating dough sheet  150  in a generally transverse orientation to the movement of the dough sheet  150  along dough transport mechanism  148 . First perforating stage  156   a  and second perforating stage  156   b  can both comprise multiple perforating devices such as, for example, rotary slitters.  
      Following the formation (defined by perforated slits) of individual biscuit units  110  in perforating stage  156 , dough sheet  150  is directed by the dough transport mechanism  148  through cutting stage  158 . Within cutting stage  158 , a cutting member  160  cuts the dough sheet  150  in a direction generally transverse to the movement of dough sheet  150  along dough transport mechanism  148  so as to form individual dough pads  100 . Cutting member  160  can comprise any suitable dough cutting member such as, for example, a rotary cutter, a guillotine cutter, an ultrasonic cutter, a wire cutter or any other suitable cutting instrument. As dough sheet  150  passes the cutting member  160 , the cutting member  160  periodically slices dough sheet  150  resulting in the desired size and shape of dough pad  100 .  
      After dough pads  100  have been formed in pad formation stage  130 , dough transport mechanism  148  carries the dough pads  100  through the freezing stage  132 . Freezing stage  132  can comprise a tunnel freezer  162  through which dough transport mechanism  148  transports the dough pads  100 .  
      After exiting the freezing stage  132 , the now frozen dough pads  100  can be transported by dough transport carrier  148  to packaging stage  136 . In packaging stage  136 , individual, or alternatively, a plurality, of dough pads  100  can arranged and placed in a suitable freezable container  164  such as, for example, a box as illustrated in  FIG. 7 . Freezable container  164  can comprise materials suitable for freezer storage including cardboard, paper and plastic, either individually or in combination. Each frozen dough pad  100  has enough strength and rigidity to survive storage and packaging while providing a convenient and easy method for separating each frozen dough pad  100  into individual biscuit units  110  by breaking each frozen dough pad  100  along perforated margins  112 . After dough pads  100  have been packaged, freezable container  164  can be placed in cold storage and/or transported to a place of use.  
      In some instances, it may be advantageous to subject dough pad  100  to a baking process such as, for example, a partial or par-baking stage  134  prior to freezing the dough pads  100  within freezing stage  132  as illustrated in  FIG. 6 . In par-baking stage  134 , the dough pads  100  are carried through a tunnel oven  166  such that the dough pads  100  are at least partially baked prior to being frozen. Through the use of a par-baking stage  134 , preparation time by a user can be reduced as a portion of the required baking time has already been performed. This may be especially advantageous where dough pad  100  is used in the food service industry such as, for example, a commercial restaurant, cafeteria or bakery, wherein large volumes of dough pad  100  are typically consumed.  
      At time of use, dough pad  100 , in either a frozen, refrigerated or tempered state, is separated along perforated margins  112  to form individual biscuit units  110 . Once separated, individual biscuit units  110  can be individually arranged on a baking implement  168  such as, for example, a cookie sheet or pan as shown in  FIG. 8 . Baking implement  168  including individual biscuit units  100  is then placed into a baking instrument, such as a convection oven, toaster oven or conventional oven such that individual biscuit units  110  can be baked. In one representative embodiment, individual biscuit units  110  can be placed into a preheated baking instrument set at 325° F. for a period of 8 to 10 minutes such that the individual biscuit units reach an internal temperature of about 200° F. Upon completion of the baking process, a cooked biscuit flatbread unit  170  is ready for use and consumption. For example, cooked biscuit flatbread unit  170  can be served individually as a biscuit stick or side item  172  as shown in  FIG. 9 . Alternatively, a pair of cooked biscuit flatbread units  170  can be utilized as a sandwich carrier  174  in preparing sandwiches as shown in  FIG. 10 . Depending upon the amount and type of flavorings used in forming dough pad  100 , the cooked biscuit flatbread units  170  may be suitable as either a breadbasket or dessert item.  
      In another representative embodiment, a multi-layer dough pad  200  can be formed so as to have a top dough layer  202  and a bottom dough layer  204  with a fat layer  206  located therebetween as illustrated in  FIG. 11 . Fat layer  206  can comprise a suitable fat source such as, for example, a liquid fat source such as soybean oil or cotton seed oil. Top dough layer  202  and bottom dough layer  204  can comprise an identical dough formulation such as, for example, a representative dough formulation as previously described with respect to biscuit dough  140 . Multi-layer dough pad  200  can substantially resemble the appearances previously depicted and described with respect to dough pad  100  with the exception that multi-layer dough pad  200  can comprise a pad thickness  208  greater than previously described with respect to sheet thickness  154 . Multi-layer dough pad  200  can be formed through a process similar to pad formation process  123  with the further inclusion of an optional stacking stage between sheet formation stage  128  and pad formation stage  130 . In a representative stacking stage, liquid fat is applied on a top surface of bottom dough layer  204  and the top dough layer  202  is stacked on top the liquid fat to form fat layer  206  distinguishing top dough layer  202  from bottom dough layer  204 . Top dough layer  202  and bottom dough layer  204  can comprise similar dough compositions as previously described with respect to doughpad  100 . Multi-layer dough pad  200  can be frozen, packaged and prepared similarly to previously described dough pad  100 . During baking of multi-layer dough pad  200 , top dough layer  202  and bottom dough layer  204  split at fat layer  206  to form a baked top biscuit and a baked bottom biscuit for use and consumption by a consumer as previously described.  
      Although various embodiments of the invention have been disclosed here for purposes of illustration, it should be understood that a variety of changes, modifications and substitutions may be incorporated without departing from either the spirit or scope of the present invention.