Patent ID: 7037546

Claim:
A method for producing fabricated, expanded snack products that substantially maintain their pre-dehydrated shapes during dehydration, said method comprising the steps of: a) providing a mixture of dough ingredients; b) adding a plurality of solid lipid particles to said mixture of dough ingredients, wherein said lipid particles have a largest dimension particle size of between about 0.010 inches and about 0.10 inches; c) forming said mixture of dough ingredients and said lipid particles into a plurality of dough pieces, each one having a predetermined initial shape; and d) dehydrating said dough pieces to form a plurality of dehydrated product pieces; wherein said lipid particles prevent the dough pieces from undergoing significant shape deformation, and further wherein the dehydrating of step d) is accomplished by toasting followed by frying, such that said dehydrated product pieces each have a plurality of surface blisters, and said blisters generally have a diameter of between about 0.125 inches and about 1.5 inches.