1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for making a wheat flour tortilla and other products in a continuous sheeting operation. Specifically, the process involves lightly toasting or partially cooking a sheeted dough piece in an infrared or other high temperature oven while concurrently or very shortly thereafter pressing the dough piece in order to promote a tortilla texture in the final product.
2. Description of Related Art
Flour tortillas are traditionally made in a batch or semi-continuous process using a hot press that gives the tortilla its unique unleavened texture. In this traditional process a dough is first made by mixing primarily wheat flour with water and other minor ingredients. The dough is formed into individual dough balls. These dough balls are then pressed between two flat, hot plates.
To better understand the semi-continuous or batch method used in the traditional process reference can be made to
The moisture level of the dough made at the mixing step 102 is typically, in the traditional process, between 45% and 55% water by weight. The dough is cooked in the comal or between the hot plates until the moisture content is reduced to less than 35% by weight, or typically between about 20% by weight to 34% by weight. The tortilla is cooked once it achieves this reduced moisture level and the slightly puffed texture of a traditional flour tortilla.
This traditional or hot-plate method has been mimicked at the industrial level as is best explained by again referencing
Another method used in the industrial flour tortilla manufacturing process is referred to as the die-cut method. In this method an extruding device is used for shaping a sheet of wheat dough to a specific thickness. The sheet is thereafter cut, typically by a stamping disk, in order to produce a circular shape dough piece. The dough piece is then cooked at high temperature to form a capping layer. However, without the use of a physical press while simultaneously providing a convective heat to cook the tortilla, no industrial method has been found that is suitable to produce a flour tortilla with the characteristic texture of the flour tortilla made with the traditional hot-press method. Even including prior art hot press/plate methods, no method has been found that can produce a suitable flour tortilla while also maintaining the throughput typically expected with a sheeter equipped line.
Consequently, the need exist for a continuous process for the production of flour tortilla and other like products that avoids the use of a hot plate. Such process should be capable of throughput rates typical of sheeter lines and, preferably, use equipment which provides for a minimal plant footprint.
In a preferred embodiment the invention mixes raw ingredients to produce a sheetable dough. In one embodiment, the dough is then sheeted to a set thickness and cut into shapes, such as a circular, flat tortilla shape. These dough pieces travel down a conveyor through a continuous oven, such as an infrared oven. Concurrent with the residence of the dough pieces in the continuous infrared oven, or very shortly after leaving such oven, the dough pieces are subjected to a pressing step by one or more pressing rollers during the conveyance. The thus cooked tortilla pieces are then subject to further processing steps, which can include a further cooking step. In an alternative embodiment, the partially-cooked dough pieces are cut to chip shape pieces prior to a finish cooking.
The invention provides for a continuous process that produces a flour tortilla that displays traditional flour tortilla characteristics comparable to those produced by the hot-plate method. Yet, such process provides for substantially increased throughput and minimal plant footprint.
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred embodiment, further objectives and advantages thereof, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring to
Returning to
After the sheeting step 204, the resulting sheeted dough, in one embodiment, is cut in a cutting step 206 into circular shapes, having a diameter of approximately 5.75 inches. The diameter of the cut circles can be changed significantly and still stay within the scope of Applicants' invention. Further, the piece may be cut in other shapes, such as squares, triangles, trapezoids, rectangles, and ovals, or even maintained as a continuous piece for later cuttings. In an alternative embodiment the sheeted dough is laminated, meaning folded successively to form two or more distinct dough layers stacked horizontally. Such lamination contributes to an internally stratified or flaky end product.
In either embodiment, the cut dough pieces then travel down a conveyor and pass through a continuous oven during a first cooking step 208 (shown as involving an infrared “IR” oven as a preferred embodiment). This cooking step 208 can be characterized as a partial cook or light toasting step.
The continuous oven used in Applicants invention is characterized as allowing product (dough pieces) to enter and exit the oven on a conveyer while exposing the product to high temperatures over a relatively short period of time, such as in excess of 400° F. for between 6 and 60 seconds, depending on the product thickness. One example of a suitable oven used by Applicants is a continuous conveyorized pita oven with gas burners set at 850° F. and 575° F. above and below the conveyors, respectively. Using such an oven with a conveyer speed set at to yield a product dwell time of 12.7 seconds in the 6 foot long oven was found suitable for the dough pieces described herein. Other acceptable continuous ovens include combination gas/electric ovens, infrared ovens, and high temperature electric ovens. The temperature and dwell time are determined by the thickness and moisture level of the dough pieces.
In one embodiment the dwell time in an infrared oven was approximately 5 seconds at a head temperature, said heads located about 10 cm above and below the conveyor, sufficient to result in an oven temperature of 450° F. The moisture level of the dough pieces is reduced very little by the infrared oven during this partial cooking step 208, and typically not more than 5% by weight of the moisture in the pieces is lost at this stage 208. In fact, less than 2% of the moisture in a preferred embodiment is lost during this first cooking step 208. The first cooking step 208 can be characterized by a light toasting of the outside layers of the top and the bottom of the dough piece. This light toasting 208 provides a capping layer or a partial barrier to the exhaustion of moisture during further cooking.
Concurrent with, or followed shortly thereafter, the first cooking step 208 in the continuous oven, Applicants' invention utilizes a pressing step 210. In the embodiment involving the pressing step 210 occurring concurrently with the first cooking step 208, this is accomplished by the use of pressing rollers located within the oven. This embodiment will be discussed further below with referenced to
Returning to
In the alternative, the dough piece or continuous sheet is subjected to a cutting step 212 after the pressing step 210 that cuts the piece or sheet into smaller shapes, such as a tortilla chip shape, which are traditionally triangular. This cutting step 212, however, can also involve any number of shapes, including strips, squares, rectangles, trapezoidal shapes, ovals, and others. When cutting 212 occurs after the pressing step 210, the first cutting step 206 is optional, and the sheeted dough can be run continuously through to a first cooking step 208 and the pressing step 210. After this cutting step 212, these smaller pieces are then finished cooked in the final cooking step 214 to a moisture level by weight of below 10%, and preferably between 3% and 1%. This final cook can be by any means known in the art, including frying, baking with convective heat, infrared cooking, cooking by microwave, etc. This embodiment of Applicants' invention produces a chip or crisp product.
After the final cooking step 214 the flour tortillas or tortilla pieces are then subjected to further processing, such as seasoning, and finally packaged in a packaging step 216. Seasoning can also occur before the final cook step 214 and after the pressing 210 or cutting 212 steps.
As discussed above, one aspect of Applicants' invention is the pressing 210 of the dough piece either concurrent with the first cooking step 208 and/or immediately thereafter. Both of these conditions are met using a continuous pressing process, as distinguished from a stamping press used in the prior art. By combining a sheeter, one or more rolling cutters, a pass-through infrared or other continuous oven, and the rolling presses disclosed herein, Applicants' obtain throughput levels that are improvements upon prior art methods. Further, the equipment mentioned above accomplishes the improved throughput while maintaining a relative small plant footprint.
Passing the dough piece between the two opposed rollers 356, 358, or other embodiments of this concept, partially provides the functionality of mechanical pressing that a press plate offers in prior art processes. Yet, because of the continuous design of this aspect of Applicants' invention, the processing speed can be maintained at a constant. In fact, the dough sheet need not even be cut prior to entering Applicants' first oven 350 or can be cut using cutting rollers.
The distance between the two rollers 356, 358 is dependant on the specific dough characteristics, the height of the sheeted dough piece prior to entry into the oven 350, and the desired characteristics of the end product. However, a range of 0.5 mm to 5 mm is typical, with a preferable rage of 1.6 mm to 4.8 mm. A typical conveyor speed is between 60 fpm and 300 fpm. The conveyor speed used determines the dwell time of the piece in the oven 350 as well as the time required during the pressing between the opposed rollers 356, 358.
The pressing rollers 462, 464 used in the embodiment illustrated in
Because the ovens 350, 450 shown in
It should also be noted that the sheeted dough is continuously conveyed after the sheeting step 204, meaning the dough proceeds without stopping through the remaining processing steps illustrated in
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.