The present invention relates to a method and a device for producing products from warm dough, the purpose of which is to improve existing methods and devices for making products that are made from warm dough, to highly improve the manufacturing of the same.
The invention can be used for producing any type of product obtained from warm dough, such as croquettes or fish dough.
All current processes for producing croquettes, from the most traditional to the most automated, are based on the paradigm of dispensing, cutting, and forming the croquette while cool, meaning transforming the dough or béchamel into a croquette once it is cool and has settled, to later proceed to the pasting, flouring, breading or application of other coatings that may be required.
In short, all production of croquettes must pass through the following phases, (in this point industrial production is described, but it can be applied to any type of production).
1. Producing the dough, béchamel or sauce that will be the basis for the subsequent production of the croquettes. The dough is made with the help of a cream cooker, hot mixer or similar, of the size that adjusts to the desired production (they range from a capacity of a few liters up to hundreds of liters). The ingredients that will make up the resulting dough are mixed and cooked in the cream cooker. At this point, 3 important factors must be considered:
To avoid contamination of the dough, it is necessary to ensure that the ingredients are in perfect condition, that the temperatures and/or cooking times are as high as possible within the requirements of the product being cooked, hygienic measures are carried out by operators and for all the auxiliary material necessary for the process, including, of course, the facilities themselves (environment included).
Preservatives that do not eliminate product contamination but do slow the growth thereof can be used.
2. Once the dough has finished cooking, it is then dispensed of the cream cooker, which is generally done manually using a lever incorporated in the cream cooker, but can also be done automatically. The warm dough, normally above 70° C., is placed in containers and rapidly cooled. Said cooling must be in such a way that the temperature of the dough in the middle thereof falls below 10° C. in less than 2 hours. This operation is necessary to avoid excessively rapid bacterial growth in the dough, since bacterial growth is most effective between 10° C. and 40° C. Therefore, the less time the dough spends in this temperature range, the less bacterial growth will occur, which directly affects the quality and durability of the product.
That is why the dough is usually distributed among several containers so that the cooling can be carried out faster (the smaller the volume of dough, the faster it cools).
This distribution using several containers does not have to be exact, although the volumes of dough must be similar so that they all cool as homogeneously as possible. Rapid cooling can impair the texture of the dough, because excessive or sudden cold can cause the structure of the dough to suffer and make it crack or more brittle. If cracking occurs, it becomes extremely difficult to make the croquettes. That is why, for this step, many producers use thickening agents or similar to avoid this problem.
Rapid cooling is normally done in blast chillers provided with guide rails to place the trays by hand, leaving them separated from one another (so that the cooling is faster and the dough can efficiently evaporate the heat), or in larger blast chillers, in which the trays are placed separately on a food rack trolley, which is fully inserted into the blast chiller. The use of rapid cooling tunnels is also known.
This rapid cooling process is also carried out, although frequently, by immersing the dough, previously sealed in plastic bags, in a water tank at a controlled temperature.
3. Once the dough has cooled, it is left to sit and stored in a chamber at a controlled temperature to slow bacterial growth as much as possible. It is necessary to ensure that this temperature is as low as possible without affecting the texture of the dough (if it is too cold it can make it brittle). This chamber must be thoroughly cleaned and maintained, in order to avoid a possible contamination of the product.
The resting stage of the dough usually lasts for one day and is essential for the dough to remain thick and not break during the rest of the cooking process, although this stage can be skipped if thickening agents are used, yet these components affect the quality of the product. The invention does not require a resting step and does not use thickening agents.
4. At this point, the croquette itself is made. There is a wide variety of machinery to facilitate this task, but all of them are based on the same steps:
On the outlet of the machine, a nozzle is placed, through which the dough will come out at the desired width.
b) The outlet nozzle of the filling machine must be assembled to a croquette-forming cutting machine. The dispensing function is carried out by means of the controlled output of the pressed dough in the filling machine through the nozzle which, along with cuts by the cutting machine at a specific frequency (carried out either by time or length sensors), provide the length of the piece which, along with the width of the nozzle, provides the final shape of the croquette. The outlet nozzles for the dough, and the tubes through which it reaches the cutter, are areas where remnants of the product remain, which can also be sources of contamination.
Pneumatic and hydraulic filling machines are usually assembled to a cutting machine that only accept one outlet nozzle, or at most two. Vacuum filling machines are usually fitted to forming cutters that accept four, six or eight outlet nozzles at the same time, thus multiplying the speed in the production of croquettes. The cutting and shaping of the croquette are also a time when bacteria can grow.
The aforementioned methods and devices of the state of the art have the following drawbacks:
In order to achieve the aims of the invention and solve the previously mentioned drawbacks, the invention provides a method for producing products from warm dough, which begins with a phase of producing a dough, which is dispensed warm into a first container up to a predetermined level, corresponding to a height of the product to be obtained. The invention presents the novelty because a first forming cutting mold provided with a plurality of tubular cells in the shape of a model of the product to be obtained is then inserted into the first container with the warm dough, so that each of the tubular cells is simultaneously filled with the dough. A rapid cooling is subsequently applied to the set of the previous phase, and the first forming cutting mold is extracted from the first container, leaving the dough placed inside the tubular cells, establishing the shape of the product to be obtained. Extensions of a first ejector mold are then tightly inserted into the cells of the first forming cutting mold such that each of the products formed in the cells are ejected.
Therefore, the process described performs the dispensing and cutting warm, and the forming of the product while the dough is cooling in a way that avoids the requirement of a resting phase, as is conventionally the case, thereby considerably simplifying both the method and the croquette-making device.
The phase of filling the first container to a predetermined level can be carried out by using a mark or stop established in the first container, by weighing the first container with the dough or by computer-controlled automatic filling.
The entire amount of dough produced is divided into first containers, and all of them are processed in the manner described. In the case where an amount of dough is leftover without a volume sufficient to fill a first container up to the predetermined level, the method is envisaged to comprise a phase of dispensing said leftover dough warm into a second container, which is equipped with a movable separator, configured to move until the leftover dough of the second container reaches the same predetermined level of the first container. The rest of the process is repeated, but with the difference that, in this case, in the second container with the warm dough, a second forming cutting mold is inserted, provided with a plurality of tubular cells, equivalent to the first forming cutting mold, but adapted to house the movable separator in the position in which the dough reaches the predetermined level, for which, as described below, it comprises a series of slots into which the separator is inserted, and with the difference in that a second ejector mold, adapted to the configuration of the second forming cutting mold must be used to obtain the same product model as with the first container.
In any of the cases, once the product is formed, a pasting-breading phase of the croquettes is carried out.
In addition, the invention relates to a device for producing a product from warm dough, which comprises a first container configured to house a warm dough of the product to be obtained, up to a predetermined level, corresponding to a height of the product to be obtained. It also comprises a first forming cutting mold comprising a plurality of tubular cells in the shape of a model of the product to be obtained, and comprises a first ejector mold provided with a plurality of extensions configured to be introduced tightly into the cells of the first container.
In the preferred embodiment, the plurality of tubular cells of the first forming cutting mold is arranged next to each other, forming rows and columns, although they can have any other distribution.
As indicated in the method, the device envisages the use of a second container, configured to dispense a leftover warm dough of the product that has an insufficient volume to fill the first container up to the predetermined level. In this case, the inside of at least one of the side walls of the second container comprises markings. Moreover, the second container is provided with a movable separator, configured to fit inside the same and to allow the excess warm dough to move to a selected position in which the separator is located in correspondence with one of the marks and the dough reaches the predetermined level, corresponding to the product model to be obtained. In this case, it is necessary to use a second forming cutting mold with a plurality of tubular cells in the shape of the product model to be obtained and aligned forming rows and columns, equivalent to the first forming cutting mold, to be able to insert the same into the warm dough of the second container, but with the particular feature in that between each of said rows or columns of cells, it comprises a slot to allow the separator to be housed in the slot corresponding to the selected position. These slots determine that the separation between the tubular cells is greater than that of the first mold, which is why the use of a second ejector mold that comprises a plurality of extensions is required, adapted to be able to be introduced tightly into the cells of the second forming cutting mold.
In order to make use of all the produced dough, it is envisaged that the external measurements of the first and second forming cutting mold match the internal measurements of the first and second container, respectively.
In addition, to facilitate the handling of the first and second containers, the first and second forming cutting molds, and the first and second ejector molds have been provided with handles that protrude laterally.
It has also been envisaged that the device comprises a support for the first and second forming cutting mold, which in the preferred embodiment comprises a frame supported by support legs, such that the first or second forming cutting mold can be inserted in said frame, thereby facilitating the entire operation of the previously described method.
In both the first and the second container a recess has been provided in which the handles of the first and second forming cutting molds are respectively housed, when inserted, to provide a compact configuration.
It is envisaged that the first and second containers can be stacked, for which they have been provided with conventional-type stacking corners.
In short, the described method and device of the invention provide the following advantages over the state of the art:
They also improve all aspects to the current methods for producing homemade croquettes.
In short, the invention provides a method and device that makes all existing machines on the market slow and obsolete, including the most modern and powerful ones.
The terms Fig., Figs., Figure, and Figures are used interchangeably in the specification to refer to the corresponding figures in the drawings.
To complete the description, and for the purpose of helping to make the features of the invention more readily understandable, this description is accompanied by a set of figures constituting an integral part of the same, which by way of illustration and not limitation represents the following:
Below, with the help of the previously mentioned figures, the device is described along with the production method of the invention for producing a product from warm dough, which in the example are croquettes, comprising the following phases (
1. Producing a dough by means of cooking (1), under the same conditions as it is currently done, but in this case with the advantage of allowing the dough to be produced with the desired texture, contrary to current methods, since the invention adapts to any type of dough texture. This is possible due to the rest of the phases and devices used, which are described below.
2. The dough from the cream cooker, warm kneading machine or similar, is then dispensed (2) warm into the first containers (7) (
3. Once the dough has been dispensed warm into the first containers (7), a first forming cutting mold (8) is inserted (3) into each of them, which comprises a plurality of tubular cells (9), provided in the shape of the croquette model to be obtained, which in the example is a cylindrical shape, and which are arranged in rows and columns, so that they fit tightly inside the first containers (7). In this way, there are no remnants of dough on the sides and all the dough remains inside the cells (9) of the first forming cutting molds (8), thus achieving the shape of the chosen croquette without product loss, the thickness of which is established by the cross section of the tubular cells (9) and the height by the filling level of the dough in the first containers. To facilitate this phase, the first forming cutting molds (8) are equipped with a handle (13) that fits into a slot (14) provided in the first containers (7).
4. Then, rapid cooling (4) is applied to the set of the previous phase, made up of the dough, the first containers (7) and the first forming cutting molds (8), which now form a single operating unit. This cooling is done without the dough having to rest, so that the production process is considerably shortened by means of the invention. Cooling is done conventionally, which according to standards is carried out for 2 hours, keeping the interior of the dough below approximately 10° C., which may vary depending on existing regulations. It is important to mention that at this point there is no need to worry about the possibility that the rapid and/or excessive cooling of the devices used for this purpose (blast chillers, rapid cooling tunnels . . . ), may crack the dough or make the dough brittle because the shape of the croquette has already been obtained, and thus, in phase (1) any texture can be obtained, as indicated.
5. Once the dough has cooled, the forming cutting mold (8) is extracted (5) from inside the first container (7), by means of the handles (13) thereof, cleaning the inside of said first container, leaving no dough inside the same. Then, the forming cutting mold (8) is placed on a support (10) and on the area where the croquettes are to be placed, for example directly on a paster-breader, to continue with the process. To facilitate this operation, the support (10) comprises a frame (11) with legs (12) as a table, in which the first forming cutting mold is inserted, which is equipped with handles (13), which abut against said frame and facilitate the handling thereof.
Therefore, in the invention the dough is not required to rest, as in the state of the art, so there is no need to use an intermediate chamber for the dough to rest, allowing the whole process to be done linearly, without interruption due to the need for the dough to rest. In addition, these features of the invention prevent any cross contamination or bacterial growth from occurring.
6. Extensions (15) of a first ejector mold (16) are then inserted (6) tightly into the tubular cells (9) of the first forming cutting mold (8), so that the croquettes are pushed downwards, exiting through the lower part of the tubular cells (9).
Given that there is a plurality of tubular cells (9), in this phase, a plurality of croquettes is simultaneously obtained, which, depending on the thickness of the croquette, can be hundreds of croquettes, unlike the state of the art in which this function is carried out in one of the outlet nozzles of the filling machines, normally one or two, and in the cases of greater volume up to 8 simultaneous outlet nozzles. Therefore, the invention produces croquettes extremely quickly, considerably increasing the production thereof, and in such a way that it leaves practically no time for the growth of bacteria.
Consequently, the described method and device avoid direct contact with the dough by the operator, thus preventing any type of product contamination therefrom.
In the case, in which at the end of phase (2), meaning after filling the first containers (7), there is a certain amount of leftover dough that has an insufficient volume to fill a first container (7) up to the predetermined level, the use of a second container (7′) (
Thus, the configuration of the second forming cutting mould (8′) is the same as that of the first forming cutting mold (8), but with the difference in that it is provided with slots (19) which, when inserting (3) the second mold (8′) into the second container (7′), the same are aligned with the marks (17), such that one of said slots (19) is inserted into the separator (18), thus obtaining the same croquette model as with the first containers (7). Consequently, any remaining final dough that does not fit the size of the first containers is used, regardless of the amount, minimizing product loss as much as possible.
Then, while the rapid cooling of the dough in the first containers (7) is taking place, the leftover dough dispensed into the second container (7′) is cooled, and the second forming cutting mold is extracted (5) to carry out the phase (6), which in this case is done by means of a second ejector mold (16′), the same as the first mold (16), but adapted to be able to be tightly inserted into the second mold (8′).
The described method is very easy and convenient to carry out manually, but it can obviously also be mechanized and/or automated, if so preferred.
Lastly, any of the phases that are conventionally carried out after obtaining the shape of the croquette, such as a pasting-breading phase, and the subsequent packaging for distribution and sale, are carried out.
It has been envisaged that the containers can be stacked, and thus on the bottom face of the bases thereof, and close to the corners, they have been provided with stacking corners, not shown as they are the conventional type, such as corners made up of projections provided with two angular sections parallel to two adjacent sides of the containers.
This application is the national phase of International Patent Application No. PCT/ES2021/070118 filed Feb. 18, 2021, the disclosure of which is hereby referenced in its entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/ES2021/070118 | 2/18/2021 | WO |