Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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A method for preparlng lngestable boat-shaped receptacles for the
presentation of foodst~ffs, and the boat-shaped receptacles obtalned
~ield of the Invention
The present invention relates to ingestable boat-shaped
receptacles, or "barquettes", usable more particularly in the field of
the fast food catering industry. In the fast food catering industry,
one may distinguish between the products in which a food product such
as meat, vegetables and various seasonings are presented between two
slices or two halves of a bread roll, these slices or half rolls being
more or less thick, and the products including a receptacle made of an
ingestable product, generally a dough converted into bread and baked,
receptacle in which are placed the foodstuffs.
The present invention relates more especially to this second kind
of products and more precisely to the ingestable receptacle.
Background of the Invention
In EU-A-3 290 154 or in FR-A-q 516 353 (W0-A-83.01726) have
already been proposed containers of this type, but formed of raised
dough baked in a mold, in the form of a thick-walled cup. These
containers may receive at the moment of their sale a filling containing
q5 a rather large proportion of liquid, notably in the form of gravy.
US-A-3 290 154 proposes to provide a cup having a wall height
relatively large as compared to its diameter, the wall being made of a
relatively flexible crumb between two surfaces made of a crust. For so
doing, a dough mass is placed in the cavity between the walls tefining
the mold bottom and the dough is left to raise and it invades the
annular cavity for~ing the wall. The gustatory characteristics of this
thick-walled receptacle are bad and it is very difficult, due to its
shape, to eat it, above all when filled wieh a more or less liq~id
fQQdstuff. FR-A-~ 516 353 relates to a container of same type having
suhstantially the same shame and exhibiting the ~ame disadvantages.
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Methods and molds for preparing a roll very well known in the
United States of Amerlca under the name of bun sre also known. These
small round rolls, used for example cut into halves for recelvlng a
hashed meat cake, are not adapted for receiving foodstuffs includlng a
large proportion of llquid, due to the fact that they have no receivlng
hollow portion and have no tight cover.
In order to remedy these disadvantages, it has been proposed (see
US-A-2 222 112) to use a mold having a hollow core for forming a recess
within the bun and to introduce heat in this hollow core for cooking
the bun. Eventually, two cores may be placed side by side and the bun
is in that case made of two halves connected by a hinge. Taking ~n
account the usual consistency of the buns, the asse~bly is not tight
and its shape is not easy to be ingested. Above all, the preparation
method is complex and not automatizable since each core has to be
surrounded with dough.
It has been proposed (US-A-3 908 022) to provide the bun with an
elongated shape by using a double-walled mold. The product thus
prepared has the same disadvantages as that of US-A-3 290 154. The
preparation method is difficult to implement on an industrial scale and
the obtention of a tight crust by the overheated inner mold is
illusive.
Another known method (US-A-4 065 581) uses hollow elongated molds
surrounded by a groove and the dough is deposited on the mold and flows
up to the groove. This method may only be used in small scale
production and the cooking mode is not indicated.
~bjects and Summary of the Invention
The object of the present invention i5 to remedy these
disadvantages by providing a container in the shape of a "barquette",
having a lesser thickness and a shape making consumption easier, with
good tightness allowing to retain the gravies and other liquids
accompanyin~ the foodstuffs and which can be obtained easily and in a
reproducible manner on an industrial scale.
3~ ~ccording to the invention, ehis ob~ect is reached by the f~ct
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that there ls prepared a bread tough based on flour, salt and water,
wlth a leaven or a ferment culture, the dough ls left to ralse, the
raised dough mass belng laminated ln the shape of an undercrust havlng
a thickness of about five millimeters, this undercrust is then placed
on a mold plate havlng protrudlng reliefs correspondlng each to the
lnner shape of a barquette, the dough crust whlch ls between the edges
of these reliefs ls cut off and removed, the dough blts which are on
the plate are subjected to a regulated fermentation, then the plate
carrying the barquette are placed in a baking oven.
The barquettes thus obtained have a thickness in the baked state
of eight to ten millimlters and very regular outer crust of a
straw-yellow color, bright, rigid, of a crusty appearance and very
appetizing. The inner surface is made of a crust of shiny aspect, or a
lacquered appearance and presenting a very good tightness avoiding the
impregnation of the dough forming the barquette by gravies and other
liquid phases.
The essential difference of the invention as compared to the known
methods resides in the fact that one places, on a plate provided with
reliefs for several barquettes, a continuous laminated dough occupying
the whole surface of the plate, then the portions of the dough which
are between the reliefs are discarded, the dough bits are subjected to
a regulated fermentation and then the dough bits are placed, still on
the plate, in a baking oven. One will realize that such a method is
easily automatizable and allows obtaining repetitive results.
According to another feature of the method of the invention and in
order to increase the tightness of the inner crust, the surface of the
mold is lubricated prior to placing the undercrust therein.
The structure of the crumb is very homogeneous and fine while
providing a very good isothermy for the hot fillings.
According to another feature, the protruding relief corresponding
to one barquette is subdivided by one or several transverse cuts into a
plurality of compartments by the partition walls formed in said cuts.
According to a variant, there are formed ln the undercrust groups
of barquettes separated from one another by a thinned-out undercrust
wall so as to form breaking leaders after baklng.
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Advantageously ln that case, the thinned-out walls are formed by
the cuttlng tool separating each group of barquettes,
An ob~ect of the invention i8 also lnge~table barquettes obcalned
by thls method.
Brlef Descriptlon of Drawings
The invention will be described hereafter in more detail as an
embodiment, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:
Fig, 1 is a top view of a barquette with a single compartment;
Fig, 2 is a sectional view of the barquette of Fig. 1 along line
II-II;
Fig. 3 is a sectional view along line III-III of Fig. 1 of the
filled barquette
Fig. 4 is a plan detailed view of the mold used for making the
barquette of Figs. 1 to 3;
Fig. 5 is a sectional view along line V-V of Fig. 4;
Fig. 6 is a detailed sectional view illustrating a stage of the
preparation of barquettes with the method of the invention;
Fig. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view in register with a relief
of a mold plate for preparing a three compartment barquette;
Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the barquette made ~ith
the mold of Fig. 7;
Fig. 9 is a perspective view of part of a mold for preparing
groups of barquettes according to a variant of the invention;
Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a cutting tool cooperating with
the mold of Fig. 9;
Fig. 11 is a perspective schematic view of the tool of Fig. 10
mounted in the mold of Fig. 9, where the dough has not been shown; and
Fig. 12 is a transverse sectional view of the assembly of Fig. 11,
with the dough shown.
Detailed Description of the Invention
According to the invention, a bread dough of the type based o~
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flour, water, salt and leaven ls prepared. Eventually, one may also use
a dough of the type known for maklng special breads contalning bacon,
onions, flours from varlous cereals, etc... or a dough of the mllk
bread type.
The leaven ls prepared under the following conditions:
- at the beginning, one uses a straln of mlcroscopic mushroom~ of
the saccharomycea cerevisae species (bread-maklng leaven);
- a cellular reactivation of this leaven is carried out by
incorporating the leaven in a nutritive medium having substantially as
10 formula:
water: 84%
glucides 15%
mineral salts 1%
vitamins 100 p.p.m.
- the leaven is intimately mixed with the nutritive medium under a
mild agitation, at a constant temperature of 28C, while measuring and
regulating the physical factors such as mixture duration, pH,
oxygenation, etc.
One gramme of bread-making leaven contains about lO billions of
living cells.
The placing in contact with a liquid medium very rich in carbon
hydrate and in elements indispensable to growth allows reactivating the
leaven cells and placing them in a growth exponential phase, meaning
that there is a multiplication of the number of cells. This satisfies
the principle as such of bacterial multiplication and calls for
biotechnological methods.
Placed under the optimal conditions, the leaven population doubles
in 96 minutes.
The interest of this technique is shown by the fact that the
leavens are directly "operational" when incorporated to the dough.
The latent periods (adaptation to the medium) are rediuced, or
even practically suppressed, hence an appreaciable gain of time.
Then is made the dough in a kneader by seeding with the
fermentative culture, by controlling the contact duratlon between dough
and fer~ent. The do~gh is then laminated in the shape of an undercrust
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of a thickness of about 5 mm.
Thereafter, a mold ls used, 6uch as shown ln Pigs. 4 to 6, or 9 to
12, made of an sheet metal 1 formed on lts superlor face wlth reliefs 2
corresponding to the shape of the cell to be obtalned in the barquette
formlng the container according to the lnvention.
Undercrust 3 (Fig. 6), is applied on the mold in order to cover at
4 the rellefs which can be made of dished recesses ln sheet metal 1.
The undercrust ls cut at 5 along the periphery of the reliefs and
portion 6 of the undercrust situated between the reliefs is removed so
as to be re-incorporated in the dough mass of another undercrust.
The bits of dough 4 which are on reliefs 2 of plate 1 are then
subjected to a regulated fermentation.
At the beg;nning of fermentation and baking, a solution of
variable formula (water alone; water and additives; oil; oil and
flavors; etc.) is nebulized. The interest of this technique is
demonstrated by at least three points.
The water has a moistening effect on the dough; consequently, one
avoids the formation of a crust (formation of a thin film on the
surface of the barquette, action on coloration during baking) since one
can obtain a bright straw-yellow color (similar to that of a French
"baguette").
Thus is improved the tightness of the dough to water steam, the
product gets less easily dry when baked. Evaporation is limited, the
water tends to remain in the product. Thus is obtained a crumb which is
more flexible and mellow.
If a nebulization of a fat for example is applied, said fat can be
the support of an aromatization (bacon, cheese, various flavors, etc.).
With this method, one can also consider "painting" or coloring the
barquette. (Marking with ~ logo, a trade-mark, etc.).
T0 sum it up, this nebulization can be the aid:
- for physically improving the product (water retention,
mellowness, etc.);
- f or a sanitary improvement ~preservation of the product against
ageing);
- for a gustative improvement (aromatization, etc.);
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- for a vlsual improvement (coloration, msrklng, etc.)
The barquettes are then baked by placing plates l carrying the
barquette blanks in an oven with a flxed sole or other. When baking ls
completed, the dough barquettes 7 thus formed are removed from the
mold.
When the production is on an lndustrlal basis, the method can be
automated, the setting in positlon of the undercrust, the cutting the
latter and the e~ection of the dough between the reliefs belng carried
out by automatic devices. Baking is then made preferably on a metalllc
belt with imprints having the format of the barquettes, said belt
circulating inside a tunnel oven.
The barquettes 7 are formed with a central cavity 8 the volume of
which is at least equal to the volume of bread forming the barquette
wall. Said barquette has an outer crust which is very smooth, of a
straw yellow color, bright, rlgid, of a crusty and appetizing aspect.
The inner crust 10 is smooth, of a bright aspect and of a lacquered
appearance. Crumb ll is fine and fine and regular. Edges 12 are more or
less regular.
The gripping of the barquettes between the thumb, forefinger and
second finger is very easy, and due to its width, the introduction in
the mouth is perfect, which makes their consumption very clean.
As shown in Fig. 7, the relief 13 defining the inner shape of the
barquette can include transverse cuts 14. In such a case, the dough of
the undercrust which penetrates cuts 14 gives rise to transverse
partition walls 15 by subdividing the cavity of the barquette into a
central compartment 16 and two end compartments 17. These there
compartments may be filled with different products, such as a filling
for the "entrée" in one of compartments 17, a filling representing the
principal dish in compartment 16 and a filling being the dessert in the
other compartment 17.
In the variant of Figs. 9 to 12, plate l carries a plurality of
groups of four reliefs 2, with a single group shown in the drawing.
When the dough layer 20 has been placed on plate l, a cutting tool is
brought down, a portion of which corresponding to a group of rellefs
being shown in Fig. lO. This cutting tool 2l is made of a frame 2-~ the
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lower edges 23 of whlch cut dough 20 around the group of rellefs 2,
Frame 22 lncludes 8 cross-plece 24 formed of the medlans of frame 22
and the lower edges 25 of which are offset towards the lnside with
respect to the cuttlng edges 23.
When tool 21 ls brought down on plate 1 (Figs. 11 and 12), the
lower edges 26 of cross-piece 24 form ln dough 20 partition walls 26
(Fig. 12) of reduced thickness and which, after passage of plate 1 in
the baklng oven, will form the breaking leaders for separating four
barquettes corresponding to the four reliefs 2. These barquettes may be
10 filled previously with various foodstuffs forming a full meal, or a
slngle foodstuff such as a filling with pizza or a quiche, for forming
portions to be separated at the moment of consumption.
Of course, the number of reliefs of a group may be other than
four.
The dough prepared according to the method of the invention is
particularly adapted to deep freeze, in a partly or totally baked
state. The dough can be reheated, alone or with its filling, in a
microwave oven and it recovers its flexibility as well as the crunchy
characteristic of its crust.
