Encased snack

1. A process for the preparation of an encased snack comprising in this order the steps of:

1) introducing a free flowing crumb material into a lower die, the free flowing crumb material comprising a shredded baked dough material, water, and a binder, the free flowing crumb material having a water activity level of 0.6 or more;

2) pressing a first upper die into the lower die at a pressure between about 3 bar and about 6 bar to form an unbaked molded crumb shell having a wall with a thickness;

3) introducing a filling into the unbaked molded crumb shell in the lower die, the filling having a second water activity level of 0.6 or more;

4) introducing an additional free flowing crumb material onto the filling and the unbaked molded crumb shell in the lower die to provide an unbaked unmolded crumb cover; and

5) pressing a second upper die onto the unbaked unmolded crumb cover in the lower die at a pressure between about 1 bar and about 2 bar to form an encased unbaked snack, the encased unbaked snack sealing and fully encasing the filling within the free flowing crumb material and the additional free flowing crumb material; and

6) baking the encased unbaked snack to form an encased baked snack,

wherein the binder reacts with the water to firm-up an outer surface of the encased baked snack, and

the second upper die has a lower rim that extends about a recess and has a width that is approximately equal to the wall thickness of the crumb shell, the lower rim having:

a lower surface that is configured to press edges of the unbaked unmolded crumb cover to the wall of the unbaked molded crumb shell in the lower die in response to the second upper die pressing onto the unbaked unmolded crumb cover in the lower die,

an inner surface extending upwardly from the lower surface and defining at least a portion of the recess,

and an outer surface opposite the inner surface and extending upwardly from the lower surface, the outer surface of the lower rim configured to contact an inner surface of the lower die when the second upper die is pressed onto the unbaked unmolded crumb cover in the lower die.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the free flowing crumb material further comprises material selected from the group consisting of breadstuff, cereal-based material, waste material from snack production, cheese-based material, meat-based material, soy protein-based material, tofu-based material, and combinations thereof.

3. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the binder is a food grade binder.

4. The process of claim 3 , wherein the food grade binder is a pre-gelatinized starch.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the filling is selected from the group consisting of chocolate, fruit, dairy products, vegetables, cereals, meat-based material, vegetable-based materials, vegetable-based fat, protein spreads, and combinations thereof.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the encased snack is baked using infrared radiation.

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the first upper die has a top rim which is conical with an inversely angle α.

8. The process according to claim 7 , wherein the inversely angle α is about 45° to about 60°.

9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the free flowing crumb material has a water activity of 0.93 to 0.98 and the filling has a water activity of 0.93 to 0.98.

10. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the additional free flowing crumb material forming the cover is a different material from the free flowing crumb material forming the shell.

11. The process according to claim 3 , wherein the food grade binder improves the flowability of the free flowing crumb material.

12. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the filling is free of preservatives.

13. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the free flowing crumb material comprises rye bread crumbs, and wherein the first upper die presses into the lower die at a pressure between about 4 bar and about 6 bar.

14. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the free flowing crumb material comprises biscuit crumbs, and wherein the first upper die presses into the lower die at a pressure between about 3 bar and about 5 bar.