FOOD PRODUCT HAVING CRUNCHY TEXTURE
A food composition capable of maintaining a crunchy texture after freezing and reheating is disclosed. The food composition includes a crust or an outer casing having a dough-based matrix or a batter-based matrix with a thickness of about 2 to about 150 mm, and texture modifying particles dispersed throughout the matrix. The texture modifying particles generally comprise about 12 to about 40% by weight of the food composition and provide the food composition with a crunchy texture. The texture modifying particles may be crushed particles of food products, such as fried grain chips, fried vegetable chips, extruded cereals, extruded crackers, or combinations thereof.
1 . A food composition comprising:
a main body having a matrix; and
texture modifying particles dispersed throughout the matrix,
wherein the matrix is a dough-based matrix or a batter-based matrix, and wherein the texture modifying particles comprise about 5 to about 40% by weight of the food composition and wherein the texture modifying particles provide the food composition with a crunchy texture.
2 . The food composition of claim 1 , wherein the texture modifying particles provide the food composition with a crunchy texture as measured by a texture analyzer in compression mode.
3 . The food composition of claim 2 , wherein a peak load for the main body is about 8,000 g to about 16,000 g and occurs before 2 s as measured by a texture analyzer in compression mode.
4 . The food composition of claim 3 , wherein the peak load is at least about 10,000 g.
5 . The food composition of claim 1 , wherein the matrix has a thickness of about 2 to about 12 mm.
6 . The food composition of claim 1 , wherein the matrix has a thickness of about 10 to about 150 mm, and wherein the matrix comprises a crunchy portion and a non-crunchy portion, and wherein the crunchy portion comprises an outer layer of the matrix that at least partially surrounds the non-crunchy portion, and wherein the texture modifying particles provide a crunchy texture to the crunchy portion.
7 . The food composition of claim 6 , wherein the crunchy portion comprises a bottom of the food composition.
8 . The food composition of claim 6 , wherein the crunchy portion comprises one or more sides of the food composition.
9 . The food composition of claim 6 , wherein the crunchy portion comprises a top of the food composition.
10 . The food composition of claim 1 , wherein the texture modifying particles comprise particles of food products selected from fried grain products, fried vegetable products, extruded grain products, or combinations thereof.
11 . The food composition of claim 1 , wherein the texture modifying particles comprise crushed particles of food products selected from fried grain chips, fried vegetable chips, extruded cereals, extruded crackers, or combinations thereof.
12 . The food composition of claim 1 , wherein the texture modifying particles have a particle size of about 0.1 to about 5 mm when measured across the greatest cross dimension of the texture modifying particles.
13 . The food composition of claim 1 , wherein the texture modifying particles comprise a moisture barrier.
14 . The food composition of claim 13 , wherein the moisture barrier comprises fat.
15 . The food composition of claim 14 , wherein at least some of the fat comprises hard fat.
16 . The food composition of claim 13 , wherein the moisture barrier comprises gelatinized starch.
17 . The food composition of claim 1 , wherein the food composition comprises:
about 24 to about 44% flour by weight;
about 22 to about 35% water by weight;
about 13 to about 24% texture modifying particles by weight;
about 0.5 to about 2.9% oil by weight; and
about 2.0 to about 8.0% hard fat by weight.
18 . The food composition of claim 17 , wherein the hard fat comprises shortening flakes.
19 . A method for preparing a food product, the method comprising:
(a) mixing a dough composition comprising flour, water, and texture modifying particles;
(b) sheeting the dough composition into a flat sheet; and
(c) par baking or fully baking the flat sheeted dough to provide a crust,
wherein the texture modifying particles provide the crust with a crunchy texture.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the dough composition comprises:
about 24 to about 60% flour by weight;
about 5 to about 20% water by weight;
about 4 to about 40% texture modifying particles by weight;
about 0.5 to about 4.0% oil by weight; and
about 15 to about 45% hard fat by weight.
21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the hard fat comprises shortening flakes.
22 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the crust has a thickness of about 2 to about 12 mm.
23 . The method of claim 19 , wherein peak load for the crust is from about 8,000 g to about 16,000 g and occurs before 2 s as measured by a texture analyzer in compression mode.
24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the peak load is at least 10,000 g.
25 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the dough is sheeted to a thickness of between about 2 to about 12 mm.
26 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the texture modifying particles comprise particles of food products selected from fried grain products, fried vegetable products, extruded grain products, or combinations thereof.
27 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the texture modifying particles comprise crushed particles of food products selected from fried grain chips, fried vegetable chips, extruded cereals, extruded crackers, or combinations thereof.
28 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the texture modifying particles have a particle size of about 0.1 to about 5 mm when measured across the greatest cross dimension of the texture modifying particles.
29 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the texture modifying particles comprise a moisture barrier.
30 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the moisture barrier comprises fat.
31 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the dough composition comprises hard fat, wherein the hard fat melts during the baking and a portion of the melted fat coats at least a portion of the texture modifying particle to form a moisture barrier.
32 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the dough composition comprises hard fat, the method further comprising coating the texture modifying particles prior to mixing the dough composition by:
melting the hard fat to produce melted fat;
mixing the melted fat with the texture modifying particles to produce coated particles; and
cooling the coated particles to solidify the fat.
33 . The method of claim 29 , wherein the moisture barrier comprises gelatinized starch.
34 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising adding toppings onto the crust or filling the crust with a filling.
35 . The method of claim 34 , wherein the crust is a pizza crust, a pie crust, or a pocket crust.
36 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising freezing the food product.
37 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the crust maintains a crunchy texture after freezing and finish baking.
38 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the crust maintains a crunchy texture after freezing and thawing the food product.
39 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising fully baking the food product and freezing the fully baked food product.
40 . The method of claim 39 , wherein the crust maintains a crunchy texture after reheating the fully baked food product.
41 . The food composition of claim 1 , wherein the matrix is a fried batter-based matrix.
42 . The food composition of claim 1 , wherein the matrix is a baked dough-based matrix.
43 . The food composition of claim 41 , wherein the crust comprises a pancake.
44 . The food composition of claim 41 , wherein the crust comprises a crepe.
45 . The food composition of claim 41 , wherein the crust comprises an outer casing of a filled roll.
46 . The food composition of claim 41 , wherein the crust comprises a fried batter coating.
47 . The food composition of claim 6 , wherein the texture modifying particles comprise about 4 to about 16% by weight of the food composition.