How is Soft biscuit manufactured in factory? Read this article to understand the ingredients and process options. Then, learn about the oven design. Then, decide if a traditional oven design is right for your factory. In some cases, a hybrid oven design can produce soft biscuits that are both delicious and functional. Regardless, your factory will have to follow a few guidelines. Here are a few tips:
Process
The process of manufacturing soft biscuits in a factory begins with dough preparation. During this step, the dough is prepared using extrusion, folding, or sheeting. A forming rotor cuts pieces of dough into the desired size and shape. The dough ribbon is punctured to release gases during baking. It is then conveyed to a laminator, which laminates the biscuits and supplies them to an oven for baking.
Once the biscuit dough is ready, the factory begins the process of oil spraying. Oil spraying occurs on a cloth during the process of producing soft biscuits and hard biscuits. The device uses a centrifugal mist spray structure to distribute oil evenly and contains an optional oil collect tank. The oil spraying process is crucial to soft biscuit production because over-kneading the dough leads to tough gluten and crumbly biscuits.
Ingredients
One of the most important ingredients of soft biscuits is butter. To make the biscuit dough more tender, freeze the butter for at least 30 minutes. If you prefer a savory biscuit, omit the sugar. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or two forks. The dough should resemble a shaggy dough. Do not overwork the dough as it will result in tough biscuits.
To make these biscuits, you need cold butter and self-rising flour. To make this flour, combine two cups of all-purpose flour with a teaspoon of baking powder and one-half teaspoon of salt. For the butter, use cold butter. This will generate steam in the oven, resulting in a flaky, tender crumb. You can use shortening in place of butter. After preparing the dough, place it in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
Process options
In a factory setting, the production of soft biscuits has several process options. For example, doughs made from SMS are usually sheeted without lamination. The dough scraps are very important and should be incorporated slowly and at a ratio of 2.5:1. The reduction of dough sheets is gradual and requires precise knowledge of the mass balance, which will determine the amount of solids to be added to the final product. The choice of flour also affects the characteristics of the finished product. Hard wheat flour gives the biscuits the strongest sidewalls. Soft wheat flour, on the other hand, tends to give biscuits the most break at the center.
A hybrid oven is ideal for soft biscuit manufacturing in a factory. It should contain Direct Gas Fired, Indirect Radiant and Convection zones. The first zone must maintain a high humidity, as moisture condenses at this temperature. The second zone must maintain a low humidity, since high humidity may cause checking. The ratio between the baking time and the cooling time should be 1.5:1.
Oven design
In a soft biscuits factory, the temperature and humidity in the oven must be controlled to maintain the right moisture level and allow the dough to expand. It is important to note that a high temperature and humidity in the first zone of the oven will accelerate the process of drying the dough. At the same time, a low temperature and humid atmosphere will slow down the process of moisturizing the dough. The temperature and humidity in the oven can be adjusted to maintain the desired colour and texture of the biscuits.
The oven design should provide rapid heat transfer at the beginning of the bake, while maintaining the outer skin of the dough piece. Otherwise, the dough pieces will develop different shapes and thicknesses after baking. Another important factor to keep in mind is the moisture extraction rate. Moisture that collects in the middle of the baking chamber will be distributed unevenly throughout the dough pieces. The final zone(s) should be evenly coloured and dry. An oven with good lateral heat transfer will maintain even colour and moisture content.
Composition of dough sheet
Soft biscuits are made with a flour sheet that contains a proportion of fats and water. Fats are extracted from good-quality crude oils, vegetable oils, or hydrogenated fish oil. In addition to fats, biscuits contain ammonium bicarbonate, which is a volatile salt and an effective leavener. Sodium bicarbonate reacts with acidic ingredients in the dough and releases carbon dioxide.
When making biscuit dough, use double-acting baking powder. It should foam when mixed with 2 tablespoons of warm water. If the baking powder does not foam, it is not fresh enough. You can add more milk or water if the dough is too dry. If you don’t want to use water, add buttermilk to give your biscuits a tangy flavor and moist texture. You can also substitute plain flour for all-purpose flour.
Latent heat of evaporation required
The energy required for soft biscuit manufacturing in a factory requires the latent heat of evaporation to be high enough to bake dough pieces sufficiently moist and dry. This process is called “drying”. The baking chamber needs to be designed to ensure rapid heat transfer to start the bake. It should also maintain the flexible outer skin of the dough pieces to enable expansion and lifting. In addition, moisture should be extracted efficiently from the dough pieces in the middle of the oven, and in the baking chamber. This ensures that the final zone(s) is colouring and dry, with the same level of moisture content.
For baking, the most common packaging material is oriented polypropylene (OPP). Its acrylic coating provides a higher barrier to oxygen and other contaminants. Some packaging materials are made from PVC/PVDC copolymer, and metalized plastic films are also used to limit photooxidation. Another polymer for biscuit packaging is ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), which is biodegradable and certified for food contact. EVA significantly reduced lipid oxidation in biscuits when compared to plain OPP.
