A method of making a soft pretzel bite includes cutting a series of transverse slots on one lateral side of a dough strip, curling the transverse slotted dough strip into a respective rolled dough strip, exposing each transverse slot, and transversely cutting each rolled dough strip into dough bites. The method includes washing each dough bite in a caustic solution with the length of each transverse slot being sufficient for excess caustic solution to drain way from the dough bite. The dough bite is baked into a pretzel bite. Each transverse slot allows a volume of the pretzel bite to increase without being constrained by a pretzel skin formed around each transverse slot to aerate an interior of each pretzel bite.

A method of making a soft pretzel bite includes cutting a series of transverse slots on one lateral side of a dough strip, curling the transverse slotted dough strip into a respective rolled dough strip, exposing each transverse slot, and transversely cutting each rolled dough strip into dough bites. The method includes washing each dough bite in a caustic solution with the length of each transverse slot being sufficient for excess caustic solution to drain way from the dough bite. The dough bite is baked into a pretzel bite. Each transverse slot allows a volume of the pretzel bite to increase without being constrained by a pretzel skin formed around each transverse slot to aerate an interior of each pretzel bite.

A crisp proteinaceous food product provided from ingredients in which egg white proteins constitute the majority of total proteins present is described. Other ingredients include water, expanded starch(es), vegetable flour(s), and at least one source of vegetable protein. The protein can be labeled as being more than 50% (w/w) protein, and at least 50% (w/w) of those denatured proteins can be ovalbumin (or trace their origin to ovalbumin).

A crisp proteinaceous food product provided from ingredients in which egg white proteins constitute the majority of total proteins present is described. Other ingredients include water, expanded starch(es), vegetable flour(s), and at least one source of vegetable protein. The protein can be labeled as being more than 50% (w/w) protein, and at least 50% (w/w) of those denatured proteins can be ovalbumin (or trace their origin to ovalbumin).

Filled roll dough products, such as pizza rolls, are made with an outer dough shell with an internal filling material. Versus a conventional pizza roll, pizza rolls in accordance with the invention employs a filling material having a lower viscosity upon heating due to the removal of a majority of a viscosity altering additive (e.g., methyl cellulose) used in a conventional filling and an outer dough shell formed with spaced internal ridges which increase the structural integrity of the outer shell while not at all changing the external appearance. While removal of the viscosity altering additive from the filling material increases a blow-out rate for the product, the inclusion of the ridges decreases the blow-out rate to the extent that either a reduction or no significant change in product blow-rates is produced.

Filled roll dough products, such as pizza rolls, are made with an outer dough shell with an internal filling material. Versus a conventional pizza roll, pizza rolls in accordance with the invention employs a filling material having a lower viscosity upon heating due to the removal of a majority of a viscosity altering additive (e.g., methyl cellulose) used in a conventional filling and an outer dough shell formed with spaced internal ridges which increase the structural integrity of the outer shell while not at all changing the external appearance. While removal of the viscosity altering additive from the filling material increases a blow-out rate for the product, the inclusion of the ridges decreases the blow-out rate to the extent that either a reduction or no significant change in product blow-rates is produced.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming a stuffed crust pizza on a continuous high speed basis. The invention can form and deposit a cheese rope in either an ellipse or circular shape, onto a moving sheet of dough with multiple lanes using a waterwheel flow divider. An encoder is mounted to the conveyor feeding the dough to the apparatus. This provides both position information and speed of the dough to a motion controller to guide the movement of the nozzles. A stamping device initially presses an indentation of the cheese shape into the dough sheet and provides a natural resting location for the cheese to be deposited. A set of two nozzles per lane is utilized to form the cross sectional shape of the cheese. Each nozzle forms one half of the total shape of the cheese and the flow to each nozzle is controlled by a waterwheel flow divider.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for forming a stuffed crust pizza on a continuous high speed basis. The invention can form and deposit a cheese rope in either an ellipse or circular shape, onto a moving sheet of dough with multiple lanes using a waterwheel flow divider. An encoder is mounted to the conveyor feeding the dough to the apparatus. This provides both position information and speed of the dough to a motion controller to guide the movement of the nozzles. A stamping device initially presses an indentation of the cheese shape into the dough sheet and provides a natural resting location for the cheese to be deposited. A set of two nozzles per lane is utilized to form the cross sectional shape of the cheese. Each nozzle forms one half of the total shape of the cheese and the flow to each nozzle is controlled by a waterwheel flow divider.

Squeezeeta is a method of producing pizza dough more quickly and conveniently, for both consumers and manufacturers. It is particularly useful in manufacturing—enabling a shorter assembly line than in current set-ups, faster speeds, and reductions in energy consumption and cost of production. The method produces a packaged good in the form of a squeezable pizza dough in a pouch (sac-à-poche), marketable to both retail consumers and food services. The method can also be used for bread, pasta, croissant, crepes etc. Squeezeeta also enables consumers to create pizza at home from scratch, which is fully customizable in shape, size and crust thickness, and greatly surpasses competitors for freshness, quality and taste. Requiring no special expertise or professional pizza-maker skills, the Squeezeeta method also allows food services operations to achieve huge savings. The Squeezeeta method can be applied, with proper adjustments, to other popular dough-based products (including bread and pasta).

Squeezeeta is a method of producing pizza dough more quickly and conveniently, for both consumers and manufacturers. It is particularly useful in manufacturing—enabling a shorter assembly line than in current set-ups, faster speeds, and reductions in energy consumption and cost of production. The method produces a packaged good in the form of a squeezable pizza dough in a pouch (sac-à-poche), marketable to both retail consumers and food services. The method can also be used for bread, pasta, croissant, crepes etc. Squeezeeta also enables consumers to create pizza at home from scratch, which is fully customizable in shape, size and crust thickness, and greatly surpasses competitors for freshness, quality and taste. Requiring no special expertise or professional pizza-maker skills, the Squeezeeta method also allows food services operations to achieve huge savings. The Squeezeeta method can be applied, with proper adjustments, to other popular dough-based products (including bread and pasta).