The present invention concerns an extrusion die for extruding a food product having a humidity level between 2.5 to 6.5%, the extrusion die being intended to be connected to the end of an extruder, said extrusion die presenting in transversal cross-section: a circular central opened portion; and a peripheral indented opened portion comprising indentations in which the indentions are in communication with the circular central portion. The invention also relates to an extruder, process and method utilising said extrusion die and to an extruded or co-extruded individual food item produced using said extrusion die.

A crimping and cutting assembly includes a first roller engaged with a second roller including a honeycomb pattern of polygonal crimping and cutting members. Various transversely spaced, internally filled dough ropes are fed between the first and second rollers, causing each rope to be continuously crimped and cut at longitudinally spaced locations to create multi-sided food products, specifically polygonal food products having two to six crimped and cut sides. The ropes can permissibly shift or wander laterally during production, resulting in slightly different size or shape food products, while the honeycomb pattern acts to re-align the ropes so as to be tolerant to the ropes wandering while still preventing puncturing of the ropes which could lead to loss of filling and extended production downtime.

A system and method for dispensing a first and second baking material where the baking materials are simultaneously dispensed through a discharge tube. The discharge tube is moved with respect to a male mold while dispensing the baking materials. An optional pressure foot follows the discharge tube and assists with joining the dispensed layer with the previous layer by applying pressure. The baking materials are dispensed and layered to form complex shapes not possible by pouring or application of a sheet of dough. The dough and mold are baked together and the baked item is removed from the mold after baking.

Provided is a process and system for the production of a nutritional low-caloric food product, and food products produced thereby.

A shaping assembly for producing a discrete spiral shaped food product includes a die that defines at least one aperture that is centered on an aperture axis. The at least one aperture extends to an aperture exit and allows for the movement of a stream of food mass through the aperture and out the aperture exit. A shaping tool includes at least one slicing blade that is disposed over at least a portion of the aperture exit to slice the stream of food mass into a plurality of food mass portions. A coupling arrangement engages the shaping tool to facilitate rotation of the slicing blade to spin the plurality of food mass portions into a spiral shaped stream of food mass. The slicing blade simultaneously slices and spins the stream of food mass to create the spiral shaped stream of food mass. A crimper is used to cut the spiral shaped stream of food mass into the discrete spiral shaped food products.

A system and method for dispensing a first and second baking material where the baking materials are simultaneously dispensed through a discharge tube. The discharge tube is moved with respect to a male mold while dispensing the baking materials. An optional pressure foot follows the discharge tube and assists with joining the dispensed layer with the previous layer by applying pressure. The baking materials are dispensed and layered to form complex shapes not possible by pouring or application of a sheet of dough. The dough and mold are baked together and the baked item is removed from the mold after baking.

A co-extruded filled dough product comprises a dough shell casing and a filling material co-extruded with the dough shell casing. The filling material includes greater than about 40% of a particulate component and less than about 60% of a sauce component. The sauce component has a Bostwick consistency greater than about 7 cm and can be, e.g., a cheese-based sauce or a tomato-based sauce. A method of producing a filled dough product comprises co-extruding a dough shell casing and a filling material. A system for producing a filled dough product comprises a dough shell casing extruder die for forming a dough shell casing and a filling material die configured to extrude a filling material within the dough shell casing.

A system and method for dispensing a first and second baking material where the baking materials are simultaneously dispensed through a discharge tube. The discharge tube is moved with respect to a male mold while dispensing the baking materials. An optional pressure foot follows the discharge tube and assists with joining the dispensed layer with the previous layer by applying pressure. The baking materials are dispensed and layered to form complex shapes not possible by pouring or application of a sheet of dough. The dough and mold are baked together and the baked item is removed from the mold after baking.

A multi-layered food product comprises a filling encapsulated by a dough layer, and the multi-layered food product can optionally include one or more toppings atop the dough layer.