METHOD FOR PREPARING A FLOUR TORTILLA

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for preparing a flour tortilla, comprising preparing a tortilla dough from cereal flour and fat particles, which fat particles at least substantially consist of triglycerides of saturated fatty acids having 8-22 carbon atoms; shaping the tortilla dough into a tortilla shape; and heating the shaped tortilla dough, thereby obtaining the flour tortilla. The invention further relates to a flour tortilla dough, comprising fat particles dispersed therein, which fat particles at least substantially consist of triglycerides of saturated fatty acids having 8-22 carbon atoms, and to a flour tortilla that can be obtained by a method according to the invention or made from dough according to the invention.

Claims

1. Method for preparing a flour tortilla, comprising preparing a tortilla dough from cereal flour and fat particles, which fat particles at least substantially consist of triglycerides of fatty acids having 8-22 carbon atoms; shaping the tortilla dough into a tortilla shape; and heating the shaped tortilla dough, thereby obtaining the flour tortilla.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fat particles at least substantially consist of triglycerides of saturated fatty acids having 8-22 carbon atoms.

3. Method according to claim 2, wherein at least 40% of the fatty acid content, based on total moles of fatty acid (in bound form, such as in acylglycerides andif presentas free fatty acid), of the fat particles is stearic acid.

4. Method according to claim 3, wherein at least 75% of the fatty acid content, based on total moles of fatty acid (in bound form, such as in acylglycerides andif presentas free fatty acid), of the fat particles is stearic acid.

5. Method according to claim 4, wherein the fatty acid composition of the fat particles is: 0.1-1% myristic acid (C14) 1-10% palmitic acid (C16) 75-98% stearic acid (C18) 0.6-6% arachinic acid (C20) 0.4-5% behenic acid (C22) others 0-5%; all based on total moles of fatty acid (in bound form, such as in acylglycerides andif presentas free fatty acid).

6. Method according to claim 1, wherein the palmitic acid content based on total fatty acid is 4-8 wt. %.

7. Method according to claim 1, wherein the stearic acid content based on total fatty acid is 86-96 wt. %.

8. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fat particles are particles of hydrogenated canola oil.

9. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fat particles have a melting point, as determinable by DSC, in the range of about 65 to about 70 C.

10. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fat particles have a saturated triglyceride content of 98-100 wt. %, a trans fatty acid content of 0-2 wt. %, an acid number of less than 1 mg KOH/kg, a free fatty acid content 0-0.5% and/or a peroxide number of less than 3 meqO2/kg.

11. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fatty acid composition of the fat particles is: 8-16% lauric acid (C12) 1-10% palmitic acid (C16) 40-50% stearic acid (C18) 22-32% oleic acid (C18) 0.5-7% linoleic acid (C18) others 0-5%.

12. Method according to claim 11, wherein the fatty acid composition of the fat particles is: 10-14% lauric acid (C12) 3-8% palmitic acid (C16) 40-46% stearic acid (C18) 24-30% oleic acid (C18) 1-5% linoleic acid (C18) others 0-5%.

13. Method according to claim 11, wherein the fat particles have a melting point in the range of about 44 to about 48 C.

14. Method according to claim 11, wherein the fat particles have a saturated fatty acid content of 65-75%, a trans fatty acid content of 0-2 wt. %, an acid number of less than 6 mg KOH/kg, a free fatty acid content 0-3% and/or a peroxide number of less than 3 meqO2/kg.

15. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fat particles are fat particles obtained by spray-cooling.

16. Method according to claim 1, wherein the triglyceride content of the fat particles is 95-100 wt. %.

17. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fat particles have a particle size distribution which particle size distribution is as follows at least 10 wt. % of the fat particles has a size <136 m at least 25 wt. % of the fat particles has a size <199 m at least 50 wt. % of the fat particles has a size <350 m 100 wt. % of the fat particle has a size <439 m.

18. Method according to claim 1, wherein the number average particle size or the weight average particle size is 300 m or less.

19. Method according to claim 1, wherein the cereal flour is wheat flour, maize flour or a combination of wheat flour and at least one other flour.

20. Method according to claim 19, wherein the cereal flour is wheat flour or a combination of wheat flour and maize flour, comprising at least 75 wt. % wheat flour, based on total flour.

21. Method according to claim 1, wherein the fat particles are added in an amount of 0.1-2 wt. %, based on the total weight of dough ingredients.

22. Method according to claim 1, wherein the dough is prepared without adding emulsifiers.

23. Method according to claim 1, wherein the preparation of the dough comprises mixing the wheat flour, the fat particles, water and further a liquid vegetable oil.

24. Method according to claim 1, wherein the dough that is prepared is essentially free from monoglycerides and diglycerides other than mono- and diglycerides that are naturally present in wheat flour.

25. Flour tortilla dough, comprising fat particles dispersed therein, which fat particles at least substantially consist of triglycerides of fatty acids having 8-22 carbon atoms.

26. Flour tortilla dough according to claim 25 which is essentially free of added (i.e. other than naturally present in the flour) anticaking agents and added (i.e. other than naturally present in the flour) antioxidants.

27. Flour tortilla, comprising a baked flour dough comprising a fat component at least substantially consisting of triglycerides of fatty acids having 8-22 carbon atoms.

28. (canceled)

29. (canceled)

Description

EXAMPLE 1

[0108] Flour tortillas were made using the same, conventional, preparation method according to the recipe from Table 1. Different types of fat particles were used in the recipe of the flour tortillas and compared with control tortillas without said fat particles.

[0109] Flour Tortillas were prepared using a procedure, known in the art, as described below.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Recipe of flour tortillas Control + Invention Control emulsifier Ingredients [g] [g] [g] Flour 1000 1000 1000 Water 545 545 545 Oil 70 70 70 NaCl 15 15 15 Baking powder 24.6 24.6 24.6 Emulsifier 0 0 10 Fat particles 10 0 0 Preservatives 8 8 8

[0110] The fat particles were obtained from Friesland Food Kievit By (Palm Fat 1), Arthur Branwell & Co Ltd (Palm Fat 2&3) and Juchem Gruppe (spray-cooled Canola Fat) and exhibited the specifications according to Table 2.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Specifications of different fat types Saturated Melting Peroxide fatty acids point value Fat type (%) ( C.) (meqO2/kg) Palm Fat 1 55 n.d. n.d. Palm Fat 2 88 55-60 <4 Palm Fat 3 69 55-60 <4 Canola Fat 99* 65-70 <3 *Comprising Myristic acid C14 (0.5%), Palmitic acid C16 (4-8%), Stearic acid C18 (86-96%), Arachinic acid C20 (3%) and Behenic acid C22 (2%) [0111] Processing [0112] Mixing 2 min. slow 3.45 min. high speed with a McDuffy mixer. Dough temperature: 27-30 C. [0113] Dough weight: 1600 g. [0114] Resting time: 2 min. [0115] Dividing/shaping: Automatic dividing/round up in 30 dough pieces of 50 g each with a W&P Rotomat GS50 [0116] Resting time: 5 min. at room temp. on clothed plate. [0117] Lawrence Equipment semi automatic tortilla machine. [0118] Dwell time: 1.2 sec [0119] Dwell temp.: 204 C. and 213 C bottom/top [0120] Baking temp.: between: 204 C. and 213 C., two top burners on [0121] Baking time: ca 30 sec. [0122] Cooling: ca. half an hour. [0123] Wrap: 10 pieces in a bag.

[0124] The obtained tortillas were evaluated every month for 6 months (by a panel of trained staff) for their zippering (excessive adhesion), ease of separation (from 1 to 10), defined as easiness to separate two tortillas from a stack of multiple tortillas on a scale from one to ten, and No of usable tortillas, defined as the number of tortillas (from a total of 10) that could still be used after the separation of the tortillas. The averages for ease of separation and the number of useable tortilla along with whether the tortilla exhibited zippering or not are shown in Table 3.

[0125] It was found that tortillas containing canola fat showed improved properties regarding all three points mentioned before, compared to tortillas containing other fat particles, no fat particles or containing an emulsifier.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Test results of tortillas containing different fat type particles compared to the control groups. No. usable Ease of tortillas Ingredient Zippering separation (of 10) Control Y 5 8 Emulsifier* (1%) Y 8 9 Palm Fat 1 (1%) Y 7 8 Palm Fat 2 (1%) Y 7 8 Palm Fat 3 (1%) Y 8 8 Canola Fat (1%) +/ 10 10 *50/50 blend mono/diglyceride +/ = improved, reduced zippering

[0126] More specifically, the following conclusions were drawn from the experiments:

[0127] Tortillas containing palm fat could be more easily separated from one another than the control group tortillas.

[0128] When canola fat was used instead of palm fat or emulsifier, both ease of separation and No of usable tortillas were significantly improved.

[0129] Moreover, tortillas that were prepared containing canola fat exhibited less zippering than tortillas in which other type of fat particles, no fat particles but with emulsifier or no fat particles or emulsifier were used.

EXAMPLE 2

[0130] In a further example, flour tortillas were made using the same recipe and process as described in example 1, but using a fat with the following specification in Table 4

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Fat 4 specification Saturated Melting Peroxide fat point value Fat type (%) ( C.) (meqO2/kg) Fat 4* 70 44-48 <3 *Fat type 4 supplied by Juchem Gruppe (Sheaoil & Coconut oil) Comprising Lauric acid C12 (10-14%), Palmitic acid C16 (3-8%), Stearic acid C18 (40-46%), Oleic acid C18:1 (24-30%), Linoleic acid C18:2 (1-5%)

[0131] The tortillas were evaluated as per Example 1 and the results are shown in Table 5

TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Results for Fat 4 No. usable Ease of tortillas Ingredient Zippering separation (of 10) Control Y 5 8 Fat 4 +/ 9 9 +/ = improved, reduced zippering

EXAMPLE 3

[0132] Flour tortillas were made using the same recipe and process as described in Example 1, and properties of flour tortillas made with canola fat particles (as in Example 1, average particle size 220-230 m) were compared with flour tortillas made with a fraction of the canola fat particles (the fraction with a diameter of 50 to 100 m). Results are shown in Table 6.

TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Results Number of Ease of useable Zippering separation tortilla Canola fat +/ 10 10 Canola fat fraction +/ 10 10