Biscuit, Cookie and Cracker Production

Process, Production and Packaging Equipment

Iain Davidson

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780128155806
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Biscuit, Cookie, and Cracker Production: Process, Production, and Packaging Equipment is a practical reference that brings a complete description of the process and equipment necessary for automated food production in the food/biscuit industry. The book describes the existing and emerging technologies in biscuit making and production, bringing a valuable asset to R&D personnel and students in food technology and engineering areas. Full of clear illustrations, photos and text describing types of biscuits, cookies and crackers, ingredients, test bakery equipment, dough piece forming, biscuit baking ovens, biscuit cooling and handling, and processing and packaging, this book presents a timely resource on the topic.

• Covers the complete processed food production line, from raw materials to packaged product
• Shows, in detail, the process, production and packaging equipment for biscuits, cookies and crackers
• Provides an understanding of the development from a manual artisan process to a fully automated, high-volume production process
• Brings more than 200 pictures of biscuits, cookies and crackers, along with machinery

Chapter 1

The Biscuits

Abstract

Biscuits have a long shelf life; are eaten straight from the pack; and are nutritious and available in many forms, both sweet and savoury. Biscuits have many functional forms, enriched with calcium, iron and vitamins and formulated for infants, children and the elderly and for those with special needs such as gluten-free foods. Biscuits broadly fall into four categories, distinguished by their recipes and process: crackers; hard sweet and semisweet biscuits; short-dough biscuits; and cookies, including filled cookies. Each category and each product type require a particular mixing, forming and baking process. In general, the biscuit making process has the following main steps. Mixing and fermentation or dough standing time is usually a batch process. The forming, baking, oil spraying, cooling are continuous operations with a high degree of automation. It will be seen that biscuit production equipment must meet a wide range of process requirements to produce the structure, texture, volume, appearance, colour, and moisture content required by each product. The abilities to mix and form the doughs and to control heat transfer, baking temperature profile, time and humidity are critical factors in producing good-quality products.

Keywords

Biscuits; Crackers; Cookies; Snack cakes; Baking; Convenience food; Production process

1.1 Biscuits Are the First and Best Convenience Food

The name ‘biscuit’ derives from the Latin (bis coctus) and later the French (bescuit) meaning twice cooked. The name refers to products, generally made from wheat flour, that were baked and then dried in a slow oven. Although the term ‘biscuits’ is widely used in many countries, in the United States, the products are called ‘cookies and crackers’.

Biscuits have a long history, different forms of ‘twice baked’ food being made by the Romans, Persians and Egyptians in very early times. They were consumed by sailors and armies and by poor people as a cheap form of sustenance. Biscuits became a staple food for European sailors voyaging to Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Americas.

Biscuits have a long shelf life; are eaten straight from the pack; and are nutritious and available in many forms, both sweet and savoury. Biscuits have many functional forms, enriched with calcium, iron and vitamins and formulated for infants, children and the elderly and for those with special needs such as gluten-free foods.

Biscuits are eaten throughout the world, and many types are familiar in different countries, for example, soda crackers, snack crackers, hard sweet biscuits, short biscuits and cookies. This contrasts with bread, where each country has a very particular type of bread.

There are also many special products popular in their country of origin:

• England: Digestive, cream cracker and Rich Tea
• France: Petit Beurre
• Germany: Lebkuchen
• India: Glucose
• Italy: Breakfast and Frollini biscuits
• Korea: Choco pie
• The Netherlands: Speculaas
• Scotland: Shortbread
• The United States: Soda crackers, saltines and chocolate chip cookies

Biscuit manufacturing processes, production and packaging machines are very similar in all countries, and there are now several major international suppliers of production equipment:

• • Baker Perkins Ltd., the United Kingdom and the United States
• • Dingson Food Machinery Ltd., China
• • GEA Group
• • Haas Group, Austria (the group now includes Meincke from Denmark and De Vuurslag from the Netherlands)
• • Ima Forni, Italy
• • Laser S.r.l., Italy
• • Middleby Corporation, the United States
• • Reading Bakery Systems, Inc., the United States

1.2 Categories of Biscuits

Biscuits broadly fall into four categories, distinguished by their recipes and process: crackers, hard sweet and semi-sweet biscuits, short-dough biscuits and cookies (including filled cooki...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Biography
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Biscuits
• Chapter 2: Ingredient Storage and Handling
• Chapter 3: Dough Mixing
• Chapter 4: Dough Feed Systems
• Chapter 5: Dough Piece Forming: Biscuit Cutting Machine
• Chapter 6: Dough Piece Forming: Laminating
• Chapter 7: Dough Piece Forming: Rotary Moulding
• Chapter 8: Dough Piece Forming: Depositing
• Chapter 9: Baking Ovens
• Chapter 10: Oven Conveyor Bands
• Chapter 11: Oil Spray Machines
• Chapter 12: Biscuit Cooling and Handling
• Chapter 13: Biscuit Sandwiching and Chocolate Coating
• Chapter 14: Biscuit Packaging
• Chapter 15: Biscuit Production
• Chapter 16: Ingredients for Biscuits: An Introduction
• Chapter 17: Quality Control: An Introduction
• Chapter 18: Test Bakery Equipment
• Appendix 1: Suppliers of Ingredient Storage and Handling Equipment
• Appendix 2: Manufacturers of Biscuit Production Equipment
• Appendix 3: Chocolate Machine Manufacturers
• Appendix 4: Packaging Machine and Equipment Manufacturers
• Appendix 5: Quality Control Equipment
• Appendix 6: Baking Industry Associations
• Appendix 7: Biscuit Baking Courses
• Index