ITMI980669A1 - PROCEDURE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD PASTA AND PASTA SO OBTAINED - Google Patents

Description

Description of the invention which is entitled:

"PROCEDURE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FOOD PASTA AND PASTA SO OBTAINED"

The present invention relates to a process for producing pasta as well as the pasta thus obtained.

With pasta we want to define here those products obtained from hard or soft wheat flour, mixed with water and any ingredients and / or additives such as eggs, spinach, and then shaped in the final shape to obtain spaghetti, macaroni, tagliatelle and the like. .

The known processes for the production of food pasta provide for preparing a mixture of flour and water, and any ingredients and / or additives, and for imparting the final shape to it by extrusion, drawing or lamination. The product is then subjected to drying.

The object of the present invention is to provide a process for the industrial production of pasta with high organoleptic characteristics.

This object is achieved by the present invention by means of a process for the industrial production of food pasta which allows to obtain pasta with appearance, consistency and taste similar to or equal to those of similar manually produced pasta, with the benefits of greater lightness.

In particular, the invention concerns a process for the industrial production of pasta according to claim 1.

According to a preferential aspect of the invention, the swelling and aeration step takes place at least in part after the mixing and shaping step of the product, and comprises the initial drying of the surface of the shaped product to obtain an irregular but free from cracking, glazing or discontinuity.

A further object of the invention are pasta obtained with the process of the invention and characterized according to claim 6.

The invention also relates to a formulation for pasta according to claim 9.

The invention makes it possible to obtain a pasta with an irregular appearance and shape which, to the taste, has organoleptic and structural characteristics similar or equal to those of a handmade pasta, but with a further benefit given by the lightness / aerosity of the product. The density of the pasta, obtained through the invention, is in fact lower than that of the home-made product.

This greater lightness and airiness also translates into another economic and dietary benefit: the consumer achieves the sensation of satiety with a smaller quantity of ingested product than the traditional product.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings for illustrative and non-limiting purposes, in which:

- fig. 1 is a perspective and sectional view of a tagliatella obtained according to the invention, and

- fig. 2 is a perspective and sectional view of a spaghetti according to the invention.

The process according to the present invention comprises the phases of mixing flour with water to form a dough, subjecting said dough to a processing to give the product its final shape and drying the product, and is characterized in that it also comprises a phase of swelling and internal aeration of said product, a phase which takes place at least in part after the aforementioned mixing phase.

The swelling or aeration has the function of creating provided products [figs. 1 and 2) of a plurality of microalveoli or alveoli, or cells, 2 arranged inside the product 1 and la. The alveoli are also generally present on the external surface in the form of swellings 4 such as to make the external surface of the product wavy and irregular, but in any case free from cracks, breaks or discontinuities (glazing) in general. The presence of such discontinuities, or dimpling, would in fact cause problems during the cooking of the product.

To prepare the dough, hard and soft grains rich in proteins and with characteristics such as to form an extensible and elastic gluten mesh can be used, in order to avoid the aforementioned discontinuities of the external surface. In particular, the flours or semolina used will preferably have the following characteristics.

- Zeleny index:> 20 and preferably> 30;

- Brabender farinograph: dough stability greater than 5 min and preferably greater than 10 min;

- Chopin's alveograph: W> 100 and preferably from 140 to 180;

- falling number: greater than 150 and preferably between 200 and 250.

To obtain the required alveolation and swelling of the dough, two types of swelling or expanding agents can be used: chemical or biological yeasts or physical agents. Physical agents include:

- water emulsified with fats which is added to the dough and which evaporating and expanding creates the required alveoli;

- water containing dissolved gases (eg carbon dioxide), under pressure, which, due to the action of temperature, expand and form alveoli;

- whipped egg whites which, added to the dough, will expand due to the effect of the heat as in the previous cases.

Chemical yeasts, also known as "yeast substitutes" are mixtures of inorganic salts known per se in the art and comprising for example sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, in combination with acids such as tartaric acid or its salts to maintain the mixture at a constant pH between 5 and 6. Examples of suitable mixtures available on the market are:

- monopotassium tartrate, sodium bicarbonate; this mixture is preferably used in an amount from 2% to 7% by weight on the kneaded flour or semolina.

- disodium pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate; preferably used in an amount between 2% and 8% by weight on the flour or semolina.

The biological yeasts that can be used are also known per se in the panaria fermentation technique (for example Saccharomyces cerevisioe) and to combine them with the dough they are previously diluted in flour or dissolved in water to be added to the flour. The quantity of organic yeast used ranges from 0.5% to 5% by weight of the flour. Together with yeast, α and β amylases (as malt) and / or diastatic enzymes are preferably used to accelerate the fermentation reaction. For example, doughs containing, in addition to flour or semolina, malt, maltose, water and yeast or fructose, glucose, water and yeast will be used. The pH of the mixture is between 5 and 6.

In general, the quantity of yeast (chemical or biological) added is such as to avoid unwanted cracks or discontinuities on the surface of the product and such as to produce an appropriate swelling of the product.

The water for the dough is preferably of the type rich in Ca and / or Mg and as much water is used as is needed to have a dough with about 30-35% of total water present, including the humidity of the flour which is preferably around 15% of the weight of the flour. The "fine" dosage of the amount of water required is carried out in a manner known to the skilled in the art, who in practice adds as much water as the mixture can absorb without creating sticking phenomena on the blades and on the walls of the system tank. mixing.

The phase of preparation of the mixture involves the use of water, in the amount indicated above, at a temperature preferably comprised between 30 and 40 ° C and the working is carried out for a time comprised in the interval between 20 and 40 minutes. The yeast can be added at the beginning, dispersed in flour or semolina, or, alternatively, it can be added diluted in water in the final phase of the dough. In this case, mixing is continued until the yeast is distributed uniformly throughout the dough.

The dough is then processed to give the product the desired shape, or format. For example, the dough is drawn in various formats (spaghetti, penne, etc.) or laminated to give tagliatelle, fettuccine and similar products. The shape imparted to the product in this phase can be obtained with machinery known in the art and normally used for this purpose. The final shape of the product provides that the shape remains substantially the same but that there is a continuous but irregular surface and a plurality of alveoli or cavities distributed in and on the product. This final shape is obtained during the fermentation of the yeasts or the expansion of the swelling agents, that is, during the subsequent swelling and aeration phase.

The swelling and aeration step of the products provides for keeping the shaped product at temperatures between 20 and 40 ° C, and preferably between 30 and 35 ° C, for a period of time between 60 and 180 minutes depending on the product. This phase preferably comprises a slight initial drying of only the surface of the shaped product to block the surface only in a conformation without holes and discontinuities.

Then follows the drying phase of the product. Three pasta drying methods are known, depending on the production lines used:

- at low temperature (maximum temperature 65-70 ° C)

- at high temperature (maximum temperature 80-85 ° C)

- at very high temperature (maximum temperature 90-95 ° C).

All three of the aforementioned methodologies can be used to carry out the drying step according to the invention, which additionally requires an intermediate step in which the product treatment temperature is gradually raised to the drying temperature. In particular, the temperature is gradually raised from that of the swelling phase (eg 30-35 ° C) to at least 55 ° C in a time of not less than about 60 minutes.

Once the drying phase is completed, the product is treated in a manner known in the art for any seasoning, packaging, etc.

Claims (10)

CLAIMS 1. Process for the production of pasta, comprising the steps of: mixing flour with water to form a dough, subjecting said dough to a processing to give the product its final shape and drying the product, characterized by the fact that it also comprises a phase of swelling and internal aeration of said product which occurs at least in part after the aforementioned phase of kneading the mixture. 2. Process according to claim 1, characterized in that said swelling and aeration step comprises an initial partial drying of the surface of the shaped product. 3. Process according to claim 2, characterized by the fact of subjecting said product to temperatures between 20 and 45 ° C for a time between 30 and 180 minutes. 4. Process according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said swelling and said aeration are obtained by adding biological and / or chemical yeasts. 5. Process according to one of the preceding claims characterized in that at the end of said swelling and aeration step the product treatment temperature is gradually raised to the drying temperature. 6. Pasta product as obtainable according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has irregular external surfaces, substantially without holes or discontinuities, and a plurality of micro-cells and cells arranged internally and distributed in the thickness of said product. 7. Pasta product according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises flours and / or semolina with characteristics such as to constitute an extensible and elastic gluten mesh. 8. Pasta product according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that it comprises organic yeast in an amount ranging from 0.35% to 3.5% on the weight of the flour. 9. Formulation for pasta according to one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that it comprises 60-70 parts by weight of flour, 0.5-8.0 parts by weight of biological or chemical yeast and 30-35 parts in weight of water. 10. Formulation according to claim 9, characterized in that it comprises in the initial mixing phase 60 parts of flour or semolina, containing a humidity of about 15%, 1-5 parts of biological or chemical level and 13-22 parts of water , the amount of total water in the mixture being in the range from 30 to 35% by weight.