Cereal and snack bar opportunities
Date: 24 April 2009
Crunchy, chewy and filled product options
Three Baker Perkins technologies offer crunchy, chewy and filled product options for cereal and snack bar manufacturers. They allow the development of flavour, colour and texture choices not achievable with conventional cold forming techniques.
Crunchy and chewy bar production involves blending a mix of cereals and binders such as molasses, honey or syrup. The mix is metered directly onto an oven or cooler infeed band using a mechanical spreading and/or compression arrangement to ensure even distribution and density.
It is then baked to produce crunchy bars, or cooled for chewy products, before slitting into rows and guillotining to the required piece size. The resulting products offer great taste and variety, without sacrificing the convenience benefits that drive both the indulgence and health sectors of the bar market.
Oats are the most common grain used, but other grains can readily be featured. A wide choice of ingredients can be accommodated within the mix, including whole grains, nuts and fruit pieces; plus low-carb crispy pieces, fibre, soy and protein for the health food market.
In addition to special-purpose bar forming machinery, these Baker Perkins systems utilise proven technology, including ovens, from the cookie and biscuit industries - existing cookie and cracker lines may be converted to produce baked bars, without large scale investment.
For high output, high efficiency production of filled bars, Baker Perkins offers the Dualtex four roll extruder. It can produce a wide range of filled breakfast, cereal, snack and health bars with a variety of jackets and fillings. The soft dough outer can incorporate inclusions such as fruit, nuts, chocolate chips or cooked grains; typical fillings include jam, jelly, peanut butter, fruit paste, fondant and fat based fillings, caramel or chocolate. A wide variety of solid and liquid toppings and coatings from grains to flavoured sugars to icing can be applied to the product exterior, both prior and after baking.
Dough and filling are fed from separate hoppers, with unique die and filler block technology ensuring consistent product quality with minimum giveaway and waste. Intelligent design features ensure excellent sanitation levels, even to allergen standards.
The complete line includes mixer, Dualtex extruder and baking oven; outputs can reach 3800 kg/hour, products can be bar or bite size, and the machine is also suitable for handling two-dough cookies.
