Search Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »
Advanced Patent Search | Web History | Sign in

Patents

A rice-based snack chip made from a dough including the dry ingredients of bumped rice kernels, long-grain pregelatinized rice flour, medium-grain course white rice flour and in which the bumped rice kernels are partially hydrated, bumped, partially dehydrated and fried as the chip is made.

InventorRichard Gorski
Primary Examiner: Lien Tran
Attorney: H. Michael Brucker
Current U.S. Classification426/560; 426/438; 426/615; 426/618; 426/808

View patent at USPTO
Search USPTO Assignment Database
Download USPTO Public PAIR data

Citations

Cited PatentFiling dateIssue dateOriginal AssigneeTitle
US3922370Aug 7, 19741975FOOD PRODUCT AND PROCESS FOR PREPARING
US4623546Apr 1, 1985Nov 18, 1986The Quaker Oats CompanyMethod for manufacturing crisp rice
US4861609Oct 7, 1988Aug 29, 1989Prevention of puffing during frying of expanded snack products
US6210720Sep 22, 1999Apr 3, 2001General Mills, Inc.Calcium fortified cereal product and method of preparation

Claims

1. A process for making a fried, crisp, rice-based commercial snack chip comprising:

forming a dough from dry materials of which a major component by dry weight is the combination of pregelatinized long-gram rice flour, medium-gram coarse rice flour and bumped rice wherein said dough can be sheeted on known sheeting equipment without substantial sticking;

sheeting the dough on known sheeting equipment;

cutting the sheeted dough into chip-size pieces;

partially dehydrating the chip-size pieces; and
frying the chip-size pieces to obtain a crisp snack chip having expanded bumped rice that has a structure different than crisp rice.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein parbaking the chip-size pieces reduces the moisture content of the chip-size pieces.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the sheeted dough is between 1/16 and ⅛ inch thick.

4. A process for making a rice-based snack chip from dry materials and water wherein a major component, based on weight of such dry materials, is pregelatinized long-grain rice flour, medium-grain coarse rice flour and bumped rice, comprising:

frying chip-size pieces of a sheeted dough made from such dry materials after the chip-size pieces are first partially dehydrated, which results in a crisp snack chip including expanded bumped rice that does not have the same structure as crisp rice.

5. The process of claim 4 wherein the chip-sized pieces of sheeted dough are between 1/16 and ⅛ inch thick.

6. A process for making a fried rice-based commercial snack chip product comprising:

forming a dough from water and dry materials which comprise pregelatinized long-grain rice flour, bumped rice, and medium-grain coarse rice flour, wherein rice comprises a major component by weight of the dry materials of the dough and the dough can be sheeted on known sheeting equipment having rollers without the dough sticking to the rollers; comprising:

sheeting the dough on known sheeting equipment having rollers;

cutting the sheeted dough into chip-size pieces;

partially dehydrating the chip-size pieces; and
frying the chip-size pieces; wherein said bumped rice is hydrated when the dough is formed; rebumped when the dough is sheeted; partially dehydrated when the dough is parbaked; and transformed into expanded rebumped bumped rice having a structure different than crisp rice when the parbaked chip-size dough pieces are fried.

7. A process for making a rice-based snack chip dough comprising:

mixing water with dry materials wherein rice is a major component by weight of the dry materials of the dough and comprise pregelatinized long-grain rice flour, medium-grain coarse rice flour and bumped rice in amounts sufficient to allow the dough to be sheeted on known sheeting equipment having rollers without sticking to the rollers.

8. A process for making a rice-based snack chip comprising:

mixing rice products including bumped rice kernels with other dry materials to form a dry mixture wherein rice products comprise a major component by weight of said dry mixture;

hydrating the dry mixture and the bumped rice kernels to form a dough;

sheeting the dough and rebumping the hydrated bumped rice kernels within the dough;

partially dehydrating the sheeted dough and the rebumped bumped rice kernels; and
frying the partially dehydrated sheeted dough, causing the partially dehydrated rebumped bumped rice kernels to expand but have a structure different than crisp rice.

9. The process of claim 8 wherein the dry materials comprise pregelatinized long-grain rice flour and medium-grain coarse rice flour in quantities sufficient to prevent or substantially reduce sticking of the dough on known processing equipment.

10. The process of claim 8 wherein the sheeted dough is between 1/16 and ⅛ inch thick.

11. A process for making a snack chip comprising:

mixing bumped rice kernels with dry materials to provide a dry mixture;

hydrating the dry mixture including the bumped rice kernels to form a dough;

sheeting the dough and rebumping the hydrated bumped rice kernels within the dough;

cutting the dough into chip-sized pieces;
partially dehydrating the chip-sized pieces including the rebumped bumped rice kernels; and
frying the partially dehydrated chip-sized pieces, causing the partially dehydrated rebumped bumped rice kernels to expand but have a structure different than crisp rice.

12. The process of claim 11 wherein the dry materials comprise rice flour.

13. A process for making a snack chip comprising:

mixing bumped rice kernels with dry materials to provide a dry mixture;

hydrating the dry mixture including the bumped rice kernels to form a dough;

processing the dough to form a snack chip whereby the bumped rice kernels are caused to expand but have a structure different than crisp rice.