Baking&Snack - December 2011 - 74

EXTRUDED SNACKS

Today extruders produce plethora of bars and baked snacks Today’’s extruders produce a plethora of bars and baked snacks to meet consumers demands for more creative alternatives to the status quo to meet consumers’’ demands for more creative alternatives to the status quo.

BY DAN MALOVANY Y DAN MALOVANY AN AL V N ame-old just doesn’t cut it ame-old j s oesn’t ame-old just doesn’t cut it e-ol anymore when it comes to anymor w en anymore when it comes to ore or ome producing bars, crackers or p oduc n bars, cr c e s producing bars crackers or d c s any other baked snacks. That’s a any other bake snacks. That’s ther baked snack ha k a because consumers want a little more because consumers want little more ec u on u e ittle o l complexity than the conven conventional complex y ha complexity than the conventional e cookie offers. From a production perproduction cookie offers. From produ ookie ffers r spective, adding a twist to traditional twist traditional spective adding wi spective, addin c e o a treats has become quite comm ntreat as ec m quite commontreats has become q e ommon place because of the recent advances place because the recent advance la cause h e ent advances in extrusion technology. i extru n tech ology x rusion echn ogy. “The trend clearly shows that ex The trend clearly shows that exrend learly hows hat y truded products must be more and truded roducts truded products must be more and more sophisticated,” noted Jane more sophisticated, noted Jane ophisticated, oted ane Solby, marketing coordinator for Solby, Solby, marketing coordinator for arketing oordinator n Haas-Meincke, Tonsbakken, Denmark. Haas-Meincke, Tonsbakken, Denmark. Haas-Meincke, Tonsbakken, Denmark. k “This means, for example, produc“This means, for example, produci means, xample, producing triple-extruded bars with dough, triple-extruded r ith dough, ing triple-extruded bars with dough, cheese and jam or wire-cutting prodwire-cutting rodcheese cheese and jam or wire-cutt products in three co rs with funny shapes.” in three colors with fun y three ucts t funn Even better-for-you products Even better-for yo e r for-you products o need not be bland or boring. In need not e many cases, bakers and snack prom many cases, a ducers now push the boundaries of multiple-extrusion technology to

▼ Advances in extrusion technology enable product developers to manufacture even those creatively challenging concepts that marketing teams often dream up.
HAAS-MEINCKE

develop products with more healthdevelop rod c develop products with more healthit e lth lthful attributes. For example, snack fu attr bu e F e mp e, n c ful attributes. For example, snack r producers can incorporate functionp od c r producers can incorporate functionn orpo a e nctio pora tio al ingredients including soy and root l ingredients including soy and root n r ients nclud g oy d o s ludi vegetables as well as quinoa, amav getables vegetables s well as quinoa, amat e e uinoa o a ranth, spelt and other so-called anr nth, p l ranth, spelt and other so-called anh o-called cient grains to add nutrition, flavor c n r n cient grains o add nutrition, flavor d nutrition, avor i n and texture to their products, noted an texture and te ture o the products, noted heir he roducts, o d Bill Butler, sales manager, Cle tral l Butler, utler es manager, Clext g Clextral Inc., Tampa, FL. Inc., Tampa, FL. c Tamp Overall, extrusion involves a conOverall, Overal l on invo ves connvol e c tinuous process inside a closed ba tinuous proc s inside l s tinuous pro ess inside closed bare rel, unlike the batch process used rel, unlike the batch pr e s nlik k batch proces for many products. Clextra twinfor many products. Clextral’s tw nr d cts. lextral’s twin screw extruder allows snack producscrew xtruder llows snack producscrew extruder allows snack produc ers to create multiple products on a ers create multiple products r ate multiple roducts single system by changing formuchanging formusingle ystem single system hanging formulas or production parameters, Mr. production parameters, Mr. la roduction parameters, Butler said. Butle aid. Butler said “New flavor and texture combina“New flavor and texture combinavor texture combinations are hot, and [companies are] s are hot, nd [companies are] a ho comp nies a developing multi-layer snacks that multi-lay snacks that u layer a h combine new and exciting flavors, combine bi avors, r colors and textures — for example, r fruit with savory tones, chocolate tones, e and chili pepper, or spicy sweet potato,” he explained. “We extrude coexpanded products that meld two texture and flavor combinations [or create] co-extruded products with a soft center with a hard outer shell.” BETTER BAKED SNACKS. From a health-and-wellness perspective, the fight against obesity also prompts an upsurge in demand for baked snacks machinery both in the US and internationally, according to John Eshelman, director, pretzel and snack machinery sales, Reading Bakery Systems, Robesonia, PA. The

▲ Co-extrusion capabilities can upgrade existing extruders to produce elaborate products such as filled snack sticks.
READING BAKERY SYSTEMS

push comes not only from consumpu h com not onl from consumomes nly onsumers t from global government ers but from glob l government inir r m loba governme o tiatives as w l tiatives as well. i s well. Creating more healthful alterC ting Creating more healthful a t o ea h l alternatives often requires a numb r of en requires number requires natives natives oft umbe extrusion processes, extrusion processes, Mr. Eshelman extrusion processes, Mr. Eshelman shelman noted. noted. Medium- and high-pressure noted. Medium- and high-pressure diumigh-pressure h extrusion systems rely on heat, shear extrusion systems rely on heat, shear xt usion systems heat, shear and pressure to develop certain types and pressure to develop certain types pressure develop certain types of formed and expanded snacks, formed and expanded snacks, ormed expanded nacks, while low-pressure echnology takes while low-pressure technology takes while low-pressure technology takes a completely different approach comp etely completely different approach. e pproach. “When yo you’re dealing with yeastdealing h yeast eastraised doughs, the No. 1 priority is doughs, h o priority to do as little damage to the dough as possible,” he said. “You want to u minimize heat, shear and pressure so that the characteristics of the dough coming out of the extruder are pretty much the same as what’s going in.” Low-pressure extrusion systems can produce gluten-free snacks that often have difficult-to-handle formudifficult-to-handle las. “With the absence of gluten in the formula, the dough being made has very little to no extensibility or elasticity, which results in poor flow characteristics,” Mr. Eshelman explained. To solve this challenge, he said, Reading Bakery Systems introduced its dough pre-feed system several years ago. The system

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Baking&Snack - December 2011

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