Frontline Food Consultants & Engineers offers total Biscuit manufacturing consulting consultation for starting a Biscuits manufacturing business. Our services encompass and are not confined to Site Selection and Analysis Services, Licensing and Permitting Services which will guarantee that the facility demanded by the regulation and laws on the one hand and optimizes productivity on the other hand at a high level of production. Our team of food scientists also helps out with the Equipment Finalization and Procurement, we help you select the proper equipment for handling doughs, baking, and packaging equipment. Also, within Architectural and Structural Design, we offer the development of efficient working designs including the flow of biscuits from raw materials through the packaging.
We also offer services in various sectors such as Process and Mechanical engineering so that your production line or service is in high demand regarding efficiency plus the quality of products being manufactured. We also provide Installation & Commissioning of equipment & utilities like water, electricity & steam for plant loads requiring the efficient operation of a plant. You also assist in making Food Hygiene and Sanitation programs coordinated in conformity to all food hygiene standards and environmental and legal requirements in order to produce only standard biscuits.
What are Biscuits?
Packed and processed biscuits are defined as those cookies or cakes or any other baked snack product made from flour sugar butter some vegetable oils and packed with view to having a long shelf life. Some types of biscuits include; sweet; digestive; cream; and wholewheat biscuits. The retort biscuits are those biscuits that can be consumed by the consumers at any time and at any place of the preparation method together with the nature of the biscuits.
To make biscuits it is necessary to use various pieces of equipment: The first is the mixer which breaks biscuit dough, the second is the dough sheeter and cutting machines that make biscuits to look and feel the same, then the rotary or tunnel oven which cooks biscuits to the right color. The cooling conveyors are used here to cool the biscuits before packing and the weighing and portioning system used here is to pack the biscuits of equal size and weight. Lastly sealing and packing machines enclose packs, the biscuits in hermetic bags or aluminum foil to enhance crispness as they are sparing moments to pack them. On each product that gets out in the production line, organizations need to implement quality control in the parameters of moisture, texture and taste.
Types Packed and Processed Biscuits:
- Sweet Biscuits: Small and tender cakes usually sweet and often including vanillin, chocolate or butter tastes.
- Digestive Biscuits: This is prepared by whole wheat flour and it is held to be better than normal roti that is eaten with tea.
- Cream-Filled Biscuits: Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry soft types of biscuits namely two biscuits linked by a flavored cream between them.
- Savory Biscuits: Most cookies are sweet; however, there exist other types that are salty: these can be enriched even further with herbs and spices along with cheese for instance.
- Multigrain or Whole Wheat Biscuits: Better version of them using whole wheat and oat flour to make it more nutritious meal choice for everyone.
Manufacturing processes of packed and processed biscuits
- Dough Preparation
- Ingredient Mixing: In high-speed dough mixers, flour, sugar, butter and leavening ages are incorporated well to give a relatively homogenized dough. Now depending on the type of biscuit, which is wanted, such as a chocolate chip biscuit, a biscuit with chocolate chips, nuts or dried fruits can be added.
- Dough Resting: It is then left to stand so that it gets weaker- – hoping to gain more elasticity which will make the dough easier to shape and bake. And even in measurement and observation intervals the temperature and relative humidity can be tolerable.
- Shaping and Cutting
- Dough Sheeting and Cutting: Then it is taken to the sheeting machines where it is brought to a thickness of 1-3mm and then slapped into rounds, squares or defined shapes strictly depending on the product type.
- Extrusion (For Filled Biscuits): In the creamed ones while the first part of the biscuit is formulated through the dough and is shaped, the cream is nevertheless inserted into the biscuit before it is baked.
- Baking
- Baking Conditions: Tunnel ovens are widely used also for baking biscuits and the heat input range is 160 – 220 C depending on the kind of biscuit and the consistency needed. The baking process lasts for 10 to 20 minutes when the biscuits have gotten to their usual consistency and a golden brown color.
- Crispness and Texture: Biscuits contain less water of 5% when baked, this is why biscuits are hard and storages for a long time. These points in regard to the time and the temperature differ from one recipe to the other in order to avoid cases of burning or raw food.
- Post-Baking Treatments
- Cooling: Biscuits are then cooled on cooling tunnels of conveyors until the biscuits come to room temperature. This step is very crucial in order to end up with the confinement that gives the right structure that retains the crispiness of the biscuits.
- Cream Filling and Decoration: In creating cream-filled biscuits, each layer of the biscuit is baked The different layers of biscuits are then assembled and once they are cold, there are filling machines that put a flavored cream in between the biscuit layers. As well, the chocolate decoration or enrobing could be applied o some biscuits In addition, another method of decoration could also be done at the final stage of baking.
- Packaging
- Portioning and Wrapping: If biscuits are cold, they are packed in single serving packs, or larger packs for sharing by literally packing them by the packing machines. For this packaging method to be effective it must be moisture-proof and it should be airtight that the biscuits do not become soft.
- Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP): Some types could be packaged with Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) where freshness is an issue since oxygen is substituted to minimize chances of spoiling or becoming stale. This is more evident with cream-filled or chocolate-coated biscuits, as a consequence, arrive at a healthy-looking biscuit.