Puffed and ground product of rice flour dough and batter material for fried food

Abstract

This puffed and ground product of rice flour dough is obtained by grinding a puffed product of rice flour dough, and satisfies the following particle size distribution. The rice flour dough contains 70% by mass or more of rice flour in the raw material powder thereof. This batter material for fried food contains 5%-70% by mass of the puffed and ground product of rice flour dough. Particle size distribution: the content of the fraction of 1 mm or less is 20% by mass or less, the content of the fraction of more than 1 mm and 1.41 mm or less is 3%-60% by mass, the content of the fraction of more than 1.41 mm and 3.35 mm or less is 40%-90% by mass, and the content of the fraction of more than 3.35 mm is 30% by mass or less.

Description

Rice flour dough leavening powder and coating material for fried foods

[0001] The present invention relates to a pulverized rice flour dough leavening product and a coating material for deep-fried foods containing the same.

[0002] Fried foods are foods obtained by frying ingredients in high-temperature oil. Fried foods include deep-fried foods, which are obtained by frying ingredients directly, and fries, fried chicken, tempura, fritters, etc., which are obtained by frying ingredients with a coating material applied to the surface of the ingredients. Coating materials are broadly classified into liquid types (also called batter types) that are used to soak or coat ingredients, and powder or granular types (also called coating types; for example, dusting powder or blender) that are used to coat ingredients, with the latter being easier to use. Cooking fried foods involves the risk of accidents due to the use of high-temperature oil, and the complicated process of dirtying the surrounding area with oil splatter and making cleanup difficult. Small oil tanks equipped with thermometers for temperature control and various types of deep-frying batters with pre-mixed ingredients are commercially available, and efforts have been made to simplify deep-frying, but deep-frying is still a time-consuming process and people tend to avoid it.

[0003] In recent years, with the trend toward individual meals and the diversification of diets, a wide variety of pre-cooked foods are widely sold in restaurants, convenience stores, etc. Various types of fried foods are also commercially available pre-cooked and ready to eat, and the market for pre-cooked fried foods is expanding due in part to the complexity of deep-frying, as mentioned above. However, because the surface of fried foods is treated with high-temperature oil, the moisture evaporates, resulting in a crispy texture. However, if fried foods are stored in packages or in a warmer after frying, the crispness will be lost over time, which is a problem.

[0004] Using a puffed food as a coating material instead of powdered ingredients such as wheat flour or starch, which are commonly used in deep-fried food coatings, can impart a crispiness to fried foods due to the collapse of the puffed food. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a puffed food material produced by extruding, drying, and pulverizing a dough obtained from a mixture containing 40 to 70% purified gluten protein and 30 to 60% starch with an amylopectin to amylose ratio of 8:1 to 25:1. Patent Document 2 describes a method of expanding a raw material containing grain flour and / or pulverized grains, followed by crushing using a press to obtain pulverized grain puffs containing 50% or less by mass of pulverized grains with a major axis of less than 1.18 mm, which is then used as a coating material for deep-fried foods. Patent Document 2 also describes a method of preventing the scattering of fine powder, malfunction of the coating device, and hygienic problems during the coating process, and achieving a high yield of coating material. Patent Document 3 describes a semi-puffed coating material for fried foods, which is an extrusion molded product of coating ingredients containing cereal flour, starch, and sugars, and further describes that by using this, the texture after storage can be maintained even when stored for a long period of time at room temperature or in a warmer case, etc.

[0005] European Patent No. 565386 JP 2012-39896 A JP 2021-158987 A

[0006] However, even with the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, there is still room for improvement in the texture of deep-fried foods when they are stored after frying. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a coating material for deep-fried foods that allows the production of deep-fried foods with good texture, with almost no loss in the crispness of the coating even when stored at room temperature or in a warming cabinet after frying.

[0007] The present invention provides a pulverized rice flour dough product obtained by pulverizing puffed rice flour dough, which satisfies the following particle size distribution, and the rice flour dough contains 70% by mass or more of rice flour in its raw material flour: (Particle size distribution) A content of a fraction of 1 mm or less is 20% by mass or less A content of a fraction of more than 1 mm to 1.41 mm or less is 3 to 60% by mass A content of a fraction of more than 1.41 mm to 3.35 mm or less is 40 to 90% by mass A content of a fraction of more than 3.35 mm is 30% by mass or less

[0008] The present invention also provides a coating material for deep-fried foods, comprising 5 to 70% by mass of the above-described rice flour dough-puffed pulverized product.The present invention also provides a method for producing deep-fried foods, comprising applying the above-described coating material to ingredients and frying the ingredients.

[0009] The puffed and pulverized rice flour dough product of the present invention (hereinafter, simply referred to as "puffed and pulverized product") is obtained by puffing and then pulverizing dough whose main ingredient is rice flour (i.e., rice flour dough), and can be suitably used as a coating material for deep-fried foods.

[0010] The rice flour dough is prepared by mixing a raw material flour containing rice flour with an aqueous liquid to form a dough. The rice flour contained in the raw material flour may be any rice flour that can be used in foods, and examples include ground indica non-glutinous rice or glutinous rice, ground japonica non-glutinous rice or glutinous rice, etc. These rice flours may be used alone or in combination of two or more.

[0011] It is preferable to use rice flour derived from non-glutinous rice because the resulting expanded pulverized product is less sticky than when rice flour derived from glutinous rice is used. The amount of rice flour derived from non-glutinous rice is preferably 70 mass% or more of the total mass of rice flour used in the rice flour dough, the higher the amount, the better, and it is most preferable that the entire amount of rice flour is derived from non-glutinous rice.

[0012] In addition, rice flour derived from the Indica variety is preferred because the resulting puffed and pulverized product is less sticky than rice flour derived from the Japonica variety. The amount of rice flour derived from the Indica variety is preferably 70% by mass or more of the total mass of rice flour used in the rice flour dough, the higher the better, and it is most preferred that all of the rice flour be derived from the Indica variety.

[0013] From the viewpoint of highly and reliably achieving the effect of reducing stickiness of the resulting puffed pulverized product, it is particularly preferable that the rice flour used in the rice flour dough contains rice flour derived from Indica rice, more preferably rice flour derived from Indica non-glutinous rice, and most preferably consisting solely of rice flour derived from Indica non-glutinous rice.

[0014] The rice flour may be rice flour that has been subjected to heat treatment such as moist heat treatment as long as the effects of the present invention are achieved, but unheat-treated (so-called raw) rice flour is preferred because it enhances the brittleness of the batter of deep-fried foods and enhances the crispiness. When heat-treated rice flour is used, the amount of heat-treated rice flour used is preferably 0 to 10% by mass of the total mass of rice flour contained in the raw material flour.

[0015] The rice flour content in the raw material flour of the rice flour dough is 70% by mass or more, preferably 75% by mass or more, more preferably 80% by mass or more, and even more preferably 82% by mass or more, of the total mass of the raw material flour. The higher the rice flour content in the raw material flour of the rice flour dough, the better, and 100% by mass is most preferable.

[0016] The raw material flour can contain other ingredients in addition to the rice flour. There are no particular restrictions on the other ingredients, as long as they are powdery or granular and do not inhibit the formation of rice flour dough. Examples of other ingredients include cereal flours other than rice flour; starches; proteins; sugars, lipids, dietary fiber, thickeners, spices, seasonings, colorings, and flavorings, and any one of these can be used alone or two or more can be used in combination. The total content of other ingredients in the raw material flour is preferably 30% by mass or less, and more preferably 25% by mass or less.

[0017] The rice flour dough can be prepared by adding an aqueous liquid to the raw material flour. Any aqueous liquid suitable for consumption can be used without any particular limitation, including clean water, well water, ion-exchanged water, distilled water, acidic water, and alkaline water. The amount of the aqueous liquid used is preferably 10 to 40 parts by mass, and more preferably 15 to 30 parts by mass, per 100 parts by mass of the raw material flour. The order in which the raw material flour and aqueous liquid are added is not particularly limited. All ingredients for the raw material flour can be mixed in advance, and then the aqueous liquid can be added to the mixture while kneading or otherwise preparing a dough. Alternatively, the ingredients for the raw material flour can be added sequentially to the aqueous liquid while kneading or otherwise preparing a dough. The methods for addition, kneading, and other operations are also not particularly limited, and can be carried out according to conventional methods. The raw material flour is typically in a powder or granular form at room temperature and pressure, and has a moisture content of approximately 10 to 15% by mass. The mixed raw material flour can be stored in a container or the like, and a portion removed as needed for use in preparing rice flour dough.

[0018] The puffed rice flour dough product can be prepared by subjecting the rice flour dough to a leavening treatment. The leavening treatment is a treatment in which the air in the rice flour dough is expanded to cause the dough to expand, and the resulting puffed product has a volume that is more expanded than the dough before the leavening treatment. As a method for leavening the rice flour dough, any leavening treatment applicable to foods can be used without particular limitation, but leavening by chemical reaction or fermentation is not preferred because by-products from the chemical reaction or fermentation may inhibit the effects of the present invention. In the present invention, the leavening treatment is preferably performed by expansion by heating, expansion by decompression, or a combination of these.

[0019] In the puffing treatment method involving expansion by heating, for example, the rice flour dough is heated for 3 to 60 minutes at a product temperature of approximately 100 to 160°C using a heating means such as oven heating or griddle heating, until the volume is expanded to preferably 1.5 to 4 times, more preferably 2 to 3.5 times, and then the heating is terminated. In addition, as a puffing treatment method involving expansion by reduced pressure, a method in which the rice flour dough is sealed in a container capable of rapid decompression and then decompressed is possible, but this method requires decompression at a low temperature, which may make expansion difficult. Therefore, a preferred puffing treatment method involving expansion by reduced pressure is to seal the rice flour dough in a pressurizable container, apply pressure to it, and then quickly open the container to create a reduced pressure state. Examples of devices for performing such puffing treatment include grain expanders and extruders. Using such devices, the rice flour dough can be expanded at an internal temperature of preferably 50 to 160°C, more preferably 60 to 120°C.

[0020] Next, the puffed rice flour dough obtained as described above is pulverized to produce a pulverized product. This pulverization can be carried out using a pulverizer that can be used to pulverize food products. Various pulverizers can be used, including wet pulverizers such as ball mills, impact pulverizers such as hammer mills and pin mills, blade pulverizers, and airflow pulverizers. Blenders and other devices that can pulverize the puffed rice flour dough can also be used. The pulverization can be carried out using one type of pulverizer alone or two or more types in combination.

[0021] If necessary, before subjecting the puffed rice flour dough to pulverization, the puffed rice flour dough may be cut into coarse particles using a cutting machine such as a slicer or cutter, or may be dried until the moisture content is 5 to 15% by mass. Such a drying operation may also be performed after pulverization. It is generally preferred that the moisture content of the puffed and pulverized rice flour dough of the present invention is 10 to 15% by mass in an equilibrium state at room temperature and normal pressure.

[0022] The pulverized product obtained as described above can be classified as needed to adjust the particle size to satisfy the specific particle size distribution of the present invention, thereby producing the pulverized rice flour dough expansion product of the present invention. This point will be explained further below.

[0023] The expanded and pulverized product of the present invention satisfies the following particle size distribution. That is, the content of the fraction of 1 mm or less is 20% by mass or less, preferably 15% by mass or less, and more preferably 10% by mass or less. The content of the fraction of more than 1 mm to 1.41 mm or less is 3 to 60% by mass, preferably 15 to 55% by mass, and more preferably 20 to 50% by mass. The content of the fraction of more than 1.41 mm to 3.35 mm or less is 40 to 90% by mass, preferably 45 to 85% by mass, and more preferably 50 to 80% by mass. The content of the fraction of more than 3.35 mm is 30% by mass or less, preferably 25% by mass or less, and more preferably 20% by mass or less. When the expanded and pulverized product of the present invention has a particle size distribution within these ranges, the texture of the batter for deep-fried foods obtained using the expanded and pulverized product is improved.

[0024] If the pulverized material obtained by the above-described pulverization process itself satisfies the above particle size distribution, classification and sizing are not necessary, but in reality, this is not often the case. Therefore, in order to satisfy the above particle size distribution, the pulverized material can be classified and sized, for example, as follows. First, the pulverized material is classified into four fractions: a fraction of 1 mm or less, a fraction of more than 1 mm to 1.41 mm or less, a fraction of more than 1.41 mm to 3.35 mm or less, and a fraction of more than 3.35 mm. Classification can be performed using a classifier, sieve, or the like. Next, the necessary amounts of each of the obtained four fractions are weighed out so as to satisfy the above particle size distribution, and these are mixed to obtain the expanded pulverized product of the present invention that satisfies the above particle size distribution.

[0025] Furthermore, the puffed and pulverized product of the present invention preferably has a bulk density of 0.1 to 0.4 g / mL. The bulk density of the puffed and pulverized product of the present invention means loose bulk density, and specifically, is a value determined according to the "Method for Determining Bulk Gravity" below. The bulk density of the puffed and pulverized product of the present invention is preferably 0.13 to 0.35 g / mL, and more preferably 0.15 to 0.30 g / mL. When the bulk density of the puffed and pulverized product of the present invention is within this range, the texture of the batter for deep-fried foods obtained using the puffed and pulverized product is further improved.

[0026] [How to determine bulk specific gravity] Fill a 100 mL container with the target expanded pulverized product without compressing the bulk volume by tapping, pressing, shaking the container, etc., and if necessary, level off the top to measure out exactly 100 mL. Measure the mass of this 100 mL expanded pulverized product. Divide this measurement result by 100, i.e., the mass of the expanded pulverized product per mL, to determine the bulk specific gravity.

[0027] The bulk density of the puffed pulverized product of the present invention can be adjusted by changing the conditions for the puffing treatment. For example, when puffing is performed using an extruder, lowering the screw rotation speed of the extruder reduces the pressure on the dough, resulting in a relatively higher bulk density. Conversely, increasing the screw rotation speed increases the pressure on the dough, resulting in a relatively lower bulk density. Furthermore, by increasing the amount of aqueous liquid relative to the raw material flour when preparing the rice flour dough and lowering the temperature during the puffing treatment, the bulk density becomes relatively higher. Conversely, by reducing the amount of aqueous liquid and raising the temperature during the puffing treatment, the bulk density becomes relatively lower. When using an extruder, a twin-screw extruder is more useful than a single-screw extruder because it can puff dough with a wider range of moisture content. Therefore, the use of a twin-screw extruder makes it easier to adjust the bulk density. That is, the puffed rice flour dough product is preferably obtained by puffing the rice flour dough using a twin-screw extruder. When an extruder is used, it is preferable to equip the outlet with a cutter and cut the expanded material obtained by extrusion into pieces several mm to several cm in length, since this makes subsequent pulverization easier.

[0028] The puffed pulverized product of the present invention can be used as an ingredient in various foods, and is particularly suitable for use as a coating material for deep-fried foods, either alone or in the form of a composition containing the puffed pulverized product of the present invention mixed with other ingredients (hereinafter, a deep-fried food coating material containing the puffed pulverized product of the present invention will be referred to as the "deep-fried food coating material of the present invention"). The content of the puffed pulverized product of the present invention in the deep-fried food coating material of the present invention can vary depending on the type of fried food to be produced using the coating material. The content of the puffed pulverized product of the present invention in the deep-fried food coating material of the present invention is not particularly limited, but is preferably 5% by mass or more, more preferably 7% by mass or more, even more preferably 10% by mass or more, and preferably 70% by mass or less, more preferably 50% by mass or less, even more preferably 35% by mass or less, based on the total mass of the coating material. For example, the content of the puffed pulverized product of the present invention in the deep-fried food coating material of the present invention is preferably 5 to 70% by mass, more preferably 7 to 50% by mass, even more preferably 10 to 35% by mass, based on the total mass of the coating material. The deep-fried food coating material of the present invention may be 100% by mass of the puffed pulverized product of the present invention.

[0029] Materials other than the puffed pulverized material of the present invention that may be contained in the coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention can be any materials that are generally available for coating materials for deep-fried foods, without any particular limitations. Examples of other materials include cereal flours such as wheat flour and rice flour (unpuffed), unprocessed starches such as cornstarch and potato starch, and processed starches thereof, sugars, proteins such as egg white powder, ground wheat flour dough such as breadcrumbs, dietary fiber, thickeners, leavening agents, emulsifiers, spices, seasonings, vitamins, minerals, colorings, fragrances, etc., and any one of these can be used alone or in combination of two or more.

[0030] The coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention can be prepared by mixing the puffed and pulverized product of the present invention with other ingredients used as needed. Generally, from the standpoint of flavor and texture, the coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention preferably contains, in addition to the puffed and pulverized product of the present invention, one or more ingredients selected from cereal flours, starches, sugars, oils and fats, and emulsifiers. The coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention is usually in the form of a powder or granules at room temperature and normal pressure.

[0031] The type of fried food produced using the coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention is not particularly limited, and examples include fried chicken, fries, fried chicken, etc. The coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention is particularly suitable for deep-frying.

[0032] The coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention may be used as a coating material for coating ingredients in powder or granular form (e.g., dusting powder or blender), or may be used in combination with a batter. The batter can be prepared by dissolving or dispersing cereal flour or the like in an aqueous liquid such as water in a conventional manner, and after the batter has been applied to the ingredients, the coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention can be further applied.

[0033] As an example, a preferred composition of the coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention for coating of fried chicken is as follows: (Preferred composition example) Puffed pulverized product of the present invention: 10-35% by mass Grain flour (preferably soft wheat flour): 30-50% by mass Starch (preferably corn starch): 15-35% by mass Other ingredients: 0-15% by mass

[0034] Fried foods can be produced by applying the deep-fried food coating material of the present invention to ingredients and frying them in oil. As ingredients to which the deep-fried food coating material of the present invention is applied, ingredients that are generally used in deep-fried foods can be used without any particular limitation. Examples of ingredients include, but are not limited to, meats such as chicken and pork, seafood such as fish, squid, octopus, and shellfish, vegetables, and mushrooms. The size of the ingredients is also not particularly limited, and the ingredients may be seasoned in advance.

[0035] The operation of adhering the deep-fried food coating material of the present invention to ingredients can be carried out in accordance with a general operation for adhering a coating material to ingredients. For example, when the deep-fried food coating material of the present invention is to be applied to ingredients by sprinkling it on them as a dusting flour or blender, the deep-fried food coating material of the present invention can be adhered to the ingredients by, for example, any of the following operations: 1) sprinkling the dusting flour or blender over the ingredients, 2) placing the dusting flour or blender and the ingredients in a bag and shaking the bag with the opening closed, or 3) spreading the dusting flour or blender in a relatively wide container such as a plate and rolling the ingredients on it, or pressing the ingredients against the dusting flour or blender.

[0036] The coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention may be applied to only a portion of the surface of the ingredient, but from the viewpoint of obtaining a deep-fried food with a good texture, it is preferable to apply it to the entire surface of the ingredient. The amount of coating material for deep-fried foods of the present invention applied to the ingredient is preferably 1 to 50 parts by mass, more preferably 3 to 30 parts by mass, per 100 parts by mass of the ingredient.

[0037] A deep-fried food can be obtained by frying the ingredients coated with the deep-fried food coating material of the present invention (hereinafter also referred to as "fried food ingredients"). The deep-fried food ingredients may be fried immediately after preparation, or may be fried after refrigerated or frozen storage. Frying can be carried out by a conventional method, such as so-called deep frying or pan-frying in a small amount of oil.

[0038] Furthermore, the puffed and pulverized material of the present invention has a crispy texture, and by taking advantage of the property that this texture does not deteriorate over time, it can be used for purposes other than the coating material for fried foods described above. For example, by kneading the puffed and pulverized material of the present invention into food dough and cooking the dough, for example, by baking it, it is possible to impart a crispy texture to the resulting food. Furthermore, by attaching the puffed and pulverized material of the present invention to the surface of an ingredient and then baking it, it is possible to impart a crispy texture to the baked food. Furthermore, the puffed and pulverized material of the present invention can be used as a topping material for food to impart a rough texture to the food.

[0039] In these modes of use, the puffed pulverized product of the present invention may be used alone or may be mixed with any other ingredients to form a composition. The type and amount of any other ingredients can be determined appropriately depending on the mode of use, and may be selected from the other ingredients listed above as ingredients that can be used in the coating material for fried foods of the present invention.

[0040] The present invention includes, for example, the following aspects. <1> A pulverized rice flour dough product obtained by pulverizing puffed rice flour dough, the pulverized rice flour dough product satisfying the following particle size distribution, wherein the rice flour dough contains 70% by mass or more of rice flour in its raw flour. (Particle size distribution) The content of the fraction of 1 mm or less is 20% by mass or less The content of the fraction of more than 1 mm to 1.41 mm is 3 to 60% by mass The content of the fraction of more than 1.41 mm to 3.35 mm is 40 to 90% by mass The content of the fraction of more than 3.35 mm is 30% by mass or less <2> The pulverized rice flour dough product according to <1>, wherein the rice flour includes rice derived from an Indica variety. <3> The pulverized rice flour dough product according to <1> or <2>, wherein the puffed rice flour dough product is obtained by puffing the rice flour dough using a twin-screw extruder. <4> The rice flour dough-expanded pulverized product according to any one of <1> to <3> above, having a bulk density of 0.1 to 0.4 g / mL. <5> A coating material for deep-fried foods, comprising 5 to 70% by mass of the rice flour dough-expanded pulverized product according to any one of <1> to <4> above. <6> A method for producing deep-fried foods, comprising applying the deep-fried food coating material according to <5> above to ingredients and frying them.

[0041] The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

[0042] In the following examples, the following rice flours were used: Indica non-glutinous rice flour: Indica non-glutinous rice milled Indica glutinous rice flour: Indica glutinous rice milled Japonica non-glutinous rice flour: Japonica non-glutinous rice milled Japonica glutinous rice flour: Japonica glutinous rice milled

[0043] In the following Examples and Comparative Examples, the bulk density (loose bulk density) of the expanded pulverized product was measured according to the above-mentioned method for determining bulk density.

[0044] [Production Example 1] Production of Puffed Granulated Products 1 to 9 After preparing raw flour for rice flour dough or wheat flour dough according to the formulations in Table 1 below, 30 parts by weight of clean water was added to 100 parts by weight of the raw flour and mixed thoroughly to obtain a dough. The obtained dough was placed in a twin-screw extruder equipped with a 6 mm diameter die at the outlet, and the temperature inside the extruder was set to 95°C. The dough was expanded by extrusion granulation to obtain a puffed product. The expanded product obtained by extrusion granulation was cut into pieces approximately 2 cm long and then cut into coarse particles with a maximum diameter of approximately 5 mm using a cutting machine with rotating teeth. The cut expanded product was dried using airflow at 50°C until the moisture content reached 13% by weight. The resulting dried product was pulverized in a blender. The resulting pulverized product was sieved using sieves with openings of 1.00 mm, 1.41 mm, and 3.35 mm into four fractions: a fraction of 1 mm or less, a fraction of more than 1 mm to 1.41 mm or less, a fraction of more than 1.41 mm to 3.35 mm or less, and a fraction of more than 3.35 mm. The four fractions were mixed in the mass ratios shown in Table 1 (i.e., so as to satisfy the particle size distribution shown in Table 1) to obtain expanded and pulverized products of each Example and Comparative Example. The bulk specific gravity of each expanded and pulverized product obtained was measured. The results are shown in Table 1.

[0045] For confirmation, the expanded pulverized material of each Example and Comparative Example after mixing the four fractions was sieved using sieves with mesh sizes of 1.00 mm, 1.41 mm, and 3.35 mm into four fractions: a fraction of 1 mm or less, a fraction of more than 1 mm to 1.41 mm or less, a fraction of more than 1.41 mm to 3.35 mm or less, and a fraction of more than 3.35 mm, and the mass proportions of each fraction were the same as the mass proportions when mixed.

[0046]

[0047] Examples 1-8, Comparative Examples 1-2: Deep-fried food coating materials were prepared by mixing the puffed pulverized material and other ingredients according to the coating composition shown in Table 2. Chicken thighs were cut into pieces weighing 30 g each. The pieces were seasoned with a seasoning (a mixture of soy sauce, sake, and ginger juice), and the deep-fried food coating material was evenly coated on the pieces at 6 g per piece, thoroughly blended, and used as a deep-fried food material. The deep-fried food material was deep-fried for 3 minutes and 30 seconds in salad oil heated to 170°C to produce deep-fried chicken. Ten expert panelists tasted the chicken karaage immediately after production and evaluated its texture according to the following criteria. The chicken karaage was also stored in a hot water heater at 60°C for 6 hours after production, after which it was similarly evaluated for texture. The evaluation results are shown in Table 2 as the average scores of the 10 panelists. As a reference example, fried chicken was produced in the same manner as above using only weak wheat flour as a coating material for deep-fried foods, and the results of the evaluation are also shown in Table 2.

[0048] <Evaluation criteria> (Texture) 5: The batter is very crispy and extremely good. 4: The batter is crispy and good. 3: The batter is slightly sticky or soft, but still crispy and within the acceptable range. 2: The batter is sticky or soft and not crisp enough, poor. 1: The batter is very sticky or soft and not crispy at all, extremely poor.

[0049]

[0050] The fried chicken of the Reference Example, which used ordinary soft wheat flour as the coating material, had a crispy texture immediately after production, but after 6 hours of storage, the texture became less crispy. The same was true for the fried chicken of the Comparative Example, which used a fried food coating material containing the pulverized wheat flour dough puffed product. On the other hand, the fried chicken of the Example, which used a fried food coating material containing the pulverized rice flour dough puffed product of the present invention, had a good crispy texture not only immediately after production but also after 6 hours of storage. Among them, Examples 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8, which used rice flour derived from Indica rice, were excellent, and Examples 1, 2, 5, and 8, which used rice flour derived from Indica non-glutinous rice, were particularly excellent.

[0051] [Production Example 2] Production of Puffed and Ground Products 10 to 16 Puffed and ground products 9 to 15 were produced in the same manner as the production of Puffed and Ground Product 1 in Production Example 1, except that the mass ratio of each fraction when mixing the four fractions obtained by sieving was changed as shown in Table 3. Table 3 also lists the data for Puffed and Ground Product 1.

[0052]

[0053] Examples 9 to 13, Comparative Examples 3 and 4 Coating materials for deep-fried foods were prepared according to the coating composition shown in Table 4, and fried chicken was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, and the texture of the resulting products was evaluated. The evaluation results are shown in Table 4. Table 4 also lists the results of Example 1.

[0054]

[0055] [Production Example 3] Production of Puffed Granulated Materials 17 to 24 Puffed granulated materials 16 to 23 were produced in the same manner as the production of puffed granulated material 1 in Production Example 1, except that the amount of aqueous liquid added when preparing the rice flour dough was adjusted so that the bulk density was as shown in Table 5. Table 5 also lists the data for puffed granulated material 1.

[0056]

[0057] [Examples 14 to 21] Coating materials for deep-fried foods were prepared according to the coating composition in Table 6, and fried chicken was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, and the texture of the resulting products was evaluated. The evaluation results are shown in Table 6. Table 6 also lists the results of Example 1.

[0058]

[0059] Examples 22 to 29 Using the expanded pulverized product 1 from Production Example 1, coating materials for fried foods were prepared according to the coating composition in Table 7. Fried chicken was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, and the texture of the resulting products was evaluated. The evaluation results are shown in Table 7. Table 7 also lists the results of Example 1.

[0060]

[0061] According to the present invention, a rice flour dough-expanded pulverized product suitable for use as a coating material for deep-fried foods can be provided. Deep-fried foods obtained by applying a coating material containing the rice flour dough-expanded pulverized product to ingredients and frying the ingredients can maintain a good texture with almost no loss in the crispness of the coating even when stored at room temperature or in a warming cabinet after frying.

Claims

1. A pulverized rice flour dough product obtained by pulverizing puffed rice flour dough, which satisfies the following particle size distribution, and the rice flour dough contains 70% by mass or more of rice flour in its raw flour: (Particle size distribution) Content of fraction of 1 mm or less: 20% by mass or less Content of fraction of more than 1 mm to 1.41 mm: 3 to 60% by mass Content of fraction of more than 1.41 mm to 3.35 mm: 40 to 90% by mass Content of fraction of more than 3.35 mm: 30% by mass or less 2. The rice flour dough leavening pulverized product according to claim 1, wherein the rice flour is derived from the Indica species.

3. The puffed and pulverized rice flour dough according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the puffed rice flour dough is obtained by puffing the rice flour dough using a twin-screw extruder.

4. The rice flour dough leavening pulverized product according to claim 1 or 2, having a bulk density of 0.1 to 0.4 g / mL.

5. A coating material for deep-fried foods, comprising 5 to 70% by mass of the puffed rice flour pulverized product according to claim 1 or 2.

6. A method for producing fried foods, comprising applying the coating material for fried foods according to claim 5 to ingredients and deep-frying the ingredients.

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