Profile Biscuits are one of the important bakery items and can be used whole day irrespective of time. It is very common for morning breakfast and also used as snacks. Biscuits are generally classified into soft biscuits, hard biscuits and crackers. Biscuit dough are made mainly from flour, fat, sugar and water, with minor amounts of flavor, colors, and aerating agents and possibly eggs and fruits. Around the world Biscuits is the principal food and provides more nutrients than any other single food source. The value of grain in the world used for human consumption is over 2 to 3 times of the value of the world iron and steel production. Although only 14% of the grain in the world is handled through international channels, cereal grains make up more than half of all the goods in overseas trade. Properties of Raw Materials FLOUR: The main ingredient in Biscuit making is wheat flour. Mixing the dough not only disperses the ingredients but also develops the gluten strands to proper strength and elasticity that retain, numerous small gas cells arising from fermentation. During fermentation, the dough which is originally tough and elastic, mellers and becomes more extensible so that it can be machined more easily and baked into food of good volume. The quality of flour depends on the initial quality of wheat. SUGAR: Sugar is used in Biscuit production as a contributor to crust colour through browning and caramelization reaction. Corn syrups, both regular and high fructoses are the predominant sweeteners of the biscuit industry, sucrose, and dextrose is also used single or combination with syrup. Sucrose is most widely used as sweetening agent. SHORTENING: Animal and vegetable fats and oils are used in balled foods to produce tenderness and are designed to impart particular qualities so the finished product. Generally, other shortening are used in Combination with butter to reduce cost. The average amount of shortening in Biscuit is 38 Kg per 100 Kg flour. MILK AND MILK SUBSTITUTE: Milk must be specially treated with High heat, which has been subjected to high temperature. Egg whites are used to make white angel food cakes. SALT: The components of dough and butters are dispersed in water unless mild fluid products are used. Manufacturing Process Biscuit making process: MIXING: This is a process where all ingredients are put together in right proportion for dough formation. These ingredients are then fed into Mixers where mixing is done and dough is prepared for molding .Major ingredients are flour, fat, sugar and others as per the product one would like to have. MOULDING: In this section we laminate the dough into sheet which then passes down to gauge rollers and sheet thickness achieved for cutting. Here we have a cutter or a moulder as per the variety where one gets the shape and sizes of biscuits. BAKING: This is the area where we pass these moulded wet biscuit into baking oven .The biscuits are baked on desired temperatures. Various type of heating are available now days as per the convenience and cost .Different type ovens are available COOLING: These baked biscuits are then passed on to cooling conveyors for natural cooling prior to packing .The temperatures are brought down to room temperatures PACKING: These biscuit are then stacked and fed into packing machine for packing. Different packing materials are available for packing of these biscuit in different packs. Slug packs, pouch pack or family packs etc. These packs are then put into secondary packaging like cartons to be transported to retailers. Equipment used for Automated Biscuit Manufacturing: Mixers, Laminators, Gauge Rolls or Pre Sheeters, Moulder / Cutter, Baking Oven, Cooling Conveyor, Packing Machines, Material Handling Equipments, Biscuit / Sugar Grinder, Milk/Oil Sprays and Salt / Cashew Sprinklers. Ingredients used: Flour , Fat , Sugar , Salt , Ammonium bicarbonate , Milk , Butter , Flavours , Emulsifiers , Invert syrups, Dough Improvers and many additives The biscuits are used as breakfast, as snacks. These are widely consumed by Army. The children eat biscuits with interest. The old age man also eats digestive biscuit. The other occasion of the consumption of biscuit is party, functions, meetings etc. Indian Scenario India Biscuits Industry is the largest among all the food industries and has a turnover of around Rs.3000 crores. India is known to be the second largest manufacturer of biscuits, the first being USA. It is classified under two sectors: organized and unorganized. Bread and biscuits are the major part of the bakery industry and covers around 80 percent of the total bakery products in India. Biscuit stands at a higher value and production level than bread. This belongs to the unorganized sector of the bakery Industry and covers over 70% of the total production. Indian biscuit industry has occupied around 55-60 percent of the entire bakery production.
