Dive Brief:
- Earlier this month, General Mills filed a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for shelf-stable, ready-to-bake gluten-free pizza crust dough formulations and methods to make formulations, according to its application.
- Ingredients such as rice flour, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, and millet flour are found in the gluten-free flour mixture, according to Food Business News. The ingredients create a ready-to-bake pizza crust with similar taste, texture, and rheology found in dough with gluten; the baked pizza crust has the organoleptic properties of crusts with gluten.
- In some instances, the dough can withstand awhile in a refrigerator; in others, the dough is also packaged ready-to-bake.
Dive Insight:
The development bodes well for the company’s brands Totino’s/Jeno’s and Annie’s, which offer frozen pizza products, where the former sells more than 300 million frozen pizzas annually, according to its website.
In the past couple of months, General Mills has filed patents in regard to using yogurt whey in food and for whole grain pancakes/waffles. The patent applications support the company’s efforts to provide healthier options in its products, as well as solve challenges in its supply chains.
For example, the company is the nation’s leading manufacturer of Greek yogurt, where the byproduct is used as an agricultural liquid fertilizer. The company aims to use a basic material to lift the pH level, resulting in a neutralized product for use in baked goods, beverages and snacks, among other products.
