Visually appealing heterogeneous puffed flaked Ready-to-Eat ("R-T-E")
cereal products with varied texture and density have a first continuous
denser portion and a second discontinuous portion in the form of more
highly puffed discrete regions. The R-T-E cereal products are fabricated
from a dried heterogeneous cooked cereal mass comprising a continuous
phase provided by macerated cooked cereal ingredients, e.g., cut whole
wheat and a discontinuous phase containing added discrete hydrated intact
parboiled medium grain rice. The cereal products are made by preparation
methods involving forming the workable heterogonous cooked cereal dough
into wet pellets having discrete pieces of the parboiled rice; drying the
wet pellets to form dried pellets; flaking the dried pellets to form wet
flakes; and, heating the wet flakes to dry and puff the flakes to form
puffed flakes having 2-5% moisture and bulk density of 270-480 g/liter.
The flakes can be pre-sweetened.