Method and apparatus to form a toroid filled bagel dough product

A process for making a toroidal filled bagel dough product, said process comprising the steps of:

• a) extruding a bagel dough from a sheeting extruder to form a continuous sheet;
• b) cutting the sheet into at least one continuous ribbon, each ribbon having side edges;
• c) depositing a strand of a filling material onto each continuous ribbon of dough;
• d) conveying each ribbon with the filling material onto a narrow conveyor belt, the narrow conveyor belt having side edges;
• e) drawing the narrow conveyor belt into a forming tube to form at least one continuous cylinder, wherein drawing the narrow belt through the forming tube causes the narrow belt to curl upwards until the side edges touch and simultaneously causing the side edges of each continuous ribbon to contact and fuse and form the continuous cylinder;
• f) cutting each continuous cylinder into logs, each log having a first end and a second end;
• g) depositing each log transversely across a corrugated conveyor belt having intermeshing side edges;
• and
• h) drawing the corrugated conveyor belt into a toroid forming tube to form a toroid shaped filled bagel dough product, wherein drawing the corrugated conveyor through the forming tube causes the corrugated belt to curl up until the side edges intermesh and simultaneously causing the ends of each log to come up, contact and fuse forming a toroid shape.