Keeping bread fresh and flavorful should be a top priority for any artisan or commercial baker. Aside from keeping customers happy, it’s also how you cut down on waste—of both bread and operational costs. So what’s the secret to keeping your bread soft and delicious? Understanding the factors that cause staling and hardness in [...]
Enzymes, made up of proteins found in all living organisms, act as biological catalysts that facilitate chemical reactions. For the baking industry, they are amazing processing aids used in high-speed bakeries. While most dough conditioners are currently not accepted as clean label options, enzymes represent an alternative that is widely accepted by consumer groups. Given the right conditions of pH, time, [...]
Flour Quality What is Flour Quality? Flour quality encompasses all measurable or quantifiable parameters that are related to wheat or any cereal flour used to produce baked goods, snacks and many other products. In the baking industry, flour quality is evaluated on a daily basis, both at laboratory and production line level. [...]
What's the difference? It’s all in the milling! It depends on the amount of bran left in the rye flour after processing. The more bran, the darker the flour. However, more than the color changes. Darker rye will have more nutrients from the bran. It will also have a slightly harder time with gluten formation. [...]
You’ve probably noticed, but healthy foods are all the rage these days. So, if you want to start baking with healthier alternatives, start with learning how your new ingredients are going to act in formulas. Let’s take a look at spelt This is a highly nutritious ancient grain (so double points for trending foods). [...]
Insoluble fiber falls under the dietary fiber heading, and offers a big health punch to products. It helps with digestion, reduces serum lipid levels and adds no calories! With the FDA defining more of what can be labeled as "dietary fiber," bakers have more options to incorporate fiber into products. What’s hard about baking with fiber? [...]
Wouldn’t it be great to know your ingredients are doing just what they are supposed to do at just the right time? Thanks to encapsulated ingredients, we can! This really comes in handy for products like sorbic acid which are virtually impossible to use without encapsulation. Why it works Usually acids are known for [...]
Gluten Washing Tests What are Gluten Washing Tests? Gluten washing tests are laboratory analyses that provide information about the quantity and quality of gluten in wheat flour. These tests are used to evaluate the baking quality of hard and soft wheat flours used in the production of bakery products. Currently, two main [...]
Semolina What is Semolina? Semolina is a coarse flour made from high protein durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum). It has a mild and earthy aroma and is mainly used in high-quality pasta, spaghetti, baguettes, or batards.1 Bread made with durum wheat semolina flour is characterized by: Fine and uniform crumb [...]
You have a product, and it’s pretty great. But just how great is it? Or better yet, what is its quality? Defining the quality of baked goods can be difficult unless you’re using tests and benchmarks to quantify it. How can you do this? Baking tests such as gassing power, gas retention, mixing tolerance/stability, and water [...]
