ICL Food Specialities: Raising the game for a perfect rise

Industrial bakeries need to rely on leading ingredients solutions to ensure their products meet today’s consumer trends and quality requirements.

By Dr. Alexander Smerz, Global Segment Lead Cereals, Bakery & Beverages, ICL Food Specialties

Baked goods are highly complex products. Key quality characteristics such as stability and texture depend on the perfect interplay of several ingredients. Changing key constituents may seriously affect leavening, which largely accounts for product aeration and volume. In the wake of today’s “Free-From” trend, however, industrial bakeries increasingly dispense with traditional ingredients like salt, eggs or gluten in baked goods.
Regulators and health-conscious consumers have triggered a run for baked goods without sodium, egg, gluten or aluminum. The glo­bal market for gluten-free products, for instance, is projected to reach USD 4.89 bn by 2021, growing at an annual rate of 7.7 % between 2015 and 2021, according to a recent Gulfood study. European consumers are heavily purchasing free-from products, either because of perceived health benefits or increased concerns for food intolerances. These trends call for ingredient alternatives that speak to dietary needs while securing optimum baking properties.
Industrial bakeries mainly rely on chemical and physical processes, such as air, steam and numerous mixtures of carbonates to achieve the desired results. Compared to biological raising agents like yeast or sour dough, they can function at higher temperatures and allow to trigger leavening processes in a more targeted manner. But just like their biological counterparts, they prove highly sensitive to changes in the overall recipe.
Replacing gluten with another vegetable protein, for instance, might cause the dough system to build firmness at a different point in time – with possibly unwanted effects on the leavening process. If disrupted, the latter can result in a poorly aerated product, which considerably affects density and consequently the overall quality.
There are solutions by ingredient experts such as ICL Food Specialties to meet such challenges posed by the Free-From” trend. The company’s portfolio includes Bekabake LA 9, an ingredient system achieving the same leavening results in muffins as traditional sodium aluminum phosphates (SALP), the use of which is strictly limited in the EU since 2014.

Solutions by ingredient experts meet dietary requirements

Depending on the region, consumer habits and regulations target different baking ingredients. When it comes to sodium, South Africa signed a salt regulation into law in 2013, reducing the salt contents in several foodstuffs. With regards to eggs, traditional habits in nations like India or Israel require egg-free alternatives with the same baking properties as the classical ­recipe.
Advanced solutions like ICL’s Bekabake EF 2 present the same baking properties as the animal product and ensure optimum binding, aeration and flavor. They can also offer nutritional benefits. Bekabake EF 2 for example offers a higher level of dietary fiber and carbohydrates. Bekabake BP sodium free, in contrast, meets the need for a reduced salt intake while securing full taste.