19 Jun 2018
Fat in bread, there’s no way around it. Soft and sweet baked goods contain fat. Fats like vegetable oil, margarine and butter play an important role in bread-making. However, they come with a downside. In short: we do not want the fat, but we cannot leave it out either. Puratos took on this challenge and developed a way to reduce fat without compromising quality.
An answer to the butter price raise
The prices of butter in Europe are once again on the raise due to a lower production and a higher demand. There is a 28% increase since January this year. After the peak recorded in mid-September 2017, the prices of butter started to go down again. But the respite has been short. Due to a lower milk production than in 2017 and a higher demand of butter, speculations are going strong, leading to bullish trend. This new increase of butter prices directly impact the recipe cost of soft and sweet breads. Indeed, depending of the type of fat used and the type of bread baked, fat can represent up to 50% of the recipe costs.
The why versus the why not of fat in bread
Why: the role of fat
- Fat improves the texture and freshness of bread.
- Depending on the type of fat, it adds flavour to your bread.
- Fat increases the volume of bread (if the levels are too high, it can also reduce the volume).
Why not: the disadvantages of fat
- Fat is an expensive ingredient in bread.
- Fat price fluctuations can have a negative impact on profitability.
- The use of fat in bread adversely affects the level of nutrition. It increases the total fat, the saturated fat levels and the calories.
- Fat is not a convenience product as it’s difficult to handle. This can reduce the efficiency of production.
The solution to reduce fat
In order to reduce fat without compromising on quality, Puratos developed Intens Puraslim: an innovative technology included in the Puratos range of improvers and mixes for soft and sweet breads. Intens Puraslim increases the cost-efficiency of bread production while keeping bread outstandingly tasty and fresh. Bread made with Puraslim has fewer calories and (saturated) fats. Moreover, as no fat needs to be added, the Puraslim mixes are very easy to use.
3 reasons to use Intens Puraslim:
- The technology lowers the total cost of ingredients because the fat in the recipe allows you to add more water.
- You can improve the nutritional profile of the bread which you can then feature on the packaging. Less fat in the recipe means less fat in the end product, less saturated fat and fewer calories.
- The bread retains its outstanding taste and freshness.
Case study: reducing fat in sweet buns
To give you an example of how Intens Puraslim works, we modified a standard recipe for sweet buns to make it a Puraslim recipe.
The standard recipe contains a combination of 10% margarine and 5% butter which is 15% fat in total on flour weight. By adding 2,5% Intens Puraslim, the fat level can be reduced by half: 5% margarine and 2,5% butter: so 7,5% fat on flour weight.
Results
- Reduce the recipe cost Puratos observed that cost of this recipe decreased by 22% because the reduction of fat in the recipe allows you to add more water. In this case, based on an output of 8.000 tons of buns per year, the cost saving would be €170.000.000.
- An improved nutritional profile By reducing the fat in the recipe, Intens Puraslim improves the nutritional profile of soft and sweet breads. In this recipe Puratos observed: 50% less fat per 100 gram serving Fewer calories The possibility of making a ‘reduced fat’ nutritional claim.
- No compromise on taste or freshness In 2016, we took our Sensobus to Italy and ran a consumer comparison test between the standard sweet bun and Puraslim sweet bun. On the left you see the results.
