Speaking with bakeryandsnacks.com at the Euro Fed Lipid Congress in Montpellier, Dr Paul Smith, principal scientist at Cargill, said: “Different research groups are looking to structure bakery fats. People are using things such as waxes and oleogels. Other groups are looking at using emulsions as a possibility.”
Smith added that we would need different solutions for different goods using ingredients available in different countries.
“We eat different bake goods in different parts of the world so it is unlikely there will a one-size-fits-all solution.”
Fat's behaviour
Using oil would be the obvious, easy replacement for fats in baking, however, Smith said it wouldn’t always give the same, desired properties.
“For example, if you take something like puff pastry, you need solid fat in order to achieve a nice lift between the layers,” he said.
The potential alternative would need to behave in a similar way to the fats all the way through processing and deliver the same properties but without a high calorific value or saturated fat content.
The recent research Smith conducted looked at understanding the nature of fats in bakery.
“We’ve studied how fat behaves in baking throughout the whole of the process. We’ve looked at fat properties, the mixing process and what happens when you get to baking, heating it,” Smith explained.