4 food Marketing & Technology • June 2015

DOUGH

MARGARINE

DOUGH

DOUGH

MARGARINE

STEAM

STEAM

H2O

H2O

H2O

What to do?Every R&D department in the baking or bakery margarine industry knows the drill: Marketing has noticed a change in consumer preferences or food regulations that the current product range isn’t going to satisfy. Saturated fats might need to be cut back, for example, or lecithin replaced. Or perhaps the company’s advertising agency has developed a concept for a low-fat pastry product – one that not only requires new recipes but has Production asking “Can this even be done on our existing production line?” Everyone’s looking to the R&D team to solve the problem with a few quick taps of their magic wands. Without, mind

Problem-Solving in Puff Pastry ProductsAn unrelenting development effort has turned a Palsgaard emulsifier system into a powerful four-way product adjustment tool for R&D departments working with puff pastries – without requiring additional expertise or new machinery.

by Anders Mølbak Jensen and Arne L. Nielsen

you, requiring machinery investments or new R&D headcounts. And it appears that “We’re sorry, it just can’t be done” is not an option. If some of this sounds familiar, then you may be interested to hear that, after more than 15 years of continued development, Palsgaard has managed to create an emulsifier system that serves as a multi-functional tool, able to turn tough requests like these into realistic results.

Lecithin replacerThe story begins with the arrival of what was, at the time, a new market demand: the replacement of soy-based lecithin in puff pastry margarines.

After decades of delivering high functionality in relation to expansion, mouth-feel and crispness in baked goods, lecithin had served its purpose well.

Consumer attention, however, was increasingly focusing on issues such as GMO and allergens. It was a sweeping change that presented margarine manufacturers with a difficult challenge, as simply removing lecithin from recipes would leave those same consumers dissatisfied with flat, dry products – and damage sales as a result. To meet the challenge while providing the same functionality as lecithin (or

Ensuring the right expansion Palsgaard®1311 ensures that you will get good stability and plasticity in your puff pastry margarine during the lamination process. During the baking process Palsgaard® 1311 creates a thin emulsifier film which becomes denser throughout the baking process as W/O will be absorbed ino the dough. The emulsifier film will stabilise the layers and secure good lift, expansion and a crispy end product.Photos & tables: Palsgaard

6 food Marketing & Technology • June 2015

Ingredients

Recipe suggestion for 50% puff pastry margarine

INGREDIENTS %

Palsgaard® 1311 1.50

Palsgaard® 6111 0.50

Palsgaard® DMG 0925 0.50

Palm stearin 22.00

Palm oil 22.00

Liquid oil 3.50

Salt 0.30

Water 49.70

Flavor As desired

Color As desired

100.00

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt the oil/fat blend and adjust its temperature toapprox. 55oC

2. Dissolve Palsgaard® 1311 and Palsgaard® DMG 0295 in 5 parts of oil/fats at approx. 55oC and Palsgaard® 6111 at 70°C and transfer into the fat blend.

3. Adjust the pH-value of the water phase to approx. 3.5 by means of lactic or citric acid.

4. Emulsification temperature:approx. 55oC

better), a Palsgaard R&D team worked intensively to develop and test a brand new emulsifier.

This new emulsifier, Palsgaard® 1311, is based on a blend of highly functional citric acid esters and polyglycerol esters made from non-GMO vegetable fats. It works by creating a stable emulsion for processing and effecting crystallization in the margarine’s fat system, leading to very good plasticity. During lamination, the margarine serves as a functional carrier of the emulsifier, creating a film in the lamination process between the dough layers. As the temperature rises during the baking process, a micron-thin film of emulsifier is left, ensuring layer separation and excellent expansion, as well as good mouth-feel and crispness in baked puff pastry products. The new emulsifier system proved to be an effective substitute for lecithin without losing the emulsifying functionalities of its predecessor. Moreover, the replacement could be

carried out without deep recipe changes or often unwelcome capital investments in production machinery. But that was just for starters: As it turned out, Palsgaard® 1311 proved to be a help for technical people to answer not just one, but at least four of the demands they would encounter.

Fat reducerThe second capability discovered for Palsgaard® 1311 is perhaps its most important one. Mid-way during the last decade, consumer and regulatory attention had focused on another public enemy: Trans fatty acids (TFA). It was a trend that would be encountered all around the world. In fact, already by 2011, 178 of 270 products evaluated over a four-year period1 had reduced their TFA content by an average of 49%. Today, joined by calls to cut saturated fat levels, TFA reduction is gathering momentum, with regulatory moves to restrict their use underway in the several countries, including the US, Mexico, Iceland, Iran and Switzerland. It’s a significant challenge for margarine manufacturers, whose products work best at around 80% fat content. To meet the fat content challenge, food scientists at Palsgaard once again singled out Palsgaard® 1311 – at least where baking applications such as puff pastry were concerned. As any baker worth his or her salt knows, these applications are highly dependent on fat content. Using standard emulsifiers, minor reductions in the fat content of the margarine used brings disappointing baking results from inadequate water absorption to loss of crispness and expansion. And poorly absorbed water has negative effects at almost every stage of the puff pastry life-cycle. Such problems can be solved, but few margarine manufacturers or bakers have the major R&D capability or production equipment required – and the special doughs needed collapse all too easily. By replacing standard emulsifiers with Palsgaard® 1311, however, and replacing fats with water, manufacturers can achieve high-functionality pastry

Palsgaard® 1311 – the facts Palsgaard® 1311 is an emulsifier based on a blend of highly functional citric acid esters and polyglycerol esters made from non-GMO vegetable fats. It works by creating a stable emulsion for processing and effecting crystallization in the margarine’s fat system, leading to goodplasticity. Palsgaard® 1311 is in paste form.

7food Marketing & Technology •June 2015

Ingredients

margarines with 70, 60 or as little as 50% fat (see example of recipe), retaining stability and plasticity and achieving results that continue to deliver the indulgent eating experience consumers expect. That’s a fat reduction capability unprecedented anywhere in the baking universe – and it can be achieved with

Actual baking tests of croissants made with sweet puff pastry margarine based on Palsgaard® 1311

surprisingly little effort or technical know-how. Sugar protectorThe third capability of this powerful emulsifier system relieves the frustrations of R&D teams at both bakeries and margarine manufactures

with customers looking to create delicious and appealing sweet puff pastry products with sugary fillings and decorations yet who are afraid of the discolorations introduced by the Maillard reaction during the baking process.

To ensure successful products, Palsgaard has tested and developed a series of recipes for sweet puff pastry margarine, where part of the fat content is replaced by sugar, making it possible to reduce the fat content to as low as 50% (see recipe below) – without reducing the effect of the margarine. Croissant baking tests (see photo) performed at Palsgaard’s application labs have shown that it is possible to replace 100% plasticized shortenings or a traditional 80% puff pastry margarines and still achieve the same lift, lamination and crispiness – and without the croissants discoloring during baking. All due to Palsgaard® 1311 ensuring a very stable emulsion in the margarine, where sugar syrup is entrapped in the fat-crystal network with a unique effect, namely

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Ingredients

8 food Marketing & Technology • June 2015

INGREDIENTS %

Palsgaard® 1311 2.00

Palm stearin 21.50

Palm oil 21.50

Liquid oil 5.00

Sugar 20.00

Liquid glucose 20.00

Salt 0.30

Water 9.70

Flavor As desired

Color As desired

100.00

DIRECTIONS1. Melt the oil/fat blend and adjust its temperature to approx. 55oC

2. Dissolve Palsgaard® 1311 in 5 parts of oil/fats at approx. 55oC and transfer into the fat blend.

3. Adjust the pH-value of the water phase to approx. 3.5 by meansof lactic or citric acid.

4. Dissolve sugar and glucose in the water phase. When the solution is clear, add it to the oilblend for emulsification

5. Emulsification temperature: approx.55oC

Recipe suggestion for 50% sweet puff pastry margarine with no trans fatty acids and reduced level of saturated fats

no free sugar syrup on surface as the emulsifier wraps a protective film of fat around the sugar, offering better resistance to high temperatures far into the baking process.

A lesser-known side effect of adding sugar is the opportunity to reduce saturated fats and oils in the puff pastry margarine – a process which may lead to new consumer products and, in some countries, even to substantial cost reductions. Shortening-slimmerThe fourth, and perhaps the most unexpected application for Palsgaard® 1311 addresses, for example, regions of the world where margarine is not in favor. After much experimentation – and more than a little ‘out of the box’ thinking, Palsgaard’s R&D team discovered that simply adding the emulsifier system to a shortening will increase its effectiveness in expansion, opening up the possibility

for considerable fat reductions as less shortening will be needed in the final product.

Four-way powerToday, Palsgaard® 1311 enables marg-arine manufacturers to offer a premium range of margarines based on a single emulsifier that can easily answer a variety of industrial bakery concerns and requests. At the same time, they can proactively provide their customers with a powerful product development tool. And, whichever direction markets take in future, Palsgaard® 1311 is likely to be able to tackle each new trend. Easy to tryOf course, margarine manufacturers and the baking businesses they serve never want to endanger their ability to deliver products. And here lies another strength of this multi-functional emulsifier system: Customers can team up with Palsgaard’s own R&D resources to conduct risk-free re-formulations

of their recipes and test them either in-house with existing production machinery or at one of the company’s application centers around the world. What’s next?Over the years, Palsgaard® 1311 has shown itself to be an adaptable, flexible solution that can address new market demands with great success. And despite its 15-year history, this powerful emulsifier system is still the focal point for the original team of scientists that invented it. The experience they’ve gathered over time stretches from one end of the supply chain to the other – and it’s readily available to margarine manufacturers or bakers who would like to explore the one-of-a-kind functionalities of Palsgaard® 1311. Key No. 86100

Reference:

1 Otite FO, Jacobson MF, Dahmubed A, Mo-zaffarian D. Trends in Trans Fatty Acids Re-formulations of US Supermarket and Brand-Name Foods From 2007 Through 2011

The AuthorsAnders Mølbak Jensen is Prod-uct & Applica-tion Manager for Lipids and Fine Foods at Pals-gaard’s Danish headquar ters . Before joining the company 16 years ago, he held various roles as a labo-

ratory, quality control and R&D manager at a large margarine producer. He holds an M.Sc in food science and technology from the Uni-versity of Copenhagen and a Bachelor of Com-merce, IT.

Arne L. Nielsen joined Palsgaard in 1999, later be-coming the com-pany’s Technical Sales Manager for Lipids and Fine Foods. A food technolo-gist and profes-sional baker, he was previ-ously produc-tion manager in the margarine

industry. In fact, the only point in the sup-ply chain Arne hasn’t (yet) directly worked is within crop-farming.