Flour Mixes, A Bridge to Better Nutrition

Flour mixes can be an answer to bakers’ recent challenges in helping consumers increase their protein and fiber intake, but not only. Some can boast added nutrition, others can appeal to consumers on special diets, while others are just a shortcut that helps put out consistent products.

Flour mixes are ready-made dry mixes made of a blend of flours, functional ingredients such as leaveners, starches, and flavors. Other ingredients are often added to help reduce calories or provide additional nutrients, such as protein, fiber, and carbs. Their purpose is to ease the baker’s job by providing consistent building blocks to their recipes.

There are two types of mixes. A mix is a ready-to-use solution that contains all the elements required to prepare finished products, with the exception of water, yeast and salt that the baker needs to add during kneading. The other type is called a premix or concentrate and it is used in a 10% to 50% quantity (as opposed to the mix, which is a 100% quantity). It contains only a little base flour and it is mostly made of functional ingredients. The baker therefore has to complete a premix with flour and then add water, salt and yeast when kneading.

Mixes With Less Calories, Less (Saturated) Fats, and Longer Shelf Life

Puratos’ mixes are in line with what consumers have been asking for lately. Its Puraslim line, for example, dedicated to soft and sweet bread, is a range of mixes and improvers that increase the cost-efficiency of bread production while keeping bread fresh. Bread made with Puraslim has fewer calories and less saturated fats and it does not need added fat.

The Puratos bakery mixes include Soft’r Melting, a technology that allows you to create a melting texture for medium and sweet bread applications. Soft’r Melting is a mix of flours and improvers that can claim a “clean(er) label” and enhances the freshness of sweet bakery products by increasing the softness, moistness, short bite and resilience of baked goods, from the beginning until the end of shelf life. Fiber Plus, another product, can claim the “high in fiber” label. It’s a premix – you only need 30% in the recipe and you add flour, water and yeast. With the same mix, bakers can make all types of breads such as dinner rolls, loaves and artisan style breads that provide 6g of fiber per 50g of bread (2 slices).

Intens Puraslim, one of the improvers that works with these mixes wasrecently launched and can reduce up to 50% of in-dough solid fat in sweet bread and pastry recipes. It can be added to doughs that have a minimum of 10% fat, such as cinnamon rolls, brioche, parathas or Japanese milk bread.

Intens Puraslim features a patented enzyme found in Yellowstone National Park that can provide a more pleasant short bite at high temperatures. Puratos researchers discovered this enzyme and its ability to improve the texture of bread through their Innovation Inspired by Nature approach, which focuses on enzymes as a natural resource in developing better-for-you bakery solutions.

In a recent sensory study, Puratos found that consumers were unable to differentiate between two cinnamon buns when tasting both a full-fat bun and a 50% reduced-fat cinnamon bun made with Intens Puraslim.

“From Puratos’ proprietary global consumer study, Taste Tomorrow, we know that 39% of consumers check nutrition labels on baked goods for fat content,” said Sean Hart, R&D Manager for Bakery Mixes & Improvers at Puratos USA. “But typically, they expect baked goods with lower fat to have a different taste. At Puratos, we were determined to create a product that helped manufacturers reduce fat and costs, without changing the consumer’s experience in these indulgent baked goods.”

Ingredients like Intens Puraslim can benefit bakers by saving on costs—particularly given volatile butter and margarine prices—and improving operational efficiencies with reduced mix time and elimination of refrigerated ingredients. 

Puratos’ ultimate mix in terms of added nutrition is the Puravita Ancient Grains Mixed, an all natural blend of grains and seeds to be added to all types of bread recipes. Rich in fiber, with a limited salt amount, made with natural ingredients (grains and seeds), it can claim the health benefits of eating grains and seeds without compromise on taste. 

Added Nutrition from Nut Flours

ofi, a global company that specializes in secure supply of traceable and sustainable ingredients, has created a range of nut protein powders and flours that allow bakers to bring the nutritional advantages of almonds and cashews into baked goods. Protein powder and natural flour offer many versatile applications that cater to the growing consumer demand for healthier, gluten-free snacking products that are packed with nutrients.

Nut flour can add a ‘health halo’ to products without compromising on flavor, texture or mouthfeel, providing a source of mono-unsaturated fatty acids, minerals, protein and fiber, and offer low-carb, non-GMO and gluten-free alternatives for formulating baked goods. Moreso, a nut flour can be used by itself or in combination with grain flours, allowing bakers to create a wide variety or finished products for different diets and expectations.

You can read the rest of this article in the Spring issue of Asia Pacific Baker & Biscuit, which you can access by clicking here.