Mixing It

Convenience and ease have become the watchwords for many modern bakers and in turn ingredient suppliers have responded with a cornucopia of premix products to satisfy this demand. Fiona Pavely reports.

The media constantly reinforces the fact that we live in a time-poor society. The bakery industry is no different.

When it comes to premix products, the benefits are straightforward. Reducing ingredient costs and reducing costs in the supply chain are two of the fiscal rationales behind this sharply growing sector. Coupled with this, is the growing skills gap in the bakery industry creating demand for products with ease of use at their heart. Finally, and the last component of the premix’s recipe for success, is the flexibility and innovation power that premixes can provide for businesses.

Up close and personal

According to leading Dutch baking company Sonneveld, the market for premixes has doubled in the last year – a sharp rise. Sonneveld has found that industrial bakeries with the facilities for fully automated production have become the biggest consumers of these products.

“Non-automated industrial bakeries can work with batch bags,” pointed out PR and Communications Manager, Frank Sonneveld: “With premixes, industrial bakers are capable of baking artisan, speciality bread types.

“In fact the premix market is generally associated with artisan breads. For standard bread types we have a range of liquid improvers based on a multi-component system. One of the newest industrial bakeries in Holland currently works with this system.”

Sonneveld feels that the advantage of using premixes is the fact that bakers do not have to stick slavishly to the supplier’s suggestions.

They are able to personalise premix products by adding, for example, additional ingredients or decorating the finished product in a personal way.

He enthused: “It gives them the possibility of having everything under one roof and creates solid partnerships between the bakeries and the bakery ingredient manufacturers.”

Flexibility all the way

Being flexible isn’t just about being able to produce a large range of products simply and quickly; it’s also just as critical to be able to respond to the market needs and trends. This is something that Sonneveld has been very mindful of in the formation of its CreationS range.

“Even with a small number of bread mixes you can produce a large range of bread types. This means you need less storage space, it bridges the skills gap and allows bakeries to work more efficiently with less risk of error,” explained Frank.

CreationS is Sonneveld’s new international line of eight premixes.

These mixes are highly concentrated and infinitely flexible. The standard dosage is 25 per cent, but you can vary this between 10 and 40 per cent without the loss of bread characteristics.

The mixes are designed so that the baker can use combinations of the different CreationS to make their own bread creation. The baker can also make different types of bread with one mix – he can make good and tasty bread at 25 per cent and premium bread at 40 per cent.

“Our bakers have already displayed their creativity. Now it is the customers’ turn to be creative and combine the CreationS premixes. A number of remarkable combinations have already been thought up, but maybe you can surprise us!” said Frank, throwing down the gauntlet.

The new range includes Mediteranea, designed for creating Mediterranean bread types including ciabatta, focaccia and crispy breads; Cheese, particularly suitable for savoury breads and laminated products; Olive, particularly suitable for crispy bread types such as ciabatta and focaccia; Dark Malt for preparing dark multi-grain bread – highly suitable for bread types such as rye-bread and dark bread; Sunflower for producing loaves and rolls as well as baguettes and laminated products; Pumpkin which is suitable for loaves and speciality rolls as well as being particularly good when combined with Dark Malt or Malted Wheat; Maize for maize-based bread types and finally Malted Wheat for light brown breads.

Mind the gap

While flexibility is certainly a key criterion for bakers choosing premix products, it pays not to secon-guess their requirements.

The recently formulated and extended Baker’s Select range and the new customer guide comes as a result of Dawn Foods’ ongoing investment in trade and consumer research which shows that consumer interest in health issues continues to increase at the same time as consumers are demanding real indulgence, taste novelty and variety when it comes to sweet bakery products.

The research also shows that the importance of premixes is growing as bakers often struggle to find the skill required to produce from scratch the product ranges demanded by consumers. In fact more than 60 bakers who took part in the research said that they find it hard to employ skilled staff.

Tellingly almost three-quarters felt that part-finished products were increasingly important and 71 per cent use premixes to make 25-50 per cent of product while a smaller 17 per cent use them to make 75-100 per cent of product.

“Consumers are demanding quality, novelty and variety and bakers are looking for mixes and bases to produce these solutions,” said marketing director Maggie Dagostino, identifying the key drivers behind the growth of premixes. Products and finishing products which are easy to complete and prepare before selling, will win space in the bakery sector.”

The wealth of health

Having identified the health trend Dawn Foods has created a range of products that appeal to this niche including lower fat and lower sodium cake and muffin mixes. In fact, in response to growing consumer demands for healthier options, the entire Baker’s Select range of 17 products is now free from hydrogenated and trans fats and is also lower in sodium. The mixes and bases are also guaranteed to be nut free and made with as few artificial ingredients as possible.

At the opposite end of the spectrum and this time appealing to the ‘indulgence factor’ also identified in the research, the company has recently launched a Dark Devil’s Genoese Base which it claims is a superbly chocolaty mix which can make celebration cakes, layer cakes, chocolate fudge cakes, slab cakes, fairy cakes and cup cakes. The new base rises evenly and flat and trims and cuts with very little product wastage. “It is specially formulated to give good volume and retains moisture right throughout its five to seven day shelf life.

“Like the rest of the Baker’s Select range, this base is very easy to make, requiring just the addition of oil and water,” Maggie enthused.

Bread premixes

Back on the subject of health, it is a different story with bread premixes. Sonneveld’s Frank Sonneveld points out that the mixes cannot be fortified with Omega 3 or folic acid or other health-related additions that we have become used to in the bakery sector.

“Due to the risks regarding food law, a functional bread mix should always be dosed as described – flexibility is not allowed,” he stated simply.

Limagrain’s Anne Lionnet similarly thinks nutrition and functionality are the biggest trends in the premix sector at the moment. “For example in France there is premix that you can add to your white flour to make a T80 flour ( recommended by the Programme Nationnale Nutrition et Santé (National Nutrition and Health Programme),” she said.

The company also launched Dafa Premix Essential, at the Food Industry Exhibition last year. It is a subtle mix of quinoa seeds and different cereals to provide the consumer with vegetable proteins, fibre, phosphorus, magnesium and vitamin B.

“It combines pleasure and health,” said Anne. “The quinoa seed is high in protein, calcium and iron, a relatively good source of vitamin E and several of the B vitamins. It contains an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids needed for tissue development in humans.”

Innovative thinking

Having time to develop new recipes, new signature products and attractive innovative creations to create consumer loyalty is a luxury that many bakers just don’t have. Step in the premix once again.

With premixes much, if not all, the thinking has been done by the manufacturer, allowing the baker to simply make a selection from the almost limitless offering and follow the instructions.

“Using our Baker’s Mixes, it takes less time and money to try out new ideas,” pointed out ADM’s John Hastwell.

“Freed from laborious and time-consuming preparation, bakers can easily create a wide variety of cakes and confectionery, offering new profit opportunities and resulting in increased bakery sales.

“This makes sound sense for any retail bakery or bakery food manufacturer.”

Indeed ADM has a range of more than 30 products covering all requirements from sponge, carrot and banana cake, to muffins, choux pastry, doughnuts and scones, plus all the complementary lines such as fudge icings, confectioners custard and crème patisserie.

Fierce competition

With such a growing demand, it is hardly surprising that competition in this sector is fierce as ingredients suppliers strive to develop products which meet the demands of such an amorphous marketplace.

One thing is sure though in this developing market; as ingredient suppliers create more advanced portfolios of products, the premix is definitely set to be an industry staple for the foreseeable future.