As customers flock to value-added meals like more healthy cookies full of protein and fiber, corporations are stepping up and offering a number of recent merchandise that fill these wants.
“There are lots of people entering into protein-type cookies, an terrible lot of individuals,” stated Jim Fontaine, bakery subject gross sales supervisor for Reiser. “We’re seeing increasingly more protein-based cookies.”
And as bakeries prove these better-for-you (BFY) baked meals, they need to additionally discover methods to satisfy the problem of making these merchandise.
“The area of interest merchandise are positively spreading far and broad,” stated Kevin Knott, technical gross sales supervisor, Bühler Inc. “And that’s the place numerous innovation and alternate supplies, better-for-you snacks and protein bars are positively a giant development, which stresses the gear.”
Cookie batters which have much less sugar and extra protein and fiber are much less pliable, which implies they are often troublesome for cookie processing equipment to deal with, whether or not they’re wirecut, rotary moulded or deposited.
“Merchandise reminiscent of these are usually usually stiffer, firmer and extra rigid and as such circulate much less simply, which may trigger gear points in routinely dealing with and machining the merchandise,” stated Andy Inexperienced, technical improvement supervisor, Spooner Vicars, a Middleby Bakery firm. “This induces better hundreds on the gear, requiring extra sturdy designs and development.”
The longer the doughs sit after mixing, the tougher they turn into. As proteins develop, gentle doughs flip powerful in a short while body, defined Sam Pallottini, director of cookie, cracker and pet meals gross sales at Studying Bakery Techniques.
“Excessive-protein formulations are inclined to have a brief steady mixing interval,” he stated. “Because the formulation units, the product can turn into stiffer, making it difficult to feed it into the forming machines. It is very important perceive these high-torque necessities and measurement the feed gear accordingly.”
Most BFY doughs are made in batches, and Mr. Pallottini recommends working two to two-and-a-half batches per hour, which is able to guarantee consistency within the product because it goes by means of the forming gear and oven.
[Related reading: BFY cookie dough create not-so-sticky situations]
“Steady mixing could be a greater resolution for such a dough,” he stated. “Steady mixing makes use of probably the most correct feeding know-how obtainable. All metering and mixing procedures are monitored and initiated by the management system so the operator is at all times in a position to affirm and modify as wanted.”
Formulations with BFY doughs sometimes have costlier elements, which will increase the stress for the method to run easily.
“The fee to throw away a batch just isn’t viable; thus if one thing goes fallacious, the effort and time wanted to push these unhealthy batches by means of may cause points in different areas of the system,” Mr. Pallottini stated. “Any delays or errors could be fairly expensive for a company.”
One explicit issue entails icebox cookies, which convey collectively two or extra doughs to create a checkerboard sample or one other design. They are often difficult as a result of the totally different doughs could not have the identical consistency. One could also be stickier whereas the opposite is drier, which makes it tougher for them to remain collectively.
“When bakers wish to do a mosaic wirecut or ultrasonic sliced cookie, they might need to have these two cookie doughs as shut in texture and stickiness to work,” stated John Giacoio, vp of gross sales, Rheon USA. “As a result of it’s going by means of totally different chambers of the machine, and so they come again collectively in that design, and they should stick to one another.”
Denser doughs could be particularly difficult when making rotary moulded cookies, which can require changes to die moulds.
“Our die engineers take this into consideration and can design the die cavity with angles and shapes to accommodate these dense doughs,” stated Mark Glover, product supervisor, baked merchandise and extrusion, Baker Perkins. “We will additionally provide a wide range of coatings and die inserts for difficult-to-remove merchandise.”
After all, it’s at all times useful to check BFY recipes to see what to anticipate earlier than working them by means of processing gear.
“Having an innovation middle the place we are able to take a look at clients’ recipes and/or assist them establish the system necessities is most helpful,” Mr. Glover stated.
This text is an excerpt from the August 2021 difficulty of Baking & Snack. To learn the whole function on Cookies, click here.
