Striving for more consistent baking? It’s time for flour power

Striving for more consistent baking? It’s time for flour power: with Panamore® Xtense

If you’re a baker, you won’t need DSM to tell you about the challenges currently facing the industry – from raw material shortages to rising fuel and energy costs to disrupted supply chains.  

The question is what you can do today to combat these challenges and stop them from compromising both your profitability and the taste, texture, shelf life and health of your baked goods? In these times of geopolitical and commercial upheaval, our baking experts have been focusing hard on this question. Our solution? Flour power. 

The impact of FFAs

It’s well established that working with certain types and varying qualities of flour can potentially increase the FFA (free fatty acid) content in baked goods. This in turn can negatively affect the stability of the baked product or increase off-flavors in rich recipes.

For example, when importing flour, quality can become compromised due to long transport times and higher storage temperatures, especially in the context of today’s impacted supply chains. What’s more, this is now being accentuated because the synthetic emulsifiers that have traditionally improved dough tolerance and stability have now become even more expensive. 

So, our experts took a deep dive into this challenge, focusing specifically on the challenging applications and processes that our customers face – especially those impacted by high FFA content. Unsurprising, they turned to a technology that sits at the heart of many of our proven baking solutions: enzymes. And more specifically, (phospho)lipases. For 10 years now, lipases have been marketed through our Panamore® range to partially or fully replace emulsifiers and improve dough stability in wheat flour. Now, we have taken this to the next level with a brand-new enzyme: Panamore® Xtense.

Introducing Panamore® Xtense

Panamore® Xtense is ideal for both white and whole wheat flour with a higher FFA content - as well as frozen dough.  Not only does it help prevent the formation of off-flavors in rich applications like brioche made with dairy derived fats; it also maintains stability in dough and improves the volume and shape in the end-product - including a good crust opening when baking frozen dough products. 

Furthermore, Panamore® Xtense delivers valuable cost savings to the baker because enzymatic solutions are used in much lower dosages than traditional emulsifiers - all while attaining similar performance in dough and bread. 

Healthier people and planet

Beyond improving both the sensory properties and shelf life in challenging baking applications, there is another key benefit to flour power: health of both people and planet.

Enzymes have a lower carbon footprint compared to emulsifiers like DATEM; not just due to the lower dosages required, but also because they are processed at significantly lower temperatures. Furthermore, enzymes are considered to be processing aids which are not active in the final product, and thus do not need to be mentioned on the label. This in turn makes them more appealing to consumers compared to DATEM (full name: diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono-and-diglycerides).

Rising to the challenge 

Right now, the geopolitical climate has created some serious pain points for the industry. Panamore® Xtense is just one of several DSM solutions that rise to these challenges - and answer the question of how to bake more consistently with inconsistent raw materials, while increasing profitability. 

Just as importantly, all DSM solutions are supported every step of the way by DSM baking experts who not only understand the science, but also how they can be applied on a practical level to meet the precise needs of every bakery. Ultimately, we want you and your consumers to enjoy it all. So why not get in touch to discover how flour power can help you achieve it.