Discussing the latest consumer trends driving innovation in the bread market, Deborah (pictured) explains that both scientific evidence and the growing awareness of the health benefits derived from consuming a fibre-rich diet play key roles.
The upshot is increased demand for high fibre or fibre-fortified staples in the diet. Bread that’s naturally high in fibre rather than being fortified is considered to be more appealing by consumers; as such, ancient grain and wholemeal breads with claims such as “naturally high fibre” or “healthy gut support” are growing in appeal.
But when producing these items and, when processing rye bread, for example, manufacturers have to face certain challenges.
Rye’s chemistry sets it apart from other cereals and grains; the dough is rich in NSPs (non-starch polysaccharides) such as glucan.
These are important functional components, notes Deborah, but tend to compete with protein in terms of water absorption, which negatively impacts dough consistency. In rye dough, NSPs are functionally more important than protein as rye proteins are unable to form gluten (like wheat proteins can).
Enter Biobake Fibre, a novel and patented enzyme solution that delivers superior volume, excellent crumb softness, improved product sliceability, good dough processability and a sustainable reduction in operational costs for rye bread production.
Designed for Europe’s €17 billion traditional and organic rye, rye-wheat and wholemeal bakery markets, Biobake Fibre is a patented solution that delivers these product benefits with no negative impacts on the traditional taste and authentic aromas of rye bread formulations throughout their shelf-life.
Additionally, it’s organic, Kosher, Halal and vegetarian suitable.
Rye or rye-wheat blended breads are a significant category in European bread markets, comprising 17% of the almost 15,000 new bread launches that occurred globally between 2021 and 2023.
Rye bread is considered to be a quality source of healthy fibre and, in fact, “high source of fibre” is the third-ranked claim on rye bread launches conducted during the same time frame.
As consumers sought healthier alternatives coming out of the pandemic, there was a 16% rise in the consumption of rye bread globally in 2022 and 2023.
Biobake Fibre allows for significant productivity gains by increasing bread volume up to 24% and softness up to 55%; improving softness will naturally reduce the likelihood of waste.
As bakery products represent the world’s largest category of food waste, enhancing softness and eating quality is a sustainability benefit that both customers and consumers will appreciate.
Biobake Fibre is an innovative enzyme solution designed to ensure superior volume, excellent crumb softness and good machinability in rye and rye-wheat bread formulations, asserts Deborah.
This technology delivers improved finished product quality, optimised slicing and good dough machinability. This can all help to reduce process downtime and support a sustainable reduction in operational costs that will appeal to bakers looking for ways to be more cost-efficient and reduce bread waste.
This clean-label, vegetarian and organic-suitable enzyme solution can help manufacturers to meet their operational cost and sustainability targets. Most importantly, adds Deborah, the high-quality taste and appearance of the finished rye bread has been confirmed by sensory trials conducted throughout the product’s shelf-life.
In short, Biobake Fibre is an excellent addition to Kerry’s extensive range of enzymes that improves the productivity, sustainability and overall quality of bakery products.
Reducing operational costs
The Biobake Fibre enzyme solution works on rye’s high concentration of NSPs. As noted above, these are important functional components but they’re not very process-friendly during dough handling.
NSPs negatively affect water distribution during dough production because of their water-binding properties, resulting in a dough that is difficult to process; this ultimately leads to reduced bread volume and limits final bread quality.
However, over-hydrolysing NSPs also adversely impacts dough handling properties, machinability and the final bread quality. If this happens, particularly in wheat-rye mixes, there is a high risk of the dough collapsing and crumbling.
Biobake Fibre reduces the NSP water-binding capability and allows for better hydration and dough development.
The NSPs then create consistent dough rheology, thereby improving tolerance and gas retention; this, in turn, increases the specific volume, leading to enhanced crumb texture and prevents the creation of small crumb bubbles that can make slicing more difficult.
The cost savings achieved when using Biobake Fibre come from reduced dough waste, better bread quality and improved slicing, leading to less bread damage/ waste.
