Flaked Fats for Bakery Applications

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Introducing the Perfect Pizza Experience with Flaked Fats Which Enhance Crust Quality, Taste and Texture

When devouring a pizza, we look for a warm crispy crust with a soft and fluffy centre, which is why flaked fats are the perfect ingredient for pizza bases, focaccias and flatbreads. Flaked fats shorten the time required for the dough to rise, improve aeration during baking and help distribute flavor evenly.

FSL and AAK launched a flaked fats ingredient solution to help manufacturers create better pizzas and breads. The new solution enhances the crust quality, taste and texture, and offers easier handling during the production process.

AAK’s flaked fats are positioned as an ideal and simple way to improve the texture and mouthfeel of crusts in both thin and deep-pan pizzas. This versatile solution allows for the creation of a tasty product that can make production simpler, while opening the door to unique sensory experiences, whether the pizza is sold frozen, chilled, fresh, or as a dry-mix.

In terms of the solution’s labeling specifications, flaked fats in pizza replaces one part of the fats currently used. As such, depending on the fat and oil blend composition used by a pizza producer, there might be no change in the label at all.

Consumers are known to judge the quality of a pizza through the sensory experience delivered from the first bite.

With this new flaked fat range, food producers can achieve optimum crispiness in thin-crust pizzas and an indulgent moist crust in deep-pan recipes. The visual appeal of the pizza is also improved, as flaked fats create clear air-pockets in the pizza, and a more open dough structure that results in an artisanal looking pizza which delivers the consumer a better experience.

 

 

What do Flaked Fats do?

When producing pizzas, the extensibility and elasticity of the dough are important factors. Flaked fats make it easy to achieve the ideal dough consistency. They can also help maintain the shape of the dough on the production line and reduce shrinkage after baking. If using flavored flakes, the taste is encapsulated in the flake until the product is baked, and the fat starts to melt. This means that the aroma is not lost during the production process and is retained for when the pizza is baked, right until the end consumers takes their first bite. This enhances the flavorful experience of the final product and differentiates it from competitors using regular fat solutions where a certain amount of aroma is lost in the production process and not delivered to the consumer’s palette.

Traditional blocks of hard fat can be difficult to deal with and may need extra processing to break into the right size for production. By contrast, our flaked fats are free-flowing and easy to handle. They can be used in automatic lines as well, enabling a seamless production process. In most dough- based applications, flaked fats are incorporated directly into the dough towards the end of the mixing process (500 BU), this maintains the structural integrity of the flakes, thus easing the production process for pizza manufacturers.

The usage of FSL and AAK fat flakes enables the elimination or reduction of dough relaxers such as L-cysteine, deactivated yeast or garlic powder which are commonly used to reduce shrinkage of the dough.

Flaked fats and their benefits:

Flaked fats introduced by FSL and AAK are solid shortenings, crystallized into a free-flowing form which deliver a wide range of benefits.

These fat flakes are cleaner, safer and faster to use than solid fat blocks. They can be used to improve the texture of finished goods. Depending on the product or process, flaked fats can make your product lighter, airier, crispier, or creamier.

They can provide layering without lamination, act as an effective moisture barrier and help you to adjust melt profiles. Fat flakes are great carriers of flavor and color, which spread evenly throughout the mix. They are available in different thicknesses and with added natural color or flavor.

Why choose flaked fats?

  • Improve texture – make your product lighter, airier, crispier or creamier
  • Enhance color and flavor
  • Streamline your process – make it cleaner, safer and faster
  • Achieve layering without lamination
  • Develop an effective moisture barrier
  • Adjust your melt profile

Flaked fats also reduce oiling out

Oil migration from the crust makes home-delivery boxes soggy with an unpleasant oil stain which transfers over to the consumers fingers. Preventing this oiling out process allows for a better crust texture and for the end consumer to experience less grease on their fingers. This in turn, improves the consumers perception and experience of the brand as a cleaner and less oily product compared to other brands.

Varieties of Flaked Fats

FSL and AAK’s wide portfolio of flaked fats (also known as “flaked shortenings”) are grouped into different ranges, each with specific characteristics to help customers create the optimal pizza. Akoflake, Cisao and Cresta are three examples of different ranges, produced and sold around the world.

Our most popular flavored flakes include a butter-flavored flake and a cinnamon flake with real cinnamon.

Flaked fats for baking are versatile ingredients which enable the creation of delicious products with a light, yet indulgent texture and a simplification of the production process. Flaked fats are not only suitable for use in pizzas, but also in pies, cookies, steamed puddings and biscuits. Bakery mixes are another area where our flaked fats provide efficiency and desired functionality.