Baking Trends in 2019

2019 is going to be the year of adventure for bread manufacturers across the world and GCC will be no exception. Consumers are increasingly pressed for time but still, want to cut down on their calorie intake. Hence, bread makers will be aiming to make their go-to staples more memorable, vivid and colourful.

One colourful way in which bread can amplify its nutrition content is by mixing vegetables with the dough to produce an artistic product that looks as good as it tastes. Brightly coloured veggies such as carrot, beetroot or legumes can help make themselves more visible to the eye and act as a strong boost towards positive nutrition. Bread makers should take care not to overdo the colours though. Baking the bread at the correct temperatures is important to get the texture just right.

According to the Mintel Global New Products Database, vegetable bread is a high-end food in Europe and made up for 6% of all new bread launches in 2017. Finland saw a new flat rye bread that is made up of beetroot, carrot and parsnip to the extent of 30% of the loaf. Brazil has its own Veg Super thin toasts that boast of flamboyant orange, green and pink hues from carrot, spinach and beetroot, while the USA launched Spinach Soft Tacos that uses apples, psyllium (a variety of fibre made from the husks of the Plantago ovata plant seeds) apart from spinach and onions.

Vegetable based bread is a great idea that diversifies ready-to-go food menus without crisscrossing to different sections of the grocery.

Beverage themed bread

Bakers have noted that an overwhelmingly large percentage of warm beverage drinkers in metropolitan locations combine their coffee occasions with a sweet bakery item. This Christmas, a Christmas Gingerbread Latte cake that won the first prize in the Christmas Cakes, Pastries and Tarts category at the British Baker’s Christmas Stars Competition. India, too, will soon see Coffee-themed pastries flavoured with real crushed cocoa beans that will leave consumers with a seamless café experience.

Cakes offer a great opportunity for sculpturally-minded chefs keen to display their creativity at the form, space and disorder. However, adapting wildly raucous themes to beverage habits is sure to be a hit with the busy office-going crowd.

World Fusion bread

Street food stalls and ethnic restaurants have turned chic with world cuisine assimilating a potpourri of global bread usage traditions. In particular, cultures that use sauces to condiment a dour meal, such as Mexican, Spanish, Middle Eastern and, of course, Indian, are proving to be a great hit with consumers everywhere. Vendors that offer a dip along with their bread offerings offer fun and adventure with customizable food experiments.

The name ‘Coconut & Pepper tortillas may sound like a mouthful but its delectable coconut flavour and a sprinkling of pepper on top of a soft yet thin flatbread crust makes it a genuinely delicious snack. The Finest Ras El Hanout flatbread is absolutely bursting with North African aromas with rich fillings of apricots and raisins with a blend of nine different spices.