premixuri si mixuri.pdf

8/17/2019 premixuri si mixuri.pdf

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19.1 Introduction and Definitions

This chapter gives an insight into a productgroup that has done much to bring variety andattractiveness to the range of bread and otherbaked products throughout the world, while at

the same time making the production of thebaked items more reliable and efficient:premixes and complete mixes (ready-mixedflours).

Like so many innovations in the food sector,premixes and complete mixes were "invented"in United States of America. It is characteristicof the American Way of Life to go about thingsin the most practical way, and it is easier toovercome traditional obstacles in the U.S.

than here in Europe.And premixes and complete mixes certainly domake the work of baking easier. Their prede-cessor was no doubt the mixture of wheatflour and baking powder for which a patentwas applied in the USA in 1849. It alreadyshowed the main attributes of the premixesand complete mixes we know today.It is in the nature of things that new aspectsand characteristics are added to the basic ideain the course of the years. We shall come backto these later.

Whereas premixes and complete mixes hadalready achieved a certain significance in theUSA and Canada before the Second World War,they did not start to gain a foothold in Europeuntil the 1950 s: in other words, they have aEuropean tradition of 50 years. All the moresurprising, then, that there is still no standard,generally accepted definition of premixes or

complete mixes. One of the main reasons liesin the difficulty of differentiating betweencomplete mixes and (baking) premixes and/orbaking concentrates. Seibel (1980) describescomplete mixes as follows:

19 Premixes and Complete Mixes

19 Premixes and Complete Mixes

G. Plasch

"Complete mixes are ready-made mixturesbased on wheat and/or rye flour for makingbread (including rolls) and pastry goods; they contain all the ingredients and additivesthat are stable in the mixture and serve acertain purpose in the baking process."

Here, by way of comparison, the shorter def-inition by Hegenbart (1998) from the Universityof Nebraska, that better expresses the idea of convenience behind the complete mixes:

"Complete mix: this type of mix is an all-inclusive, dry powder blend that requires theend user simply to add water; form or pan theresulting dough or batter; prove, if required;and bake."

Unlike Seibel, whose definition does not nec-essarily include the ingredients that are usuallyadded fresh, such as eggs and yeast,Hegenbart regards these as constituents of complete mixes in the form of dried products.Otherwise he speaks of "dough bases".These two definitions may be regarded asrepresenting a number of others.

The main difference between complete mixesand premixes is that the latter contain onlysmall amounts of the base flour, or none at all.The base flour is added by the baker. They do,however, contain all the other ingredients of the complete mixes, i.e. the components thatdetermine the nature of the baked product, andthe ingredients with technological properties.The following is an example of a formula bywhich they are processed:• 50 parts premix

• 50 parts flour of the type usual in the region• Water and yeast.

The ratio of premix to flour may vary withinwide limits.


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19.2 The Basic Idea BehindPremixes and Complete Mixes

So the motive for the development of premixesand complete mixes was the notion of conven-ience, and remains so to this day. Initially itwas chiefly a question of simplifying theproduction of baked goods and making it morereliable. There was to be no more complicatedweighing of individual ingredients, that isoften a source of error, especially with smallcomponents.This was accompanied by easier storage, for it

was sufficient to keep just a single product instock instead of a whole collection of differentingredients. And in many cases it saved time inthe production process – for example withpastry goods, where the laborious and timeconsuming cold and warm whipping procedurecould be replaced by the simpler and faster"all in" method. Ultimately this all served tomake production much more reliable. So it isnot surprising that the first products on themarket were those for pastry goods requiring

a large number of ingredients. But these werevery soon followed by products for bread androlls.

These aspects are still very important whereverbaking is not a trained occupation and iscarried out largely by people with very littleskill. In many cases it is the only way tointroduce new items, which could not otherwisebe produced, into a bakery's traditional rangeof products.The latter is a factor that has had an enormousinfluence on the development of premixes andcomplete mixes over the course of time.As the range of baked goods widened and themarket increasingly demanded new varietiesin addition to the standard products, so there

was an ever-greater demand for premixes andcomplete mixes enabling such products to bemade even under quite basic conditions.This includes the use of raw materials notusual in conventional baking, such as grainproducts that are not bread cereals, or oilseeds. And in the "ethnic food" sector theyhave made an important contribution toenabling national or regional specialities to beproduced and sold throughout the world, asrequired – for example typical European spe-

cialities in the Far East (Japan). And finally thepremixes and complete mixes have done muchto make new scientific findings in the field of

19.2 The Basic Idea Behind Premixes and Complete Mixes

Fig. 191: Premixes increase the variety of baked goods (courtesy of AICHINGER GmbH, Wendelstein, Germany)

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nutrition accessible in a practical form to awide circle of bakers, so that consumers canprofit from them in the form of baked goods.

All the above mentioned results in a largervariety of baked goods (Fig. 191) that can beoffered even by small bakeries.

The original convenience benefits – simplerand safer processing, shorter productiontimes, easier storage, greater reliability of production – are still as important as ever. Butthey are now complemented by additional

services offered by the manufacturers, coveringboth the production sector and selling aids.The latter include information material onspecific bakery products for consumers or

information on the safety of the products andadvertising messages to provide orientation inthe more and more complex tangle of regula-tions and statutory requirements. Originallyproblem-solvers in the production sector,premixes and complete mixes have developedinto problem-solvers of a general nature.Tab. 98 summarizes the benefits of premixedflours and premixes.

19.3 Composition ofComplete Mixes

As the name suggests, the main constituent isflour – wheat and/or rye flour, depending onthe type of product, and including coarse andwholemeal flours. And "main constituent"

19.3 Composition of Complete Mixes

Tab. 98: Avantages of premixes and complete mixes

Easy way of rounding off the range of baked products

• e.g. by using new raw materials not usual in conventional baking,

• such as sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds

Participation in market trends such as ethnic foods,

• e.g. ciabatta

Implementation of the findings of nutritional research,

• e.g. functional food and health food

Use of new production technologies

• e.g. freezing

Production of baked goods for specific consumer groups

• e.g. diabetics

Less laborious preparation

Simplification of work by the user, since the individual components have already been weighed

Shorter production time

Easier storage and stock-keeping

Optimization of the ratio of flour to other, functional ingredients in order to achieve a good end product while takingfinancial requirements into account

Consistent quality of the baked goods

Services by the manufacturers of complete mixes in the form of

• help with production technology

• information material for consumers / advertising

• safety of the products from the point of view of the food laws

Solutions to problems of all kinds

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applies to quality as well as quantity. Thequality of most baked goods is determinedvery largely by the properties of the flour usedfor making them. The smaller the range of endproducts to be baked from a particular flour,the easier it is to make up a tailor-made flour

to achieve optimum quality. Complete mixesexploit this advantage to the full. Not only dothey ensure high-quality end products; theyalso save the user the trouble of stockingspecial flours for certain applications or typesof product.

As the definition by Seibel (1980) quoted atthe beginning says, complete mixes contain"all the ingredients and additives that arestable in the mixture". As far as bread is

concerned that means chiefly salt as thestandard constituent and, where usual, sugars

and starch saccharification products, driedmilk products and/or fat. Yeast is not alwaysincluded, although the use of dried yeastraises the convenience level; it may shortenthe shelf-life of complete mixes. A furtherpossibility is the use of dried sponge doughs

and sour doughs. In addition to the productsalready mentioned, complete mixes for pastrygoods contain other ingredients that are typicalof the particular products (Tab. 99).

The basic composition can be complementedby a number of other ingredients that give theproduct its special characteristics (Tab. 100).

And finally there is another group of substancesused at the bakery – the baking improvers, or

the raw materials of which they consist.Baking improvers are defined as:


Tab. 100: Constituents that determine the nature of the baked product

Product class Example

Products ground from other types of cereals, including pseudo-cereals Barley, oats, maize, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth

Fibre-rich edible brans from cereals and leguminous plants Wheat, rye, oats, soybeans

Malt products Malt flour, roasted malt flour, malt extract

Oil seeds Pumpkin seeds, linseeds, sesame seeds, soy, sunflower seeds, walnuts

Dried potato products Powder, flakes

Dried milk products Buttermilk and whey powder, yoghurt powder, dried quark

Ingredients that give the end product special health-promoting effects Vitamins, minerals, secondary plant metabolites

Tab. 99: Main constituents of complete mixes

Component Bread and rolls Pastry

Base flours geared specially to the particular type of product and production technology X X

Sugars and starch saccharif ication products X X

Dried milk products X X

Fat X X

Salt X X

Dried sponge doughs and sour doughs X

Dried yeast X

Chemical raising agents (baking powder) X

Dried egg products X

Flavour-giving ingredients such as cocoa, spices and/or flavourings X

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"mixtures of foods, including additives, intended to facilitate or simplify the production of baked goods, compensate for the fluctuating

processing properties of the raw materialsand influence the quality of the finished

products."

Alongside the flour quality selected for theparticular product it is the baking improvers,or the effective agents they contain, thatensure the best possible result of the bakingprocess almost independently of the technicalequipment a particular bakery may have.

These agents are also listed in (Tab. 101).Not only do these ingredients make theproduction of baked goods more reliable andensure consistently high quality even undervery basic production conditions. They alsomake it possible to influence the quality of thebaked goods specifically. This is most obviousin the case of ingredients that help to givethe goods their characteristic taste (maltproducts, spices, flavourings) or colour(colour-giving foods, colorants). But there arealso a number of other quality attributes thatcan be optimized in this way.


Tab. 101: Constituents of baking improvers

Constituent Main function/improvement

Foods with technological effects

Pre-gelatinized flour/pre-gelatinized starch Water absorption, dough proper ties, shelf-life

Malt flours and malt extracts Flavour, colour, crustiness

Wheat gluten Dough stability, volume yield

Various sugars and starch saccharification products Flavour, colour, fermentation, crustinesssuch as glucose syrup and maltodextrins

Dried milk products Flavour, colour, bread texture

Soy flour, soy protein Dough properties, bread texture

Vegetable and animal fats and oils Dough properties, bread texture, volume yield

Colour-giving foods (e.g. dark malt products, spinach powder, Colourcherry juice powder, carrot extract)

Additives

Flour improvers (ascorbic acid, cysteine) Dough properties, volume yield

Emulsifiers (e.g. lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, also esterified; Dough properties, volume yield, crumb structure,stearoyl lactylate, polyglycerol ester, propylene glycol ester etc.) shelf-life, crustiness

Acidulants and acidity regulators (lactic, acetic and citric acid, Dough stability, microbial shelf-lifeincluding salts of these; acid phosphates)

Thickeners and stabilizers, including the modified starches Water absorption, dough properties, shelf-life(e.g. alginates, CMC, guar meal, carob gum)

Sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners Flavour, energy reduction

Colorants Colour

Enzymes

Amylases Volume yield, colour, shelf-life

Proteinases Dough softening

Xylanases Dough properties, bread structure, volume yield,

Oxidases Dough "drying" and stability

Lipases Dough stability, volume yield

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It is these possibilities of influencing thequality of baked goods that constantly giverise to the fear that the use of premixes orcomplete mixes will result in a standardizedrange of products. That these fears aregroundless is proved by the very fact that suchstandardization has not come about in thehalf-century in which premixes and completemixes have been used in Europe. On thecontrary: the range of baked products on salehas expanded greatly, and premixes andcomplete mixes are partly responsible for thisexpansion. On the other hand, all attempts

have so far failed to introduce complete mixesenabling small bakeries to produce brandedgoods whose main characteristic is that theyare sold everywhere in the same quality andwith the same appearance. The main reason isthat in spite of the necessary standardization,premixes and complete mixes leave the userenough scope for creativity; whereas brandedproducts do not permit such creativity, skilledbakers in small establishments use it toperfection. Moreover, the market share of the

complete mixes is too small to create auniform range of baked products.

19.4 Production Methods

To the extent that premixes and completemixes are only mixtures of dry raw materials inpowder form, they can generally be made withrelatively simple blending equipment. Of coursethe raw materials must be analyzed beforethey are processed further to ensure that they

have the required, specified properties.

Blending is timed in such a way that it createsa homogeneous mixture. Moreover, care mustbe taken to ensure that the mixture does notseparate as the product settles, or duringtransportation. That is especially importantwhen raw materials with different particlesizes are used, for example in productscontaining oil seeds. The separate packagingof ingredients with different granulation or

containing pieces, of the kind familiar fromhousehold cake mixtures, is practically neverfound in products intended for the bakingindustry.

A rather more complex production system isneeded if considerable amounts of fat, oiland/or emulsifiers have to be added to theflour mixture. Up to an added fat content of about 10% in relation to the powder con-stituents, flour is a good carrier onto which fatand/or oil can be sprayed. In certain cases itmay be a help to use dry ice. If larger amountsof fat have to be worked in, powdered productsare often used in which the fat is surroundedor coated with small amounts of highly effectivecarrier substances in a previous sprayingprocess. This method is also used with emulsi-

fiers to keep them free of lumps, so that theycan be processed at the desired particle size.

And finally, when choosing the fat it has to betaken into account that the advantages bakingfats have as a result of their specially adjustedcrystalline structure are lost when they areworked into premixes/complete mixes; thismeans that special fats may have to be used.

In some respects the same applies to dried

egg products. If these are used at all, caremust be taken that the technically importantattributes of fresh egg (emulsifying properties,gas retention) are not lost in the dryingprocess. That cannot always be guaranteed,and it is often the reason why they are notused and preference is given to fresh or frozenegg in the baking process.

19.5 Manufacturers of Premixes

and Complete MixesPremixes/complete mixes are one of the waysin which the results of research in the fields of baking technology and nutritional science aremade available to the baking industry in theform of ready-made solutions to problems, sothat they can be used by bakers and passedon to the consumer in finished foods. Asconsumer expectations change, on the onehand, and the technical methods of bakingdevelop, so the premixes/complete mixes

have to meet the resulting new requirements.These are the most important factors thatstimulate the development of premixes andcomplete mixes.

19.4 Production Methods

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Possible manufacturers are mainly companiesthat have to do with flour as a raw material,and/or with baking technology, and also carryout research that goes beyond the technologyusual in the flour milling industry, i.e. opti-mizing the processing quality of the groundcereals. These companies may be mills that of necessity have to do with flour as the main rawmaterial and have decided, irrespective of their size, to carry out the research necessaryfor making premixes and complete mixes.

In the industrial sector they are more and

more often manufacturers of baking improverswho initially concentrated more on bakingtechnology, and how to influence it withcombinations of active ingredients, and havealways regarded themselves as problem-solvers for bakers. It is only natural that theymake efforts to encourage the trend towardspremixes.

19.6 The Market for Premixes and

Complete MixesPremixes and complete mixes have theirestablished place in the market, but reliablefigures indicating the volume or value of theproduction of ready-mixed flours or theamount of premixes and complete mixes usedare not available. At best, estimates can bemade on the basis of information from thoseinvolved in the market, i.e. manufacturers andusers, and these estimates are not free of subjective impressions. But although no binding

figures can be determined on this basis, it ispossible to identify trends and developments.

Bode (2002) estimates the market for completemixes in Germany at about 180,000 t, a littleover half of this being ready-mixed flours forbread (including small baked goods) and therest made up of products for pastry goods.Since about 6.6 mio t of bread cereal areground to meet domestic demand, this consti-tutes a share of about 3 - 3.5% of the flour

market. The market for complete mixes isprobably in the same order of magnitude inFrance, the Benelux countries and the UnitedKingdom, although the ratio of bread to pastry

goods may well differ. It is even more difficultto obtain reliable figures for the complete-mix market outside Europe.There is a remarkable trend towards premixesand concentrates. As the basic idea is verysimilar to that of the complete mixes, they areoften placed in the same product category asthese without differentiation, which makes iteven more difficult to compare the figures forthe complete-mix market.Premixes offer certain advantages in respectof cost, for instance if base flours are availableat a very low price or complete mixes have to

be transported over long distances, i.e. if transport costs are comparatively high. Ininternational trade, agricultural products –especially flour – are often subject to heavycustoms duty as well, and this makes it essen-tial to seek such solutions. We may expect thesignificance of these premixes to increase infuture at the expense of the complete mixes.This applies both to Europe and the non-European regions.

19.7 Users of Premixes andComplete Mixes

Being convenience products requiring a greatdeal of research, both premixes and completemixes are fairly expensive, and this sets limitsto the economic benefit that can be derivedfrom their use. In general we have to assumethat complete mixes, especially, are only usedin exceptional cases when it is a question of making large amounts of standard products.

For this purpose there are usually other,cheaper solutions that result in end productsof a similarly high and uniform quality.

On the other hand the use of premixes, andespecially complete mixes, suggests itself wherever there is a need to bake small batchesof products that constitute an attractiveextension or addition to the overall range andhave a positive effect on total sales, but whichcould not be produced economically by

conventional methods. And if there is also aneed to explain these niche products, the onlyway to solve the problem is by recourse topremixes or complete mixes; otherwise one

19.7 Users of Premixes and Complete Mixes

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would have no access to these interestingmarket segments. An example of this is bakedproducts with functional properties.Ultimately, all manufacturers of bakery productshave to weigh up the financial and other prosand cons ("image!") and decide on a solutionthat seems to be the best for them.

19.8 Global Significance

These remarks on market opportunities andfurther development apply to premixes andcomplete mixes in general, but there may well

be regional differences with regard to detail,for example weighting within the range of products that can be made from them. InEurope, for instance, we have to expect agrowing proportion of products for making"healthy" baked goods with functional proper-ties, which may be at the expense of productscontaining oil seeds. It is difficult to tell, atpresent, what role organic ("bio") productswill play in this context. But the market forsuch products is likely to be larger in Western

Europe than in Central Europe. On theseassumptions we may expect a reasonableexpansion in the bread sector, whereas there islikely to be little change in the field of pastrygoods.

Neither premixes nor complete mixes arecheap. So they will assert themselves chieflywhere they make an existing range of productsmore attractive by permitting new variants andat the same time consumers are willing and

able to buy the relevant products. Regionaldifferences can be detected here too. In NorthAmerica there is primarily a trend towardspremixes and complete mixes for "ethnicfood" alongside products for pastry goods; inSouth America there is also a demand forspecialities based on local crops and morerecently "functional food". In the Near andMiddle East and especially in the Far East,where bread and other baked goods have lesstradition, mixtures from which European

and/or American products can be baked aremuch in demand. "Functional food" is followingin their wake. On the other hand, in the Nearand Middle East there are no more than the

first signs of mixtures from which traditional,regional products can be baked. In all thecountries of these regions, in which bakeryproducts do not look back on a long tradition,the use of premixes and complete mixes ismost important in the restaurant sector(= hotel kitchens run by European cooks).And finally Africa: apart from South Africa,premixes/complete mixes have scarcely founda market in this continent so far.

In many regions throughout the world, breadhas the function of a staple food, and staple

foods usually have a low price so that allsections of the population can afford them.This sets a decisive limit to the worldwidetrade in premixes and complete mixes, even if markets for them exist. A second limit is of atechnical nature: namely the shelf-life of theproducts. Depending on their composition orcertain ingredients they contain, premixes/complete mixes often have a shelf-life of onlysix months, sometimes even less. Up to apoint this can be prolonged by using dried

flours, and in the case of fatty products byusing antioxidants. Nevertheless, in manycases lengthy shipment for export, especiallyto regions with a hot, damp climate, is verydifficult if not impossible. An alternative is toshift production to the region in question andto export only the know-how for the formulationand the technique for realizing it. If necessarythis can be complemented by providing certainingredients, especially such with technicaland/or nutritional effects such as emulsifiers

and enzymes. These can then be combinedwith inexpensive local raw materials on thespot to make up the end product – a methodthat is increasingly being practised by well-known manufacturers of complete mixes andpremixes.

19.9 References• Seibel W, 1980. Fertigmehle - Lückenbüßer oder Produktionserleichterung? Brot Backwaren 11:19-22.• Hegenbart S, 1998. Maximizing Convenience with

Bakery Mixes, (September 1998), www.foodproduct-design.com/archive/1998/0998DE.html.• Bode J, 2002. Fertigmehle: ein interessanter Markt. In: Handbuch Backwaren, Chapter 3.2.7.Freund W (ed.), Behr's Verlag, Hamburg.

19.8 Global Significance

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