“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper,” said nutritionist and author, Adelle Davis, in 1970. Bakery mixes, designed for consumers as well as bakeries looking to streamline operations, make breakfast indulgence easy and, with the right choice of ingredients, healthier, too.
Building respect with grains
Adding whole grains or multiple grains—for a “multigrain” label indication—to a breakfast item immediately commands attention among health-observant consumers. Yet, achieving consistency can be a challenge in these bakery mixes.
Whole-grain flours contain the moisture-resistant bran and germ portions of the kernel. More water will need to be added to the mix and, as time progresses, the bran will continue to hydrate. Presoaking the grain is a common practice among bakers, but it can be time-consuming for consumers looking for a quick mix.
Ron Zelch, product knowledge and training manager, Caravan Ingredients, Lenexa, KS, recommends using a prehydrated grain when possible, which can be added to the dough (not the dry mix). Prehydrated grains have been cooked, fully hydrated and stabilized. Small amounts of added sugar and salts ensure they don’t cause a flavor imbalance in the dough. One option offered by the company contains oats, cracked wheat, flaxseed, millet and sunflower seeds. Another contains cracked wheat, whole-grown barley, rye, millet, oats, whole-grain brown rice and whole-grain yellow corn flour. These can be added to any type of bread product, and have been used in bran muffins and cake products.
Pregelatinized flours are an option for complete breakfast mixes, although these are considerably more expensive because of their hydration and drying steps. Chopped or ground grains are another alternative, since they absorb water more readily than whole grains. The finer the flour, the more easily it hydrates. Whole-wheat flour can be ground just as fine as white flour.
Compared to hard red-wheat flour, hard white-wheat has a whiter bran coat, so the bran is less visible. It lends a slightly sweeter flavor to baked products.
To achieve a multigrain product, start with wheat flour to achieve the structure and basis of the product. Adding other whole-grain flours, including oats, barley and rye, yields ingredient interest and variety, as well as a slight flavor contribution. “The total ratio of alternate whole grains to basic wheat flour is probably less than 10% of the mix to maintain the baking functionality of the flour,” says Michael King, director of R&D, 21st Century Grain Processing, Kansas City, MO. “You might add a little whole-grain oat flour to the multigrain bakery mix to take advantage of the known nutrition benefits of oats for healthy meals; however, not too much because it’s not going to contribute much to dough development. In a muffin, I would say the oat flour could be used at a low level, less than 5%, to increase the health value and maintain the gluten functionality of the whole-wheat flour. Whole-wheat flour would predominate while other whole grains added, such as whole or steel-cut oat flakes or other flaked grains, add to the romance and sensory characteristics of the whole-grain experience.”
Whole-grain clusters and coated grains can add texture, flavor and even provide cost savings while contributing to the overall whole-grain claim. King suggests considering custom-coated whole grains for inclusion in bakery mixes. Whole-grain oats coated with different fruit flavors “would add a visual and a textural element to a pancake mix,” he says. “The flavor is natural. It will add a crunchy or contrasting texture. This will provide you more impact to the fruit used and permit reduction of the level of fruit by adding colored, coated whole grains while maintaining the desired appearance and color profile.” It also aids with distribution of the colored particulates in the product, he notes.