Butter and Butter Products 217must be given to achieving and maintaining
emulsion stability within the recombined
product because AMF and its fractions no
longer contain valuable milk - emulsifying
agents. Blending AMF with appropriate
milk fat fractions can also improve the func-
tional properties that are desired in the
recombined product. For example, recom-
bined butter tends to be fi rmer than tradi-
tional creamery butter, but blending a
low - melting fraction with AMF helps
improve its textural characteristics.
Chocolate
The main ingredients in milk chocolate are
sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, and milk
powder (whole and skim). Milk fat may com-
prise up to 30% of the fat phase and it can
have a critical impact on the texture and
appearance of chocolate. During chocolate
manufacture a careful temperature regime
(tempering) is applied to ensure that the fat
crystallizes in a stable form, beta 2 (form V);
otherwise, the fat will transform to a more
stable crystal form (beta 1 or form VI) during
storage and change the glossy appearance of
the chocolate to a dull, lighter one. This phe-
nomenon is called “ fat bloom ” and is pro-
moted by poor storage conditions such as
cycling between warm and cool tempera-
tures. Inclusion of milk fat inhibits bloom
formation by stabilizing the beta 2 (form V)
crystal form (Beckett 2000 ).
However, the addition of milk fat to cocoa
butter softens the chocolate due to the pres-
ence of low - melting glycerides in milk fat
and the fact that milk fat forms eutectic mix-
tures with cocoa butter, lowering the melting
point of the fat mixture. The overall effect
makes the chocolate mixture less functional
and diffi cult to de - mold, and affects its “ snap ”
characteristics. Because of milk fat ’ s valu-
able fl avor, mouth feel, and anti - bloom prop-
erties, there has been considerable research
into the optimal levels and forms for
inclusion of milk fat or milk fat fractions in
chocolate and chocolate confectionery. High -
melting milk fat fractions deliver good anti -
bloom properties, and although there are
confl icting reports regarding its effect on
chocolate hardness in milk chocolate, the
inclusion of a high - melting milk fat fraction
in products such as truffl es has been favor-
able (Sabariah et al. 1998 ).
Imitation chocolate, for example, coat-
ings for ice cream, are based on vegetable
fats of the lauric type. These lauric fats gen-
erally have poor compatibility with milk
fat; however, it has been reported that
the intermediate - melting fractions of milk
fat can be mixed up to 40% inclusion with
lauric fats with few detrimental effects on
crystallization.Baked Goods
The function of a fat in baked goods varies
depending on the product. In laminated
pastry (Danish, puff pastry, and croissant),
the fat must be suffi ciently plastic so that it
can be rolled out between layers of dough
without breaking, yet fi rm enough to avoid
melting and absorption into the dough at the
initial baking stages, thus providing a fl aky
texture in the fi nal product. Although such
products traditionally have been prepared
with butter, seasonal variation in milk fat
composition and an increase in mechaniza-
tion of bakery processes have led to the
development of blends of high - melting milk
fat fractions and standard AMF specifi cally
for these products (Kaylegian et al. 1993 ).
Such milk fat blends have the advantage over
margarines of retaining the valuable milk fat
fl avor and mouth feel.
In biscuits (cookies, shortbread), the role
of the fat is to disrupt the formation of the
gluten network by coating the fl our particles
with liquid fat, thus resulting in the charac-
teristic “ short ” texture (Kaylegian 1999 ).
Standard milk fat provides an optimum solid
fat content at room temperature for biscuits,
approximately 24%. Fat bloom can occur on