Dairy Ingredients in Bakery, Snacks, Sauces, Dressings, Processed Meats, Functional Foods 477demand for lower calorie and reduced - fat
products, enzyme - modifi ed butterfat prod-
ucts can be used to give intense fl avor notes
of butter at low usage levels.
Butter assists in even distribution of added
fl avorings throughout the dough and the
product. Lecithin, naturally present in butter
at the 0.25% level, is instrumental in stabiliz-
ing fat emulsion, leading to consistency of
texture, aroma, and fl avor in baked foods. In
this regard, butter and dry buttermilk perform
better than anhydrous milk fat, which con-
tains essentially no lecithin.
Mouth feel. Another functional attribute
of butter is related to body and texture of
bakery items. Butter imparts highly desirable
mouth feel attributes to the baked products.
This property is related to the ratio of crystal-
line (or solid fraction) and non - crystalline or
(liquid fraction) of butter as a function of
temperature. Solids fat index (SFI) is related
to percent solid fat content of a fat (Chandan,
1997 ). Bakery fats have different SFIs as
shown in Table 18.1.
Butter melts completely at 37.8 ° C (100 ° F).
At body temperature only 5% is in solid
form, thereby giving no waxy mouth feel.
Butter exhibits a steep and sharp SFI curve
along with a low melting point range of
27.8 ° C to 37.2 ° C (82 ° F to 99 ° F). It is com-
monly combined with some margarine and
shortening products to alleviate the waxy
mouth feel observed when only relatively
broad SFI - curve shortenings (e.g., puff pastry
margarine) are used.
Flakiness. Butter serves a useful function
in imparting fl akiness in croissants, Danishes,
and puff pastry. Butterfat is applied in
between dough layers, and the thin layers of
milk fat between the dough layers disrupts
the gluten from forming a three - dimensional
network. The butterfat layer is enhanced
further by rolling and folding process. Upon
baking, the dough layers rise due to steam
formation from the moisture in the butter,
followed by release of carbon dioxide from
leavening. In pie and tart doughs, an increaseincludes avoiding the use of hydrogenated
fats in all foods.
Two types of butter are used in bakeries
worldwide. Sweet cream butter is manufac-
tured from cream by churning (Chapter 9 )
and is available in salted or unsalted forms.
Another type of butter is obtained by churn-
ing of cream cultured with Lactococcus lactis
subsp. lactis. Other subspecies of the cultur-
ing organism are cremoris and diacetylactis.
In addition, the Leuconostoc species may be
used for the generation a potent fl avor com-
pound (diacetyl). The cultured butter is more
prevalent in Europe, and sweet cream butter
is generally used in North America and the
United Kingdom.
In general, several functional properties of
fats, including butter in baked products, are
signifi cant (Chandan, 1997 ). Fats cause ten-
derization by preventing formation of a
three - dimensional starch - protein network.
They exert a shortening effect or texture
modifi cation of dough and baked goods. Fats
also assist in aeration during mixing or
creaming quality, and exert an anti - staling
effect and shelf life extension by slowing ret-
rogradation of starch. They modify the con-
sistency of dough, help in heat transfer, and
act as carriers of fl avors. They create fl aki-
ness in laminated bakery items. Fats also
interact with gluten in yeast - raised dough and
with starch, leading to modifi cation of hydra-
tion potential. Finally, they assist in release
from pans. Butter and butterfat products
provide exceptional functionality, as dis-
cussed below.
Flavor. The fl avor of butter is character-
istic and an asset for the baked product. In
addition to lending to the upscale or gourmet
image, butter imparts a distinctive fl avor to
biscuits, breads, frostings, icings, butter
creams, cookies, crackers, croissants,
muffi ns, cakes, pastries, and pie crusts. It is
a good carrier of fl avor through the bulk of
the product. Reaction fl avor compounds, e.g.
lactones, are generated from fatty acids of
butterfat during baking. To meet consumer