The Danish enzyme specialist has been marketing its standard Novamyl 10000 for the last 19 years. Its customers are suppliers of bread improvers, rather than bakeries themselves.
Now it is ushering in the next generation in the line, called Novamyl Pro. Both Novamyl 10000 and Novamyl Pro are maltogenic amylase preparations which work by breaking down the starch in a particular way, but Thomas Nilsson, global launch manager told FoodNavigator.com that they are different enzymes.
He said the new addition enables “the best of the best in premium bread-making, where it really matters to bakeries”.
Available in two versions, 80BG and 12BG, Novamyl Pro maintains the softness of the bread over time – and the softness can be felt right up to the corners of the slice. It can also be used in ‘lean’ and basic bread formulations, and means the product can have a longer best before date.
Nilsson and Pål Ladsten, regional marketing manager, explained to FoodNavigator.com at last week’s FiE trade show that bakeries may not need to run production of the same product line every day. They could switch to other products on some days, but still have ample supply of premium bread to meet requirements.
Moreover, bread that says soft for longer can be transported longer distances, which could help industrial bakers tap into new markets that were not feasible in the past.
Novozymes says Novamyl Pro works especially well in ‘lean’ bread recipes – that is, with lower sugar and fat – because the simpler the recipes the fewer ingredients there are to remain fresh. When the recipe is richer and has a higher fat and sugar content, the superiority of Novomyl Pro over the original Novomyl is not so pronounced.
Research
The company conducted considerable consumer research to understand what people look for in a loaf of bread. Its research team asked shoppers in the UK, Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands why they picked the bread they were buying.
More than 50 per cent of respondents said that they are loyal to two or three toast or sandwich bread brands. They identified softness as the most important sign of freshness – they were observed squeezing the loaves as they selected them – followed by taste, texture and moisture.
“Softness is key to brand loyalty,” said Ladsten.
The shoppers also expected the taste and quality to be consistent, and said they wanted their bread to stay fresh longer.
In another study, the company gave 50 Dutch households three different toast breads, and asked them about their preferences after a week. Some 61 per cent preferred the bread made with Novomyl Pro 80 (94 ppm), 23 per cent preferred one made with Novamyl 10000 (75ppm) and 12 per cent the one with Novamyl 10000 (30ppm). Four per cent said they had no preference.
The company has seen that the higher the dosage of Novamyl, the higher the price people are prepared to pay for the better quality bread. More than 40 per cent of consumers said they were prepared to pay €0.05 to €0.10 more per loaf for the perceived quality benefits.
For the bakery, this translates into bigger margins, as the cost of using the enzyme is said to be “marginal compared with the eating quality”.
Novozymes invests 14 per cent of its turnover in R&D. The new generation of Novamyl was three years in development.
This article has been amended from the original version published to include new information provided by the company on the enzyme's use in breads with less sugar and fat.