Flours promise hidden whole grain benefits
An unbleached flour with a fibre content of 90 per cent, NatureFibre Oat 100 will be introduced to the industry at this year’s Food ingredients Europe exhibition at the end of November.
Originating from the outer layer of ‘white oat’ grains, the product is characterised by a light colour and mild flavour. Kampffmeyer says it can be used to enrich all types of pastries with fibre, from fine to rustic bakery products.
The launch of NatureFibre Oat 100 follows the introduction last autumn of Optigrain, a range of whole grain flours made from wheat, rye and durum which are said to ‘link the health benefits of the whole grain with the taste and appearance of refined flour’.
“In contrast to conventional whole grain products, the sensorially optimised Optigrain flours have a very mild taste. However, the content of valuable ingredients like dietary fibres, vitamins, minerals and bioactive substances is as high as it is in conventional whole grain flours,” explained Bettina Zeuch, product manager health & nutrition with Kampffmeyer.
“There is demand for better tasting and pleasant whole grain products as customers are looking for naturally healthy foods but are not willing to compromise on taste,” she said.
According to Kampffmeyer, the mild taste of Optigrain flours is due to the absence of bitter-tasting phenols – only low phenol grain varieties are used in their production.
Potential applications for Optigrain flours include breads, bread rolls, morning goods, cakes, cookies, pizza dough, wafers, salty sticks and pretzels.
Manufacturers can buy Optigrain products as whole grain flours or as concentrated micro-granular compounds. The micro-granules can be combined with refined flour at a ratio of 18 per cent micro-granules and 82 per cent refined flour, to make whole grain flour.
One product in the Optigrain range - Snow Wheat - is already being used commercially by the food industry in toast bread and cookies, and by German craft bakeries in breads, Zeuch told BakeryAndSnacks.com.
Snow Wheat is a whole grain flour based on ‘white wheat’ rather than ‘red wheat’.
Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, Kampffmeyer Food Innovation GmbH is a joint venture between Kampffmeyer Milling Group and Danish ingredient supplier Palsgaard A/S.
