The use of enzymes in the baking industry is not new and has been followed for decades. An enzyme is a protein that makes a chemical change in a biological system. In the baking industry, enzymes break starch into maltose, complex sugar into simple sugar, and protein chains. Bakers are buying enzymes to extend the shelf-life of bread. Having said that, there are plenty of enzymes available in the market that bakers use in baking. And one such enzyme is maltogenic amylase. It is an enzyme that breaks down starch into soft sugar. This enzyme plays a crucial role in the entire baking process. So, in this blog, we’re going to walk you through the uses of the maltogenic amylase enzyme in the baking process. But before we talk about the uses of maltogenic amylase, let us give you a detailed overview of it.
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In simple words, maltogenic amylase is a hydrolytic enzyme that breaks down the starch into soft sugar. The starch, which maltogenic amylase breaks down gets converted into maltose (a sugar made up of two glucose molecules), thus the name maltogenic. It simply means that the maltogenic amylase breaks the starch into the smallest molecules, thereby making sugar soft and durable. Moreover, this baking enzyme also disintegrates the carbohydrate chain to create maltose. Indeed, maltogenic amylase has a positive impact on bread texture during storage by decreasing amylopectin re-crystallization. Thus, it delays starch retrogradation, which ultimately provides long-lasting bread crumb softness.
Having said that, maltogenic amylase plays a crucial role in the digestive system because it is needed to process starch in your diet. Starch is the main source from which people drive glucose, a primary sugar molecule the body uses for energy.
Thanks to maltogenic amylase, which breaks carbohydrates into their simplest units. Therefore, breaking the carbohydrates into maltose (small sugar molecules) is advantageous. Not only is maltogenic amylase used for breaking starch into sugar, but there are many uses for it. Below we’re going to highlight many reasons why bakers use maltogenic amylase in baking.
We all love sweet yet tasty food and bread is not an exception. Bakers try to bring the best taste in the bread they make. That’s the reason they use maltogenic amylase that helps them make bread sweeter in taste. They can use this enzyme in lieu of adding or reducing the amount of sugar required in the bread.
What is responsible for fermentation in bread? Most of you will say, yeast. That’s right. But you must know that yeast needs sugar to ferment the bread, which metabolises the sugar and creates carbon dioxide gas and ethanol. Moreover, the yeast can’t metabolise the sugar found in flour. That’s where maltogenic amylase helps yeast do that work. As yeast can easily metabolise maltose, the amalgamation of yeast and amylase leads to good bread rise, and soft, and spongier crumb.
Who doesn’t love fresh bread coming right from the oven? We all love, right. But what about customers who get it after 1-2 hours of booking. That bread doesn’t remain as fresh as you get it immediately from the oven. That’s why to maintain that freshness in the bread for a long period of time, maltogenic amylase is used in the baking process. This enzyme helps bakers extend the shelf life of bread and make it more tasty and delicious altogether.
The soft bread is loved by all. The fact is that the bread easily gets stale after a period of time, which everyone detests eating. The reason behind staling of bread could be the change in the structure of starch present inside the bread. Once the bread starts baking, the starch gelatinizes, which ultimately gives the bread a nice and soft crumb. Over time, as starch recrystallizes it starts trapping water in the bread. This leads to hard and dry bread. Therefore, amylase slows down this recrystallization process and ultimately extends the bread’s softness and elasticity.
Another reason why bakers use maltogenic amylase in baking is to keep the bread curt darker and thicker. The crust of bread is formed through the Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction between sugar and amino acids, which occurs at high heat. Due to this the amount of sugar present in the bread becomes limited. As you know that the maltogenic amylase makes sugar, it works by increasing the amount of sugar in the bread for the Maillard reaction. This ultimately leads to a darker and thicker crust. There is no doubt that the darker and thicker crust in bread makes it durable.
Spoilage is another factor that makes the bread stale and the main cause of bread spoilage is mould. Since mould loves sugar and moisture, bread is full of both. Since keeping the moulds away from bread is somewhat impossible, maltogenic amylase helps keep them away.
Chemical emulsifiers for dough improvement are commonly used during industrial-scale production of hot dog buns, hamburger buns, and pan breads. Emulsifiers like mono and diglycerides (MDGs), sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL), calcium stearoyl lactylate (CSL), and diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono- and diglycerides (DATEM) are widely used by commercial bakeries to ensure maximum efficiency and consistency on high-volume production lines, as well as extending softness and improving shelf life in buns and breads.
Commercial bakeries use emulsifiers to stabilize mixtures of air, oil, and water, preventing separation and holding of air cells in aqueous environments like doughs and batters. The stabilizing action of emulsifiers makes doughs strong, more machinable, and more tolerant to changes in mixing conditions. In finished goods, the addition of emulsifiers slows starch retrogradation, which contributes to improved crumb softness and extends shelf life.
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Chemical emulsifiers also enable industrial bakers to increase consistency and profit margins on finished goods. But, despite the well-established benefits of emulsifiers, they are not without drawbacks.
The names of common emulsifiers may be unfamiliar to consumers and therefore act as roadblocks to attaining clean label goals. As more and more end consumers are checking the ingredients lists on the foods they buy, artificial-sounding names could be a potential turn off for a conscientious buyer. Moreover, chemical emulsifiers often have a sticky texture, require special storage and handling, or impart unwanted tastes that need masking.
Other options exist, such as vital wheat gluten (VWG) and L-cysteine, but these also come with formulation and production challenges. For example, while VWG is a natural ingredient and improves extensibility, it imparts a strong flavor and can lead to excessive gluten development, resulting in breads that are dense and hard to chew. L-cysteine, although it is an effective and widely used reducing agent in high-speed production, may not always conform to vegan or clean label parameters.
However, there are more suitable alternatives, namely enzyme‑based dough conditioners. These ingredients offer the functionality of MDGs, SSL, and more. Importantly, enzymes are all‑natural, easily integrated into formulations, and overcome many of the problems facing chemical emulsifiers and other dough improvers.
Enzymes are naturally occurring catalysts for biochemical processes and are derived from living organisms like plants, bacteria, and yeast. Enzyme-based dough conditioners offer similar benefits to chemical emulsifiers with fewer drawbacks and better align with clean label formulations. For example, enzyme-based dough conditioners offer the same short-term softness benefits as MDGs while only requiring “enzymes” for the label. In addition to creating a simplified ingredients list, replacing chemical emulsifiers with enzyme-based solutions that are easy to use ma y reduce production costs. Compared to their chemical-based counterparts, a lower usage level of enzyme-based improvers is required to achieve desired results.
Formulators will often rely on multiple ingredients to inhibit mold, extend shelf life, increase the duration of softness, and improve extensibility. Rather than having to handle and store numerous ingredients, enzyme-based dough conditions offer the simplicity of replacing multiple other ingredients with a single, all-in-one solution. This simplifies the production process and may result in cost savings over buying individual dough improvers for specific processing and extended shelf life (ESL) functionalities.
Furthermore, enzyme-based dough improvers provide similar efficiencies to chemical emulsifiers at achieving desired results. That translates into a lower overall usage of ingredients needed. For example, an enzyme-based conditioner to inhibit staling can be used at rates 10% to 15% lower than MDGs. Lower volumes of ingredients mean fewer bakery resources are expended in handling and storage.
Since enzyme-based improvers are easy to store and handle and can be used for multiple functions compared to chemical emulsifiers, less labor is an added benefit to using the ingredients. Some emulsifiers can be sticky and difficult to use. Conversely, enzyme dough conditioners come as a free-flowing powder that is added directly to flour, thus reducing time spent working with the ingredient and lowering the potential for scaling errors.
Sometimes supply chain issues can make chemical emulsifiers difficult to procure. Lack of supply leads to issues in production, resulting in fewer buns, rolls, and breads ending up on store shelv es and a major hit to profitability. In contrast, large quantities of enzyme-based dough conditioners are readily available to bakeries. Switching to enzymes means bakers reliably hit production quotas and are more resilient to supply chain disruptions.
Depending on the need, bakers and formulators may be able to replace all chemical emulsifiers in a formulation with an all-i none enzyme-based solution. Saf Pro® Star-Zyme™ STR 701 R, a multipurpose, enzyme-based dough improver by Lesaffre, is highly effective for replacing MDGs, SSL , DATEM, L-cysteine, and VWG in bun and pan bread applications.
By replacing chemical emulsifiers and ESL ingredients with Star-Zyme™ STR 701 R, bakers can expect improved dough relaxation and strength, less mixing time, improved volume, and more consistency in shape, taste, and texture. Instead of relying on MDGs for ESL benefits like short-term softness and crumb softness, Star-Zyme™ STR 701 R offers the same effects and a clean label with a single ingredient.
Improvement in the scaling accuracy of ingredients is also an added benefit when switching to enzymes. And, unlike some chemical emulsifiers which impart off-flavors and require taste masking, enzyme-based dough improvers like Star-Zyme™ STR 701 R have no impact on taste and texture in baked goods. Mix times and dough temperature consistency are also improved. A controlled trial of hamburger buns made with Star- Zyme™ STR 701 R showed a decrease in mix time of 2.5 minutes.
Field tests show enzyme‑based Star‑Zyme™ STR 701 R is highly effective as an ESL ingredient. Hamburger buns (shown left) stayed softer after 19 days compared to the control group. French rolls at 22 days were softer and had more specific volume. Hot dog buns were softer than the control after 28 days and had comparable specific volume.
While replacement of chemical emulsifiers with enzyme‑based solutions is made simple for commercial bakeries, technical support is available to formulators and bakers looking to make the switch. Lesaffre has more than 170 years of baking experience and is an industry leader in enzyme-based dough improvement. Every product by Lesaffre is vigorously tested in our test bakeries and proven in the field by the world’s leading industrial bakeries, ensuring each ingredient of ours is consistent, effective, and available at scale. Our baking and R&D experts are on hand to offer guidance and advice on when replacing MDGs, SSL, and more with natural, clean label ingredients.
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