CSM slashes fat content in doughnuts by 40%
The bakery supplies specialist has been developing the fat reduction method for iced and sugared ringed doughnuts for over six years and filed a patent for the process.
CSM has produced doughnut variants with 40% less fat and 45% less saturated fat content than the typical market average.
The patent-pending method is based on spraying a dough mixture with hot cooking fat and then baking using impingement with hot air and infrared radiation simultaneously or sequentially.
Speaking to BakeryandSnacks.com, Kerrie Medlicott, global director for health and wellness at CSM, said that the fat reduction method is “unique” to the market.
“It’s unique because when we conducted sensory tests and consumers actually preferred the reduced-fat doughnuts,” Medlicott said.
CSM’s largest sensory analysis test conducted in 2010 with 200 UK consumers showed that 71% considered the reduced-fat variant as superior in taste.
“In the area we are looking at, other companies have reduced fat content through various methods but the sensory factors can be less enjoyable. You need to have an optimal level of fattiness and it’s about working out how you can get to that point while maintaining taste. It’s about having the best of both worlds,” she said.
Alternative method to traditional frying
The processing method is based on a ‘prefrying’ stage where one side of the dough portion is sprayed for 2-40 seconds with hot oil at temperatures between 150-250⁰C. CSM added in its patent that a dipping method could also be used.
Dough portions are recommended to each equate to 10-200g in weight.
The prefryed portions need to then be exposed to a total of 20-600 seconds of infrared radiation and at least 1 second, but less than 20 seconds, of impingement with hot air at temperatures of at least 150⁰C.
In its patent, CSM said: “The present method offers the advantage that it enables the preparation of fully cooked farinaceous products having a relatively low fat content. Accordingly, it is preferred to employ a dough or batter that has a relatively low fat content. Preferably, the dough or batter prepared in the first step contains less than 10% fat by weight of flour.”
On the private label market
CSM has sold its reduced-fat doughnuts to leading retailers across Europe as private label goods since mid-2012 and Medlicott told this site that UK sales are set to commence in March this year.
When asked if the products would be reaching US shelves, she said that the US CSM business unit is currently exploring if the products will work for the market.
However, she did note that the US doughnut market and its products are very different from Europe’s and so the method could need adaptation.
For full details on CSM’s patent filed under The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), click here.
