It's a real dough! Milk proteins make gluten-free bread easier to handle, claims Arla

Arla Food Ingredients introduced its Nutrilac gluten-free milk proteins for baked products at iba in Munich, Germany, last month. It has had the capability in its locker for some time, but chose to go to market at the show after recognizing gluten-free bakery as a lasting trend.

From batter to dough​

John Kjaer, global sales manager of functional bakery solutions at Arla, told BakeryandSnacks the proteins were added together with corn or potato starch to create structured dough that can be easily handled.

"With our system it's a real dough just like when you're making a loaf of bread,"​ he said.

"[Normally] when you make a gluten-free bread you don't get a dough you get more of a batter. You have to have special line equipment that can handle such fluid dough,”​ said the sales chief.

With Nutrilac, manufacturers can use most conventional wheat-based dough equipment, he said.

Arla claims the proteins can create gluten-free breads, pizza doughs or cakes with strong elastic crumb structure akin to a wheat counterpart, overcoming negative consumer perceptions on gluten-free products.

Gluten-free ‘going through the roof’ ​

Arla launched the milk proteins while it says the gluten-free market is “going through the roof”.​

According to Innova Market Insights, gluten-free products accounted for 10% of launches in global bakery for the 12 months up to 30 April 2015.

"The big markets for gluten-free are definitely the US and Europe, but from the interest at the show we're also seeing a lot of Asian markets such as India are starting to look into gluten-free,"​ said Kjaer.

GMO-free Nutrilac comes as a powder and is added during the mixing stage. The ingredient is labelled 'whey protein concentrate' on ingredients lists.