FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a composition comprising lecithin and triglycerides for improving the characteristics of a food product such as a bakery product as well as a dry bakery mixture comprising said composition, a dough comprising said composition and a process for making a bakery product.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Liquid bread improvers comprising vegetable oils and emulsifiers such as diacetyl tartaric acid mono- and diglyceride esters (DATEM) have been used for many years in industrial breadmaking to improve the texture and volume of baked bread and retard staling thereof. For instance, EP 572 051 A1 discloses a liquid bread improving composition comprising more than 75% by weight of a vegetable oil that is liquid at room temperature, 5% by weight or less of a hydrogenated vegetable oil with a high melting point (60-70°C), 5% by weight or less of a partially hydrogenated vegetable oil with a melting point of 35-45°C and up to 20% by weight of an emulsifier, in particular DATEM. The bread improver may also include a bread improving enzyme such as amylase or xylanase.

EP 109 244 B1 discloses a bread improver comprising phospholipase A which is reported to result in high volume and to improve the inner structure of bread including this ingredient. The bread improver may further contain phospholipase D and/or soybean lecithin. The dough is reported to include a cereal flour, in particular wheat flour, yeast and water to which is added salt, sugar and shortening (hydrogenated vegetable oil).

EP 1 073 339 B1 discloses a process of preparing a baked product comprising including an anti-staling maltogenic alpha-amylase and a phospholipase to the dough which additionally may optionally include a phospholipid such as lecithin. The dough is preferably fat-free though it may include granulated fat or shortening added in a concentration of less than 1 % by weight.

Lecithin is a mixture of phospholipids found naturally in plants and eggs. Commercial lecithin is typically extracted from vegetable oils such as soybean or sunflower oil and is usually in liquid form as a mixture of phospholipids in oil. Lecithin is used as an ingredient in food products such as dough and bread where it acts as an emulsifier and helps improve bread characteristics such as volume, structure and dough stability. Attempts to prepare lecithin in powder form have been made, but have certain drawbacks: the process requires deoiling lecithin using an organic solvent, e.g. acetone, which may constitute an environmental hazard during manufacture and may leave an unwanted residue in the resulting lecithin powder; also, the powder prepared by this method tends to be sticky, which makes it difficult to distribute the powder homogenously in flour and other dry components of dough.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a composition in which lecithin is formulated as a free-flowing non-sticky powder in a process that does not require the use of potentially hazardous solvents.

It has surprisingly been found possible to prepare a free-flowing powder from liquid lecithin by combining it with a solid fat and subjecting the mixture to spray cooling.

Accordingly, the present invention relates to a composition comprising a mixture of lecithin and a triglyceride with a melting point above 35°C, said mixture being in the form of a free- flowing powder.

Unlike the lecithin powder described in the prior art the powder of the present invention may be prepared without using organic solvents. The powder is low dusting and readily flowable which ensures ease of handling and makes it possible to distribute it homogenously in a mixture of dry baking ingredients. In the context of industrial baking, such mixtures are routinely distributed to bakeries where they are stored before use. Providing lecithin and triglyceride in free-flowing powder form therefore obviates the need to store them as liquid ingredients at the bakery and add them separately during the bread-making process. The powder composition has been found to be stable on storage for 4 weeks under ambient conditions. Furthermore, the powder composition has been found not to exhibit any loss of functionality in baking tests compared to separate addition of liquid lecithin, hydrogenated vegetable oil and lipolytic enzyme, cf. Example 3.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a baking mixture comprising a. a cereal flour;

b. a leavening agent;

c. a composition comprising a mixture of lecithin and a triglyceride with a melting point above 35°C, said mixture being in the form of a free-flowing powder; and d. a lipolytic enzyme comprising at least one lipase, phospholipase or glycolipase.

Adding a lipolytic enzyme to a dough has been known for many years to impart beneficial properties to bread such as increased bread volume and crumb softness. Lipolytic enzymes hydrolyse one or more fatty acids from lipids present in the dough, whether endogenous or added, resulting in the formation in situ of emulsifier molecules such as lysophospholipids formed from the phospholipids that make up lecithin. The lipolytic enzyme may also provide in situ formation of emulsifier molecules from the triglyceride present in composition c.

According to our findings, dough containing the present composition as well as a lipolytic enzyme has improved stability in that there is less loss of volume in shock tests compared to dough that does not contain composition c and a lipolytic enzyme (cf. Example 3 below). The loss of volume in shock tests is approximately the same as when liquid lecithin, triglyceride and lipolytic enzyme are added to dough separately, indicating that the lecithin admixed with the triglyceride in the present composition is available to the action of the lipolytic enzyme (cf. Fig. 4).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a schematic drawing illustrating the spray cooling process whereby a composition of the present invention is prepared from a hot molten mixture of lecithin and triglyceride.

Fig. 2 shows three different powder compositions prepared from lecithin and triglyceride by spray cooling using three different triglycerides with a melting point above 35°C.

Fig. 3 is three micrographs showing spherical particles of compositions prepared by spray cooling from fully hydrogenated soybean oil and 20%, 25% and 30% lecithin, respectively.

Fig. 4 is a graph showing the volume of bread baked from dough subjected to shock test v not subjected to shock test. From left to right, the dough was prepared without lecithin/triglyceride/lipase; without lecithin/triglyceride, but with lipase; with composition c , but without lipase; with composition c and lipase; with deoiled lecithin, but without lipase; with deoiled lecithin and lipase; with hydrogenated soybean oil, but without lipase; with hydrogenated soybean oil and lipase; with liquid lecithin, but without lipase; with liquid lecithin and lipase; with hydrogenated soybean oil/liquid lecithin (added separately), but without lipase; with hydrogenated soybean oil/liquid lecithin (added separately) and lipase.

Fig. 5 is a graph showing the volume of bread baked from dough subjected to shock test v not subjected to shock test. From left to right, the dough was prepared without composition c and lipase; without composition c, but with the respective lipases KLM1 , LipopanF and Panamore; with composition c, but without lipase; with composition c and the respective lipases KLM1 (at three different dosages), LipopanF and Panamore.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The lecithin included in the present composition may be a lecithin derived from any suitable source such as from a vegetable oil or egg yolk. However, the lecithin is conveniently derived from a vegetable oil, preferably soybean, sunflower, rapeseed or canola oil. The lecithin is typically included in a concentration of 10-40% w/w, preferably a concentration of 15-35% w/w, more preferably a concentration of 20-30% w/w, of the composition.

The triglyceride included in the present composition may be any triester of glycerol and a saturated or unsaturated C12-24 fatty acid, provided that it has a melting point of 35°C or above. The triglyceride is preferably a fractionated or partially or fully hydrogenated triglyceride with a melting point above 35°C, such as partially or fully hydrogenated soybean oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, high oleic sunflower oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, corn oil, rice bran oil, babassu nut oil, palm oil, mustard seed oil, cottonseed oil, poppyseed oil, low erucic rapeseed (canola) oil, high erucic rapeseed oil, meadowfoam seed oil, shea nut oil, shea butter, coconut oil, cocoa butter, a fish oil or an animal fat such as tallow or lard. In particularly preferred embodiments, the triglyceride is a fractionated or fully hydrogenated vegetable oil selected from the group consisting of fractionated palm oil, tripalmitate, tristearate, shea butter and hydrogenated soybean oil. Hydrogenated soy bean oil has been shown to contribute significantly to the stability of dough and may therefore be particularly preferred to include in the present composition. The triglyceride is suitably included in a concentration of 60-90% w/w, preferably 65-85% w/w, more preferably 70-80% w/w, of the composition. The present composition may be prepared by melting a triglyceride with a melting point above 35°C and mixing it with liquid lecithin followed by spray cooling the mixture to form solidified droplets as a free-flowing powder.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the present composition further comprises a lipolytic enzyme which hydrolyses lecithin and/or triglycerides to form emulsifiers in situ which improve the properties of bread made from the dough to which it has been added. The lipolytic enzyme may be a triacylglycerol lipase (EC 3.1 .1 .3) which uses triglycerides as a substrate, phospholipase A (EC 3.1 .1 .32) which hydrolyses phospholipids such as those present in lecithin to lysophospholipids, a lipase derived from Fusarium oxysporum (available from Novozymes under the trade name Lipopan F) or a lipase derived from Fusarium heterosporum (designated KLM1 ) which is characterized by a higher activity on phospholipids and glycolipids compared to triglycerides (the lipase and its use for improving the properties of dough and baked products are described in EP 1 722 636 B1 ; the lipase is available from DuPont Danisco under the trade name POWERBake 4080). Yet another lipase is Panamore, available form DSM.

The lipolytic enzyme may be added to the composition comprising the mixture of lecithin and high melting point triglyceride by mixing the lipolytic enzyme with lecithin and high melting point triglyceride before spray cooling the mixture (cf. Example 7 below), or simply by mixing the powder composition of lecithin and triglyceride with the lipolytic enzyme in powder form. Alternatively, the lipolytic enzyme may be added separately to the baking mixture in powder form. An advantageous amount of the lipolytic enzyme to be added to the baking mixture has been found to be in the range of 100-3000 TIPU units per kg flour in the mixture.

Lipase activity (TIPU) may be determined using the following assay :

Substrate : 0.6% L-a-phosphatidylcholine 95% Plant (Avanti, cat. #441601 ), 0.4% TRITON™-X 100 (Sigma X-100) and 5 mM CaCI ₂ are dissolved in 0.05 M HEPES buffer pH 7.

Assay procedure : Samples, calibration sample and control sample are diluted in 10 mM HEPES pH 7.0 containing 0.1 % TRITON™ X-100. Analysis is carried out using a Konelab Autoanalyser (Thermo, Finland). The assay is run at 30°C. 34 pi substrate is thermostatted for 180 seconds at 30°C before adding 4 mI of enzyme sample. Enzymation is carried out for 600 seconds. The amount of free fatty acid liberated during enzymation is measured using the NEFA kit available from WakoChemicals GmbH, Germany. After enzymation, 1 13 mI NEFA-HR(1 ) is added and the mixture is incubated for 300 seconds. After that 56 mI NEFA- HR(2) is added and the mixture is incubated for 300 seconds. OD 520 is then measured. Enzyme activity (pmol FFA/min ml) is calculated based on a calibration curve made from oleic acid. Enzyme activity (TIPU) is calculated as micromole free fatty acid produced per minute under assay conditions.

NEFA-HR(1 ) is composed of 50 mM phosphate buffer pH 7.0 contining 0.53 U/ml acyl-CoA synthase, 0.31 mM coenzyme A, 4.3 mM adenosine 5-triphosphate disodium salt, 1.5 mM 4- amino-antipyridine, 2.6 U/ml ascorbate oxidase and 0.062% sodium azide.

NEFA-HR(2) is composed of 2.4 mM 3-methyl-N-ethyl-N-(E-hydroxyethyl)-aniline, 12 U/ml acyl-CoA oxidase and 14 U/ml peroxidase.

The present composition or baking mixture may additionally include one or more other enzymes that contribute to improving the properties of dough and/or baked products made from the dough. Examples of such enzymes are amylases, xylanases, hexose oxidases (EC 1 .1 .3.5), glucose oxidases (EC 1 .1 .3.4), maltogenic amylases, maltotetrahydrolases, transglutaminases and lipoxygenases and mixtures thereof. For instance, glucose oxidases and hexose oxidases contribute to dough strengthening and volume of the baked products, while xylanases are added to improve dough handling properties, crumb softness and bread volume. In a particular embodiment, the present composition or baking mixture may include a mixture of lipase, oamylase, xylanase and hexose oxidase.

To improve the flow properties of the powder comprising lecithin and triglyceride, the present composition may also include a powder flow agent. Examples of suitable powder flow agents are calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, calcium silicate, calcium phosphate or silicon dioxide. The concentration of the powder flow agent in the present composition may vary between 0.1 and 20% w/w, in particular between 0.5 and 20% w/w, depending on the powder flow agent employed.

To ensure homogenous distribution of the present composition in the baking mixture and/or the dough, it has been found advantageous that it has an average particle size of 0.1 -1000 pm. The ratio of the present composition to the flour in the baking mixture may typically be in the range of 1 -4:100, in particular about 2:100. In a further aspect, the invention relates to a dough prepared by mixing the present baking mixture with water or prepared by mixing a cereal flour, a leavening agent, a lipolytic enzyme and the present free-flowing powder composition comprising lecithin and a high melting point triglyceride with water. The composition is added to the dry ingredients of the dough before mixing with water. The dough may be prepared by any conventional dough preparation method commonly used in the baking industry or any other industry making flour dough based products.

The cereal flour may conveniently be selected from wheat, maize (corn), rye, rice, oats, barley or sorghum flour or a mixture thereof.

The dough may additionally include one or more other ingredients and additives conventionally added to dough, such as salt, flavourings, acidifiers, shortenings, whole grain cereals, seeds, kernels, dried fruit, hydrocolloids, fats, sugars or other sweeteners, dietary fibres, anti-staling agents, softening agents and antioxidants. Adding a hydrocolloid such as locust bean gum, guar gum or carboxymethyl cellulose may serve to increase the softness and weight of the dough without making it sticky as the hydrocolloid has the function of binding moisture when added to dough.

The dough may be leavened dough or dough subjected to leavening. The dough may be leavened in various ways such as by adding a chemical leavening agent, e.g. sodium bicarbonate, or by adding a suitable yeast culture such as a culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast).

In a still further aspect, the invention relates to a bakery product made by baking the dough prepared by mixing the baking mixture or the individual dough ingredients, including the present free-flowing powder composition with water. The bakery product may be selected from bread such as loaves, rolls or buns, or pizza bases, pastry, pretzels, tortillas, cakes, cookies, biscuits, crackers etc. It is also contemplated to use the present composition in non- baked dough products such as pasta or noodles, as well as in coffee whiteners and creamers.

The invention is further described in the following examples which should not in any way be regarded as limiting the scope of the claims.

EXAMPLES Example 1

Powder compositions containing lecithin and triglyceride

Standard liquid lecithin (33% by weight) was added to melted triglyceride (fractionated palm oil, hydrogenated rapeseed oil or hydrogenated soybean oil) (67% by weight) and the feed temperature was adjusted to 60 - 65 °C.

The liquid feed was subsequently sprayed into a cold air flow of a spray tower (NIRO P 6.3) using a wheel at 9000 rpm and a temperature of 7°C. The resulting powders were thereafter sieved using a 1 mm sieve. The resulting powders are shown in Fig. 2

Example 2

Powder compositions comprising different concentrations of lecithin

Fully hydrogenated soybean oil and standard liquid lecithin was heated to 80°C using either 20%, 25% or 30% by weight liquid lecithin and 400ppm Guardian®Tocopherol.

The molten lipid was pumped into a NIRO P 6.3 spray tower, atomized using a two-fluid nozzle and cooled using an inlet air temperature in the range of 8-13°C. The process is illustrated in Fig. 1 and the resulting powders are shown in Fig. 3. As seen from the images the individual powder particles are spherical, which is a characteristic of a successful spray cooled powder.

The particle size of the powders were measured by Mie diffraction using a Malvern Mastersizer 3000, and the powder properties were evaluated by rheological powder measurements using a Freeman FT4. More specifically rheology was conducted by measuring the torque exerted on a twisted blade, when this was helically moved through a fixed amount of conditioned powder in a cylinder. By using repeating tests as well as decreasing flow rates, it was possible to deduce the powder properties shown in Table 1.

Table 1 : Powder characteristics of the lecithin/triglyceride powder compositions

From the powder characteristics displayed in table 1 it was found that spray cooling liquid lecithin admixed with a fully hydrogenated soybean oil resulted in a fine powder with powder properties similar to or or better than the power properties of a commercial deoiled lecithin.

Example 3

Bakery test of lecithin/triglyceride powder and lipase

The lecithin/triglyceride powder and enzyme blend was tested in whole meal bread for impact on specific bread volume and shock stability. For each trial the dough was baked as rolls and as bread. Rolls was used for measurement of specific bread volume, and bread was used for measurement of shock stability. To challenge the dough sufficiently in the shock test bread loaves were underscaled and overproofed compared to normal scaling and proofing. Test of spray cooled lecithin/hydrogenated soybean oil powder (25:75) in bread and rolls baked with whole meal flour.

Table 2A: Formulation Trial 1-6

Table 2B: Formulation Trial 7-12

Solec is a trade name for lecithin

SUREBake 800 is a trade name for glucose oxidase

Grindamyl A1000 is a trade name for a-amylase

POWERBake 900 is a trade name for xylanase

POWERBake 4080 is a trade name for the lipase KLM1 Procedure for whole meal flour:

Knead on Diosna spiral mixer, water uptake for flour according to analysis 400 BU - 2%

1 ) Mix all dry ingredients in the bowl slowly for 1 minute - add water

2) Knead slowly for 2 minutes - quickly for 1 1 minutes (Diosna prog. 3.23)

3) Dough temperature must be app. 26°C

A, rolls, for measurement of specific volume:

4a) Scaled 1500 g - moulded round by hand

5a) Rest in cabinet for 10 minutes at 30°C

6a) Mould on "Glimek rounder" - settings according to table on machine

7a) Proof for 45 minutes at 34°C, 85% RH 8a) Bake for 15 minutes at 200°C / 2 I steam + 5 minutes damper open (MIWE prog. 1 modified)

9a) After baking the rolls were cooled for 25 minutes before weighing and measuring the volume

10a) Specific volume was calculated after volume measurement by use of the rapeseed displacement method described in“Guidelines for Measurement of Volume by Rapeseed Displacement”, AACC International Method 10-05.01 , Oct. 17, 2001.

B, bread, for shock test:

4b) Rest dough in cabinet for 10 minutes at 30°C

5b) Scale 4 dough pieces of 600 g each

6b) Rest dough pieces for 5 minutes at ambient temperature

7b) Mould on Benier MS500, following settings: Preform: -18, drum press.: 3, pressureboard: 4,0 cm front, 3,5 cm back, width: 370 mm front, 330 mm back.

8b) Put dough pieces in 4 DK toast tins

9b) Proof for 70 minutes at 33°C, 85% RH

10b) After proofing shock treatment was applied to 2 of the 4 tins according to the following: Tins were placed on two wooden blocks on a stone plate. Blocks were pulled apart simultaneously to allow the tin to hit the stone plate. This was repeated

1 1 b) Bake for 35 minutes at 205°C with steam (Miwe roll-in prog. 27)

12b) After baking take breads out of the tins

13b) Cool breads for 70 minutes at ambient before weighing and measuring of volume 14b) Specific volume of the shocked and unshocked bread loaves was calculated after volume measurement by use of the rapeseed displacement method

The results are shown in Fig. 4 from which it appears that whole meal bread baked with the lecithin/hydrogenated soy powder performs as well in shock tests as whole meal bread baked with liquid lecithin and hydrogenated soy oil added separately to the dough, especially when including lipase as well. It further appears from Fig. 4 that bread baked with the lecithin/hydrogenated soy powder performed as well in shock tests as bread baked with deoiled lecithin despite the fact that deoiled lecithin contains a higher amount of acetone- insoluble components (including phopholipase).

Example 4 Bakery test of lecithin/triglyceride powder with three different lipases and three different concentrations of lipase

Test of spray cooled lecithin/hydrogenated soy powder (25:75) with three different lipases and 3 different dosages of the lipase KLM1 in rolls and bread baked with regular wheat flour.

Table 3A: Formulation Trial 1-6

Table 3A: Formulation Trial 7-12

Procedure

Knead on Diosna spiral mixer, water uptake for flour according to analysis 400 BU - 2%

1 ) Mix all dry ingredients in the bowl 1 minute slow - add water

2) Knead 2 minutes slow - 5 minutes fast (Diosna prog. 3.23)

3) Dough temperature must be app. 26°C

A, rolls, for measurement of specific volume:

4a) Scaled 1350 g - moulded round by hand

5a) Rest in cabinet for 10 minutes at 30°C

6a) Mould on "Glimek rounder" - settings according to table on machine

7a) Proof for 45 minutes at 34°C, 85% RH

8a) Bake for 13 minutes at 200°C / 2 I steam + 5 minutes damper open (MIWE prog. 1 modified)

9a) After baking the rolls were cooled for 25 minutes before weighing and measuring of the volume

10a) Specific volume was calculated after volume measurement by use of the rapeseed displacement method

B, bread, for shock test:

4b) Rest dough in cabinet for 10 minutes at 30°C

5b) Scale 4 dough pieces of 500 g each

6b) Rest dough pieces for 5 minutes at ambient

7b) Mould on Benier MS500, following settings: Preform: -18, drum press.: 3, pressureboard: 4,0 cm front, 3,5 cm back, width: 370 mm front, 330 mm back.

8b) Put dough pieces in 4 DK toast tins

9b) Proof for 70 minutes at 33°C, 85% RH

10b) After proofing shock treatment was applied to 2 of the 4 tins according to the following: Tins were placed on two wooden blocks on a stone plate. Blocks were pulled apart simultaneously to allow the tin to hit the stone plate. This was repeated

1 1 b) Bake for 30 minutes at 205°C with steam (Miwe roll-in prog. 27)

12b) After baking take breads out of the tins

13b) Cool breads for 70 minutes at ambient before weighing and measuring of volume 14b) Specific volume of the shocked and unshocked bread loaves was calculated after volume measurement by use of the rapeseed displacement method

The results are shown in Fig. 5 from which it appears that white bread baked from regular wheat flour using the lecithin/triglyceride powder and lipase performs better in shock tests than bread baked using the lecithin/triglyceride powder without any lipase. There was no difference in performance of the three lipases or the three dosages of the lipase KLM1.

Example 5

The effect of powder flow agents on flowability of lecithin/triglyceride powder

The flow agents tested were 9.1 % and 16.7% CaS0 ₄ anhydride and 1 % S1O2 (% of final blend). The lecithin/triglyceride powders were added to a 2L container and mixed (with or without flow agent) using a Shaker Mixer TURBULA type T2C with settings mixing speed 2 mixing time 15 min. After mixing, the powders were sieved using a 500pm sieve.

The powder properties were evaluated as described in example 2, and it was found that addition of CaS0 ₄ at the highest level (#3) or S1O2 reduced the basic flow energy (cf. Table 4), i.e. improved the flowability of the powder.

Table 4: Flow parameters determined by Freeman FT4

Example 6

The effect of spray rate on the particle size of lecithin/triglyceride compositions

Fully hydrogenated soybean oil and standard liquid lecithin was heated to 80°C using 25% of liquid lecithin by weight of the total lipid phase and 400ppm Guardian®Tocopherol. The molten lipid was pumped into a NIRO P 6.3 spray tower using 3 different spray rates (low, medium and high) and spray cooled using an air inlet temperature in the range 8-12°C and a two-fluid nozzle as illustrated in figure 1 , The particle size (D _[ 43 _] ) of the resulting powders were 82pm, 139pm and 208pm when using low, medium and high pumping speed, respectively, illustrating the possibility of thereby obtaining different particle sizes. Example 7

Powder composition containing lecithin, triglyceride and lipase

Hydrogenated soybean oil and standard liquid lecithin in a 2 :1 ratio was melted, followed by addition of 5% (by weight of the composition) of the lipase KLM1 , feed homogenization using a Silverson L4RT mixer and feed temperature adjustment to 60-65°C.

The feed was subsequently spray cooled in a NIRO P 6.3 spray tower equipped with a wheel using 9000rpm and an inlet temperature of 5-10°C. The powders were successfully spray cooled and the enzyme activity was found to be conserved.