Field of the invention

The invention is in the field of novel fats for baking.

Background of the invention

Solid fats, such as margarines and butter, are indispensable ingredients in a large variety of baking mixtures. Even though they are commonly regarded unhealthy due to comparably high saturated fat contents and/or high percentage of trans fats, their use is continued because the texture and flavor of margarine or butter based dough and pastries is preferred by consumers even in view of the health risks involved.

Other drawbacks associated with the use of margarines or butters are their storage conditions which require refrigeration, and their solid state at refrigeration temperatures that for many food varieties require softening these ingredients at room temperature before use. In many baking mixtures, margarine or butter cannot be processed without first softening or melting the solid fatty substance, due to the hard work involved in kneading and/or due to the weighty and bulky material being unsuitable for a baking mixture.

Known margarine or butter alternatives include vegetable shortening and interesterified fats, both involving chemical processing of natural vegetable oils, thus giving rise to serious questions concerning the impact of these processed ingredients on health issues, while at the same time increasing production costs.

It is therefore one of the objects of the present invention to provide for a margarine or butter substitute that is based on non processed vegetable oils.

The second object is to have a healthy alternative to the margarine or butter, which has saturated fat similar to vegetable oil (half saturated fat compared to margarine). Another object of the invention is to provide for a margarine or butter substitute that will not require refrigeration for storage.

A further object of the invention is to provide for a margarine or butter substitute that will be in liquid state at room temperature, thus allowing its supply and use in the form of a bottled product.

In addition the invention is aimed to provide for a margarine or butter substitute that will be "all in one", i.e. the same bottled product will allow preparation of a large variety of baked goods.

Disclosure of the invention

In a first broad aspect the present invention relates to a vegetable based oil preparation especially useful as a margarine or butter substitute for baked goods, the preparation comprises a mixture of at least one vegetable oil, preferably canola oil with olein, wherein the olein comprises 1.5 to 4.5 percent by weight of emulsifier, preferably melted ethyl cellulose. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the emulsifier is further enhanced by a fat compound known as E471 in the European E-Number system of food additives (commercially available in Israel under the trade name Adochan 99) in a quantity of 0.1% to 1% of the total oil weight. In preferred embodiments of the invention the preparation further comprises a predetermined quantity of at least one of rosemary concentrate, tocopherols, lecithin (preferably less than 1%) and taste additive.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the preparation comprises 50 - 75 % in weight of canola oil, 25 - 50 % in weight of olein, and about 3% by weight of ethyl cellulose. In a most preferred embodiment the preparation further comprises predetermined quantities (summing altogether to between 0.5% and 2% of the total weight of the oil of the following ingredients: E471 (Adochan 99) in a quantity of 0.1% to 1% by weight, rosemary concentrate, tocopherols, lecithin (preferably less than 1% by weight) and taste additives.

It may be appreciated that the invented vegetable oil preparation can be used instead of margarine or butter in the preparation process of any dough or baking mixture In case solidity of the invented oil preparation is preferred for any special reason, refrigerating the invented oil will make the oil pasty. Refrigeration in a freezer will turn it solid. These temperature dependent changes of consistency have been tested with a preferred embodiment of the invented oil preparation, and thus may vary upon use of other embodiments of the invented oil. The pasty and subsequently liquid state of the invented oil preparation will be recovered once maintained several minutes in room temperature.

The invented oil preparation contributes to the caloric value of a baked product about 5% less calories than what would have been contributed to the same baked product by margarines comprising similar composition of fat percentage and even lower percentage compared to butter.

Baking experiments directed to detect the effects of the invented oil preparation in comparison to the respective effects of vegetable oil and of margarine of vegetable origin or butter reveal that (i) preparation of short pastry cookies with conventional oil is highly difficult and in some receipts even impossible, while the invented oil preparation yields similar qualities to those achieved with margarine which currently is the ingredient of choice in short pastries or with butter; (ii) a yeast cake prepared with the invented oil preparation presented better texture as well as extended shelf life comparing to a similar cake prepared with margarine or butter. The use of conventional oil in a similar cake resulted with extractions of liquids from the dough and with a product of inferior quality; (iii) in preparation of pound cakes the four compared types have shown similarity in the texture and quality of the end product, an extended shelf life has been presented, however, by cakes produced with the invented oil preparation.

It is accordingly appreciated that aside from its healthiest nutrition profile, the invented oil preparation is advantageous over the others examined, in terms of shelf life, texture of the end product and ease of handling.

As mentioned above, the group of cakes prepared with the invented oil preparation presented better texture as well as extended shelf life comparing to that prepared with margarine or butter. In the group prepared with conventional oil extractions of liquids from the dough were observed and cakes of inferior quality were collected. Example 2

As mentioned above, the invented oil preparation yielded cookies of a quality similar to that achieved with the margarine or butter, while no cookies could be achieved from the conventional oil based dough.

Example 3

As mentioned above, three compared pound cake versions prepared with margarine, butter and the inventive oil respectively showed similarity in the texture and quality of the baked product, an extended shelf life was presented, however, by the one produced with the invented oil preparation.