They can act as dough conditioners, improving dough stability for processing. Gennrich said.Īs a result, emulsifiers don’t have much to do in the way of their core function, but that doesn’t mean they bring nothing to a bread formulation. “In a bread formulation, there is a fair amount of water, but not much fat, so there’s less of a need to bring these two together however, emulsifiers will still help the water and fat complex with the starch to increase loaf volume and machineability,” Mr. While emulsifiers enable the blending of water and fat, their functions and benefits in bakery applications can go further depending on the product. “However, other products like frostings may need more emulsifiers to result in the desired finished product texture and stability.”įor those baked goods, it’s important to understand what emulsifiers can bring to formulating. “Basic baking products will often need little to no emulsifiers as some components can be found in other primary ingredients such as eggs, which contain lecithin,” said Rick Cummisford, director of quality control, Columbus Vegetable Oils.

“Emulsifiers help maintain the quality, freshness and integrity of baked goods by improving the interaction between two or more elements that wouldn’t normally mix, such as oil and water,” said Jim Robertson, product management director, emulsifiers, Corbion.ĭepending on a baker’s product and formulation, the type of emulsifiers and usage level will vary. Combining these two elements has plenty of benefits for a wide range of bakery applications from bread, which has very little fat, to cake batters, which contain a lot of water and fat.

Emulsion in cooking