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Category: Health

Flour Fortification (or Enrichment)

Flour Fortification (or Enrichment)

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Flour fortification is the practice whereby flour is mixed with certain substances of nutritional interest. Why? Answering this question is not as straightforward as it may seem, and it is first necessary to delve into history. Flour fortification, at least when mandated by law, originated in England during the Second World War. The English government realized that a portion of the population was at risk of suffering from certain nutritional deficiencies due to the scarcity of certain foods. To address…

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Sourdough

Sourdough

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The main purpose of this entry is to discuss sourdough and the interest in using it in breadmaking. What is a sourdough? Essentially, a sourdough is a wild culture of microorganisms, more or less cared for and maintained over time. Sourdough begins with a mixture of flour and water, incorporating microorganisms from the water, flour, environment, and surfaces where they are prepared. These sourdoughs may include some salt, and the flours may vary in extraction level or include other grains…

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Germinated (or Sprouted) Flours

Germinated (or Sprouted) Flours

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In recent years, the use of sprouted flours has significantly increased, and the promotion of these flours is seen on the packaging of products such as bread, cookies, and others. It’s a trend that originated in the United States and, like many others, is gaining momentum in Europe and other parts of the world. Generally, this trend is based on the nutritional benefits of sprouted grains, but it’s necessary to consider some aspects to effectively incorporate the use of sprouted…

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Psyllium, a very Interesting Fibre

Psyllium, a very Interesting Fibre

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Psyllium is a natural food ingredient with interesting nutritional and functional properties, and one of the most commonly used gluten substitutes in gluten-free bread production. In this entry, we will clarify what it is, its nutritional advantages, its functional properties, and the products in which we can use it. Generally, when we talk about psyllium, we are referring to the husk of the seeds of plants of the genus ovata (typically Plantago ovata). The largest producer of this plant is…

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Inulin and Oligofructose (and other similar Fibres)

Inulin and Oligofructose (and other similar Fibres)

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In the blog, we’ve already published a more general entry dedicated to fibres. As you may remember, we discussed aspects such as nutritional advantages, legislative issues, and their influence on the final product. However, we also mentioned that this influence greatly depends on the type of fibre and promised that there would be specific entries about some of these fibres. So, in this entry, we’re going to talk about soluble fibres that have little capacity for water absorption, and therefore…

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Fibres

Fibres

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Fibres belong to the group of carbohydrates, but they are not assimilated as easily by the body. They are present in plant products, and their consumption has been associated with numerous nutritional benefits. For this reason, there is great interest in enriching baked goods, such as bread, with fibres. However, it is important to know what nutritional advantages they offer, what regulations govern these enrichments, and how fibres influence processes. The topic of fibres is very complex, so in this…

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Seeds

Seeds

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Today we have a shorter entry, but you can expand your knowledge with the article we propose at the end, which is open access and free. Although all cereals, pseudocereals, and legumes that can be milled to obtain flour are seeds, in this section, we will discuss seeds that are usually incorporated whole into bread and baked products. These seeds have in common a high fat content. For this reason, it is difficult to obtain fine flours, although they can…

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Wholemeal bread, and how to improve its quality

Wholemeal bread, and how to improve its quality

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After discussing wholemeal flours in our last entry, today we’ll talk about wholemeal bread, its advantages, and its challenges. Like all our blog posts, I aim for them to be comprehensive but not excessively lengthy. For this reason, I’ll be including some links to more extensive works, in case you want to delve deeper into any of the points. Nutritional aspects Today, the benefits of increased consumption of whole grain products are undeniable. This higher consumption has been linked to…

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Wholemeal Flours

Wholemeal Flours

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In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of consuming wholemeal products. And companies have taken on the challenge of producing higher-quality wholemeal products. In this post, we’ll analyse wholemeal flours, how to produce them, assess their quality, and explore the possibilities available to millers and manufacturers of wholemeal products. In a subsequent post, we’ll discuss the advantages of wholemeal products and how we can improve the quality of bread and other wholemeal products. Wholemeal Flour…

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Oats: A Unique and Interesting Cereal

Oats: A Unique and Interesting Cereal

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Oats are a very curious and interesting cereal. Yet, at least in Spain, they are not experiencing the success they could. As we will see, this cereal shares similarities with others, but it also has significant differences, both in composition and morphology, that make it very special. Let’s start by highlighting that oats are a husked cereal, like barley or rice (there are also husked wheats, but these are less common). This means that in companies that process oats, specific…

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