PRESS RELEASE
1996-05-14
Frozen dough produces better bread
with beet fibres

Rolls baked with frozen dough and mixed with fibres from sugar-beet turn out better than other rolls. A recent Danish study has shown that volume, consistency and shelf life improve when beet fibres are mixed in the dough.
Fibrex is a pure natural product which comes from the sugar-beet fields of southern Sweden and contains 67 percent dietary fibre.

'Beet fibres are particularly suited to frozen dough as the fibres prevent ice crystalization,' says Lars-Uno Hellberg, bakery consultant at Fibrex AB.
Beet fibres, which are produced from the cell walls of the sugar beet, are capable of holding fluid three-four times their own weight throughout the entire baking process, and also during freezing and defrosting. The high water content means that the bread keeps fresh longer without becoming old and dry.
Frozen doughs also produce a better result if they contain Fibrex beet fibres. This has been shown in a recently conducted Danish study.
Dansk Bioteknologisk Institut in Lyngby tested two frozen products: dough for a roll that was frozen before fermentation and dough that was frozen half-baked. Half of the dough was mixed with 1.25 percent beet fibre, calculated in terms of flour quantity, and at least four percent extra water.
The doughs contained the same type of flour and were kept frozen for one week at -20ÝC. They were then defrosted, allowed to ferment and half-baked or fully-baked, depending on the product.

Better with beet fibres
Two hours later the rolls were measured and assessed for the first time. On the second and third days further measurements were taken. The bread with Fibrex showed consistently better results than the bread without Fibrex.
The crumb sample had slightly finer porosity, the moisture and softness levels were slightly higher and the volume slightly greater compared with the bread without Fibrex. The result was best with the doughs that were frozen before fermentation. All three measurements showed the same quality differences.
Harald Jahn, MD of AB Otto Lundius Bageri in Västerås, uses Fibrex in his bread. He corroborates the results of the Danish study.
'We find that our bread turns out richer and keeps longer after defrosting and baking,' he says. 'Drying during freezing is reduced with beet fibres.'
The addition of beet fibres is not more expensive, according to Harald Jahn.
'We also use Fibrex in our fillings, for cinnamon buns. There, too, we find the fibre helps the filling keep the required consistency longer,' he says. /ins



Caption 1
The sugar-beet fields of southern Sweden do not only produce sugar. Useful beet fibres are also extracted from the cell walls of the sugar-beet.

Caption 2
Beet fibres prevent ice crystalization, which makes them ideal for use when baking frozen doughs. Fibrex produces a richer bread which keeps longer.

Caption 3
Fibrex in frozen dough prevents ice crystalization and produces a softer bread, as has been shown by a Danish study at the Bioteknologisk Institut. The columns show the resistance of the crumb sample; the lower the value, the softer the bread.

For further information contact:
My Mårtensson, Marketing Assistant
Fibrex AB
205 04 Malmö
Sweden
Tel. +46 40 53 70 40
Fax. +46 40 43 21 90