Some bakery ingredients just so happen to contribute desirable color as well. “Our intensely roasted malted barley and malted wheat ingredients contribute color to baked goods and snacks,” said Judie Giebel, technical services representative, Briess Malt and Ingredients Co., Chilton, WI. “These roasted grains are milled into fine flours and function as insoluble colored compounds that color by dispersion, similar to a pigment. When used in baked goods, they provide a rich, solid, consistent color, the same as any flour. If used in a dilute solution, speckling can occur. In bread and bun applications, these ingredients can be used up to 3% (bakers percentage) for color adjustment.

“Bakers can achieve golden brown to amber hues with caramel malted barley flours, while deep almost black — think Russian ryes and pumpernickels — can be achieved with black malted flour,” she continued. Roasted grains have no enzyme activity; therefore, they do not interfere with the dough matrix.

“We recently introduced an ingredient line made from intensely roasted malted grains that functions as a partial cocoa replacer,” Ms. Giebel said. “There’s a version that replicates the color and flavor of standard natural cocoa, contributing a warm milk chocolate color. Another provides a light tan to deep golden amber and still another that ranges from deep dark brown to rich black. Bakers are having great success with these in sandwich-style cookies at 20 to 25% cocoa replacement.”