Pea, chickpea, fava bean and hemp may be the trendy plant proteins, legacy ingredients should not be overlooked. Wheat proteins, for example, are a natural fit for conventional baked goods that already employ wheat flour.

“Wheat gluten has been a staple in plant-based foods for many years,” explained Brook Carson, vice-president of product development and marketing, Manildra Group USA. “It provides needed structure and texture when developing plant-based foods.”

The company’s GemPro wheat proteins can optimize texture, enhance binding and deliver easier dough rheology.

MGP Ingredients creates its Arise wheat protein isolates by eliminating the allergen sulfite as a processing aid. Instead the company uses a vegan, non-GMO amino acid in the form of L-cysteine.

“In bakery applications, Arise wheat protein isolates deliver the desired dough strengthening and dough extensibility to form the optimum network structure that traps leavening gases, yielding good loaf volume and the soft crumb texture of bread,” said Ody Maningat, PhD, chief science officer and vice president of R&D, MGP Ingredients.

The company also offers a blend of wheat protein and pulse protein that provides added nutrition and enhanced functionality to bakery applications.

If bakers aren’t looking to avoid allergens, soy supplies a lot of advantages as an egg replacement.

“Soy can help you reach the desired protein claim and provide shelf life extension through crumb softening,” said Allison Leibovich, senior technical services specialist, bakery and snacks, Cargill.

In cookies, she said bakers have been able to achieve replacements of between 25% and 50% of total eggs with soy flour. Soy can be used not only for egg replacement in snack cakes, batters and premixes, but it also can also act as a setting agent in gluten-free baked goods and reduce fat absorption in donuts. Cargill offers both Prolia Soy Flour and Prosante Textured Soy Flour.

This article is an excerpt from the November 2020 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on plant-based proteins, click here.