Abby Ceule has worked in the baking and ingredient industry for 19 years, but that wasn’t her original plan.

Ms. Ceule’s background is in marketing, and she graduated from Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kan., with a bachelor’s degree in the subject, as well as from Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Mo., with a master’s degree in business administration. She then joined Corbion in the American ingredients division in 2004 as the company developed its marketing department.

“Once I got into the industry, I was really intrigued with the science behind the foods that we eat, and I really appreciated the sense of community that I found in baking,” she said. “Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time with our scientists, bakers and technical service team to expand my knowledge.” 

Ms. Ceule has since held several roles in the company’s marketing department and led its baking industry team. She now serves as Corbion’s senior director of ingredient solutions. 

As both a marketing and ingredient expert, Ms. Ceule is finding new and creative ways to solve customer problems and help them deliver profitable growth, she said.

This can be a challenge, however, especially now as the industry grapples with supply issues and inflation.

“We’re all facing supply challenges on raw materials and equally we’re all facing cost pressures due to material and freight cost,” Ms. Ceule explained. 

For bakers, this means critical ingredients like gluten and DATEM may be costlier and more difficult to come by. To help bakers navigate these challenges, Ms. Ceule shared how these ingredients can be replaced in a formulation while still ensuring product quality.

What role do ingredients like gluten and DATEM serve in baked goods?

Gluten and DATEM can help bakers achieve consistency. They are important ingredients for providing dough strength and tolerance as well as crumb structure. Over the years, these ingredients have helped to improve formulas, and they help dough go through the wear and tear of the industrial baking process.

Why may bakers wish to reduce or replace these ingredients in their products?

With gluten, we’re seeing increasingly higher prices over the past 12 to 18 months, and we anticipate this will continue into 2023. DATEM, similarly, has had cost increases in addition to supply chain challenges in the US in 2022. These cost increases and ingredient shortages have forced many bakers to look for alternatives to keep their production lines going.

What are common solutions bakers can use to replace their ingredients?

Enzymes are a great way to reduce or eliminate the need for ingredients like gluten and DATEM and can also help clean up the label. Corbion’s extensive line of enzyme-based solutions can reduce or remove the need for gluten and DATEM, as well as other emulsifiers. In particular, our Pristine 3000 solution was developed to remove gluten from bread and bun applications, as well as remove the DATEM in formulas. Other emulsifiers, such as sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL), could also be used to replace DATEM in many formulations.

What are the challenges posed by replacing these ingredients? What key functionality must be replaced?

Gluten and DATEM provide strength, tolerance and volume in baked goods. When replacing these ingredients, it’s important that bakers look at the entire formula and properly balance it with the replacement ingredients. This will ensure there’s no sacrifice in the overall quality of the finished product. By moving to enzyme-based solutions, such as Pristine 3000, bakers can also insulate themselves from further cost fluctuations and tight supply in both gluten and DATEM.

Are there certain applications in which removing these ingredients is more difficult?

Ingredients with more inclusions/particulates and whole wheat formulations can be tricky and often require stronger solutions. In these situations, it’s important to look at the whole formula, balance it and ensure that the replacement solution is a suitable substitute that can be used at a high enough level to replace the full functionality needed for that application. 

What mistakes do bakers make when reducing or eliminating these ingredients? 

One mistake we see is that bakers don’t always balance the entire formula when swapping ingredients. It is very important bakers consider the entire formula, including processing conditions and how the swap they are making will impact other ingredients in the formula. Corbion can offer onsite technical service to ensure a seamless transition from one ingredient to another. Our technical services team is very skilled not only in industrial bread production, but also in how to apply our enzyme and emulsifier-based solutions.