Despite the benefits allergen-free formulating brings to a baker, it is quite a feat to remove them. That’s because of the level of functionality these ingredients often bring to a baked good. 

“Depending on the allergen, certain functionalities may be lost when removing from bakery formulations,” said Jennifer Stephens, vice president of marketing, Fiberstar. “As a result, the shelf life and quality are compromised without reformulation.”

Every allergenic ingredient is going to bring something different to a bakery formulation, and it will be different for each bakery application. 

“When major allergens are removed, formulations often lose significant texture, flavor and functionality,” said Sergio Machado, senior director, RD&A, Corbion. “Wheat gluten provides essential elasticity and structure for chewy bread, while eggs are crucial for aeration and moisture in products such as cakes and muffins. Dairy ingredients contribute rich flavor and creamy texture, and nuts add crunch and unique flavors. The absence of these allergens can markedly affect the overall sensory experience of baked goods.” 

He noted that bread and rolls are the most sensitive to losing these ingredients as gluten is critical for structure and texture. Likewise, cakes and muffins need eggs and dairy for aeration and moisture. Nuts can also provide cookies and pastries with much needed flavor and texture. 

Eggs can be so difficult to replace entirely because they do so many different things in so many different applications, and there has yet to be discovered a 1:1 replacement.

“In breads, eggs provide some strengthening to the formulation but also add textural and flavor enhance-ments to the bread,” said David Guilfoyle, design manager, bakery, North America, IFF. “In cakes, removing eggs can impact foam stability, emulsification, and textural and flavor enhancement. Egg flavors can be added to provide the richness of eggs but to replace the textural and functional aspects will require an egg replacement blend.” 

While egg replacement can be done, there is a cost. Bakers who eliminate eggs from their formulation may relieve the stress of volatile supply and pricing of eggs, but the replacement may be pricey. 

“Eggs, for instance, are very important for forming the structure of cakes,” explained Troy Boutte, vice president, innovation, AB Mauri North America. “While we have developed a very good egg-free cake, it was a big challenge and comes with increased costs.” 

Eggs’ superpower in bakery applications is their emulsification properties. As a natural emulsifier, eggs contribute to the smooth, cohesive texture in baked goods, explained Jeff Hodges, manager, bakery, snacks and confections applications, ADM. 

“When eggs are removed it can be challenging to find replacements that provide the same leavening, binding properties, consistency or stability — potentially leading to products that are crumbly or have an altered mouthfeel,” he said. 

Chiffon cakes, for example, require whipped egg whites to support the light fluffiness consumers expect. This makes these desserts particularly more sensitive to egg-free formulating, Hodges said. 

As Laurie Scanlin, principal scientist, Ardent Mills, pointed out, the goal is always to find a set of ingredients that will mimic the same functionality the eggs are providing in the formulation. 

“In cakes, eggs help make the final product springy and light,” she said. “When removing eggs, our goal is to find a formulation that doesn’t cause the final texture to lose volume, crumble or be dense in comparison.”

Dairy ingredients contribute much of the flavor, color and moisture consumers associate with baked goods. 

“Milk proteins provide extra flavor and richness to a bakery product, so when replacing milk proteins, the formulator will most likely need to add in dairy flavors and texture modulators to bring in the dairy flavor richness and creaminess,” Guilfoyle said. 

In addition to a loss of flavor and richness, Hodges noted that bakery applications can depend on dairy or lactose for moisture and tenderness. 

“Sweet baked goods also tend to use quite a bit of dairy, and the loss of it in rice pudding, cream puffs or flan can disrupt the texture,” he said. 

Gluten certainly has a major role to play in the baking industry as gluten is the building block of so many bakery applications. 

“Wheat gluten is highly functional and is the main component in wheat that allows bread doughs to retain gas for proofing,” Boutte said. “Therefore, gluten-free breads are more challenging to produce, and due to some people with extreme sensitivities, gluten-free products should be made in plants that do not use any wheat ingredients.” 

Any application that needs gluten for texture, flexibility or rise — such as breads, tortillas and pizza crusts — are going to be sensitive to losing gluten, said Matt Goldstein, R&D scientist, Ardent Mills. Without the structure created by gluten, these formulations can’t capture the gas released by the yeast during proofing, creating a denser product. 

In snack foods, eliminating gluten can also mean removing the crunchy characteristics consumers expect. 

Pretzels, crackers and different types of chips all rely on gluten for their crispiness and structure, Hodges explained. The challenging part with removing gluten is that, like eggs, there isn’t a one-to-one replacement. 

“Bakers should take an incremental approach when making adjustments, considering individual ingredients and how they support the overall taste, texture and functionality of a final product,” Hodges said. “Using hydrocolloids and emulsifiers with high-quality alternative flours can improve texture and mouthfeel while re-building structure in gluten-free products.”

Soy is a common replacement for dairy and egg ingredients when bakers are looking to simply reduce their reliance on these volatile supply chains or switch to plant-based proteins. However, soy is one of the Top 9 allergens, and therefore, unavailable if taking away these ingredients is a goal. 

“Removing the soy allergen and replacing it with an alternative will change the flavor and can reduce the need for soy and bitter flavor maskers,” Guilfoyle said. “As the functionality will be similar, making the conversion will be less challenging.  The main issue is with the difference in protein quality (PDCAAS), so when making the switch, adjustment may be required to maintain existing nutritional claims.”

And then, of course, there’s sesame, which was added to the top allergens list in 2023. Sesame doesn’t provide very much functionality to a formulation, but the seeds can be quite pervasive throughout a facility. 

“They primarily provide flavor, texture and appearance to baked goods,” Boutte said. “So, removing seeds is not particularly difficult but obviously the final product loses part of its character and appeal.”

While functionality and flavor may be the most important challenges bakers must overcome when replacing allergens, there are other hurdles that can crop up, Boutte pointed out. When substituting one ingredient with multiple ingredients to replace functionality, cost neutrality can become an issue. If the bakery facility isn’t entirely allergen free, isolating allergenic ingredients onsite and along production lines becomes imperative. 

“Particularly removing multiple allergens like dairy, eggs and wheat from a product can become an almost insurmountable hurdle,” he said.

This article is an excerpt from the August 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Allergen-Free Formulating, click here.