Traditional bread to suit the modern consumer

In a bid to unravel consumers' ever-changing desires, the firm conducted a study that involved 6,400 consumers from 14 countries in four continents last year.

Puratos summarised the outcomes of the research into 10 future trends in the bakery, pastry patisserie and chocolate sector.

One of the conclusions was that variation in flavours, ingredients and structure was key to the future of food. The well-travelled modern consumer wants the best of both worlds. To cater for modern tastes, bakers need to supply a variety of familiar flavours such as rustic bread in the style of the loaves their grandmother used to bake or croissants that remind them of the breakfasts they had in France.

In today's fast-paced lifestyle, this means baking with more speed and convenience.

To enable artisan bakers, industrial bakers and retailers to meet this demand, Puratos produced a sourdough designed to make baking a wide range of products quicker, easier and more cost-effective.

O-Tentic sourdough comes in three variants: Durum, which has the typical aromatic profile of Italian breads such as Ciabatta; Napoletana, which can be used to make authentic pizza doughs and flatbreads; and Origin, which has a long fermentation aroma and flavour and can be used to make French-style breads.

The same dough can be used for many applications. For example, it could be divided into sections and one part mixed with ingredients such as herbs and spices to make flat bread, while the other is used to make a loaf.

Puratos says an unskilled member of staff could be trained to bake bread using O-Tentic in a few hours.

It can be used for pre-fermented frozen dough and part-baked frozen breads.