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Commercial sourdough starters

"Mary Fisher" <mary.fisher@zetnet.co.uk>
Fri, 29 Sep 2006 17:30:25 +0100
v106.n039.2
Now many of you on this list will know about this but I didn't, I've 
never heard of Puratos either.

I'd like to see some reactions!

There are some 'sourdough' breads produced in Britain in small 
commercial bakeries but while some of them are pleasant they never 
have the same deep flavour as home-made sourdough bread. It never 
occurred to me that they weren't using their own starters.

Mary


9/29/2006 - Bakery ingredients firm Puratos is to construct a new 
sourdough plant in the US, designed to address increasing demand for 
its ready to use fermented sourdough line, which has until now been 
produced exclusively in Europe.

The New Jersey facility, which is expected to be completed by March 
2007, will produce three of the company's four liquid products in its 
Sapore sourdough line.

According to Puratos, moving production to the US is unlikely to 
affect the products' prices for the time being, as the firm will need 
to focus on reimbursing the investment.

The Belgian company first introduced its Sapore line into the US in 
2001, although the products have been sold in the European market for 
around a decade. The ingredients are designed to allow bread 
manufacturers to save on time and costs when producing sourdough products.

With a distinct aroma and flavor, sourdoughs are traditionally 
produced through a lengthy fermentation process, which has become 
incompatible with the fast pace of commercial bread production.

Puratos claims its line of pre-fermented sourdough products allows 
manufacturers to achieve the same result by directly adding the 
ingredient to bread dough, thereby cutting time and costs, and 
assuring a consistent quality and an ability to adapt easily to 
volume fluctuations.

Manufactured by mixing wheat or rye flour with water and a selected 
starter culture, the natural sourdoughs are available in powder or 
liquid form and can be used in a variety of processes, including 
direct dough, long fermentation and frozen processes.

Each product in the line uses a different starter culture, or 
lactobacilli microoganisms that produce the lactic acid responsible 
for giving each sourdough its distinctive flavor. This allows for the 
use of different lactobacilli strains to attain flavors specific to a 
region. For example, the L. sanfranciscensis, which is found only in 
California, is used to produce the characteristically aggressive sour 
taste that has made San Francisco sourdough bread famous.

The final product is available in four forms: powder, toasted powder, 
pasteurized liquid and active liquid, which can be used in 
applications including rye or wheat breads, sweet breads, pastries and snacks.

Puratos, which has currently seen more success from its liquid 
products than its powdered products, said it hopes the construction 
of the new facility will allow it to more than double its US sales of 
the line by 2009.