Taste enhancers

Consumers are today chiefly interested in the taste and conservation characteristics of bread.

This development is part of a wider consumption trend where the essential properties of food products are concerned, with the focus firmly on taste, health, pleasure and well-being.
Consumers expect their food products to be made with reassuring natural ingredients possessing clearly stated health properties. With this in mind, for several years now Lesaffre has focused the development of its products and techniques on “the taste culture in bread-making”. Its product range has significantly diversified.

• Starters for sourdough: Saf Levain
• Ready-to-use live sourdough: Crème de Levain
• Deactivated fermented flour: Arôme Levain
  

Starters for sourdough: saf Levain®

Saf levain® is a starter which facilitates the preparation of an “all-round” sourdough. It makes it possible to produce sourdough in a single process, in less than 24 hours!

It comprises a dehydrated concentrate of living microorganisms containing pure selected strains (live lactic bacteria and yeasts derived from sourdough). These microorganisms are both known and fully controlled.

It gives each new preparation a high degree of consistency and repeatability where its characteristics are concerned. Saf levain® overcomes the problems associated with the refreshing of sourdough, which can often be difficult to control and problematic when it comes to hygiene. In doing so, it does away with the delicate and hazardous starting and control phases (= “refreshing”) of a spontaneous sourdough prepared using traditional methods.

Its uses during the bread-making process are many and varied and include: baguettes, special loaves, sandwich bread, brioche and Viennese pastries. According to the application concerned, the Saf levain® range of starters makes it possible to develop typical “sourdough” flavours with a number of variants including buttery/milky, rye, acetic or fruity, etc. They also provide a varying degree of acidity, and improve the texture of the crumb and the overall taste of the bread, as well as helping finished products to stay fresher for longer.

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Ready-to-use live sourdough: Crème de Levain®

An innovation developed and patented by Lesaffre, Crème de Levain® is the only active live sourdough in liquid form with a guaranteed biomass.
It is obtained through the natural fermentation of cereal flour by living microorganisms present in the spontaneous sourdough. Available in a ready-to-use liquid form, the product is poured directly into the mixer, and can be used just as easily as yeast. This is a high-tech product whose conservation and metabolic fermentation characteristics are the result of a great deal of scientific research, and demonstrate a flawless knowledge of fermentation agents, all areas in which Lesaffre excels. As a genuine acidifying fermentation agent, it helps the dough to rise and gives the finished product the unique aromatic characteristics so typical of “sourdough” bread-making.

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A guaranteed living biomass

The innovative process used to obtain Crème de Levain® is protected by a Lesaffre patent. It guarantees a high level of living biomass throughout the recommended useable life of the product. This unique characteristic is vital in order to ensure:

• The raising properties of the dough
• The distinctive aromatic characteristics of a “sourdough” bakery product.

Crème de Levain® is available in two versions:

• Crème de Levain® « long process »: thanks to specially selected strains, it offers a high level of aromatic richness for long process applications (> 6 hours).
• Crème de Levain® « short process »: thanks to the use of specific flora, it produces a high degree of fermentation during bread-making when used for short process (2 to 4 hours) or medium process applications (3 to 6 hours).

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Deactivated fermented flour products: Arôme Levain®

Thanks to its extensive knowledge in the field of micro-organisms and fermentation processes, Lesaffre offers a range of deactivated fermented flours guaranteeing the quality of the finished product, and marketed under the Arôme Levain® brand.

These products are prepared using wheat or rye flour. They have no fermentation characteristics. They give the end product all the taste and aroma of sourdough produced from wheat or rye.

Sourdough aromas are very easy to use: they require no preparation and can be added directly to the mixer. They are developed for applications involving short fermentation times, and are available in powdered or liquid form:

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