Emulsifiers for puff-pastry margarine

Putting the puff in your pastry

Danish pastries, croissants and puff pastry typically contain between 16 and 300 layers of plasticized margarine. Everything has to be in a single, homogeneous layer without the margarine breaking, becoming greasy or too elastic, and without breaks or cracks in the dough, while simultaneously allowing controlled expansion during baking.

You need a margarine with sufficient plasticity and a surface dry enough to handle mechanical treatment. And that's where you can rely on Palsgaard.

Even the best emulsifier systems for pastry margarine can’t ensure correct margarine plastification or good baking results. We'll be happy to advise you on the proper processing conditions and fat combinations.

As for all types of margarine, ensuring ideal baking properties requires more than simply developing and combining the right ingredients. Optimizing production processes and conditions are equally important to the quality of your end product – and ultimately to the success of your business.

Emulsifier applications and functionalities in puff-pastry margarines

Emulsifiers do more than add emulsion and product stability. They also affect the crystallization speed and improve plasticity as well as layer separation and lift in laminated doughs.

At Palsgaard we specialize in combining the right types of emulsifiers:

• Mono- and diglycerides (E471) lower the interfacial tension in the water-in-oil emulsion, increase the viscosity of the emulsion so that the tendency to phase reversion is reduced, and prevent the agglomeration of the water droplets
• Citrem, Citric acid esters of mono and diglycerides of fatty acids (E472c) produce an emulsifier film between the dough layers and give a better layer separation and expansion in the laminated pastry system, and help stabilise the layers during baking process
• PGE, Polyglycerol esters (E475) are widely used in the food industry as they combine hydrophilic and lipophilic properties in the same molecule. PGE is used in margarine because of its ability to create air in the emulsion and stabilize it at the same time
• Crystal promoters such as Palsgaard® 6111 create a crystal network, giving the oil-absorbing effect that will provide oil absorption for hot climate and summer recipes