"Why is there fat in my bread?"
Fats and oils are an important part of our diet. They are found naturally in small concentrations in virtually all living things. Humans extract them and use them in food preparation. Though I will not be using fats and oils in the formulas on this site, they are often added to bread dough to enrich the dough's mixing performance, texture, flavor and keeping properties.
The main difference between fats and oils is based on their physical state at room temperature, i.e. fats are solid and oils are liquid at room temperature. Together, fats and oils make up a large group of organic compounds known as lipids whose main characteristic is hydrophobia, i.e. they are insoluble in water. This means for dough that during mixing, fats added to the dough lubricate gluten strands, limiting gluten development.
The valuable characteristics of fat has a tenderizing effect on the finished loaf. This tenderizing effect is called the Shortening Value and laboratory research has shown higher unsaturated fats have the most shortening power, lards outperform hydrogenated fats and oils are more effective overall than plastic fats. (Pyler, 1988)
The formulas on this website are mostly concerned with fat in terms of naturally occurring lipids found in the flour sourced from the germ of the wheat kernel.
For more interesting information on the nutritional impacts of fats and oils check out the Canada Food Guide.
The main difference between fats and oils is based on their physical state at room temperature, i.e. fats are solid and oils are liquid at room temperature. Together, fats and oils make up a large group of organic compounds known as lipids whose main characteristic is hydrophobia, i.e. they are insoluble in water. This means for dough that during mixing, fats added to the dough lubricate gluten strands, limiting gluten development.
The valuable characteristics of fat has a tenderizing effect on the finished loaf. This tenderizing effect is called the Shortening Value and laboratory research has shown higher unsaturated fats have the most shortening power, lards outperform hydrogenated fats and oils are more effective overall than plastic fats. (Pyler, 1988)
The formulas on this website are mostly concerned with fat in terms of naturally occurring lipids found in the flour sourced from the germ of the wheat kernel.
For more interesting information on the nutritional impacts of fats and oils check out the Canada Food Guide.