Baking & Snack - October 2022 - 59

EQUIPMENT
Pretzel Processing
Gluten-free pretzel doughs can be challenging,
but best practices make them manageable.
by Michelle Smith
A
America is a snacking nation, and consumers are looking
for tasty treats that provide health benefits. One of
the categories with a health halo is gluten-free products,
which are expected to grow at a solid clip in the next
several years.
The gluten-free market is forecast to expand at a
CAGR of 9.8%, Grand View Research Inc. reported
earlier this year, reaching $13.7 billion by 2030. Bakery
makes up the largest part of that segment and is expected
to maintain its leading role.
Some pretzel makers have jumped on the gluten-free
bandwagon, and there's plenty of space for others to hop
on. But making gluten-free pretzels can leave producers
feeling salty because these doughs can be tough and
sticky to manage. But with any challenge comes industry
best practices to help sweeten the deal for gluten-free
pretzel makers.
Woes of gluten-free
Gluten-free pretzels pose difficulties for several reasons,
including the fact they contain more dry ingredients
than a regular pretzel.
" The main challenges when making a gluten-free
pretzel are dough quality and piece weight accuracy, "
said Nico Roesler, North American pretzel and snack
equipment sales manager for Reading Bakery Systems.
" In a wheat-based pretzel, you might see flour, dry yeast
and maybe a leavening agent. That's it for dry ingredients.
Then you add your water, oil and maybe a syrup
to the mix, and you're done. Gluten-free-based doughs
are often more complex because you need to add
other binders and starches to the dry mix to give the
dough strength. "
That can add up to six to seven dry ingredients that
may need to be blended before going into a mixer with
the liquid ingredients, he said, creating more responsibility
for operators.
There's a delicate balancing act to find the correct formulation
to reach optimal elasticity.
" The biggest challenges with gluten-free product will
be getting and maintaining the dough flexibility while
using gluten-free flour, " said Lipika Mandal, food technologist,
Spooner Vicars Bakery Systems, a Middleby
Bakery company. " This can be generally overcome by
adding gluten-free starches along with various binding/
bonding agents. "
Supply chain challenges have made sourcing ingredients
challenging, which can in turn lead to consistency
problems, she said, adding that ingredients needed for
gluten-free pretzels are generally more costly than those
for regular ones. Underperforming formulations cause
problems throughout processing, which means getting
all the steps right before the pretzels are formed
is crucial.
" If an unsuitable recipe, the wrong composition of
ingredients or incorrect dough guidance is the basis of
the dough strands, they can be ripped apart during the
twisting process on the Fritsch Multitwist, " said Randy
Kelly, applications specialist at Fritsch, a Multivac
Group company. " Thus, the challenge lies more
in the upstream and downstream steps of the
whole process with regard to proofing and
dough formation as well as flavoring. "
Gluten-free doughs often dry out more
quickly than conventional ones, which can
create problems for pretzel makers producing
large quantities.
" If you make a 200-lb batch
that will be processed and
baked over the next
30 minutes, the dough
that gets shaped and
baked last is going to
be much dryer than
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Baking & Snack - October 2022

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