It's all in the dough

November 28, 2024

Fat Flakes make perfect pizza!

No matter how creative or fresh the topping, if the base is mediocre pizza can be seriously disappointing. Thin or deep pan, freshly prepared or cooked from frozen, ultimately the dough will make or break the consumer eating experience.

If you are working on perfecting your pizza base, AAK flaked fats can make all the difference. Whether you want to improve the look, texture and taste to develop a more premium, artisanal style product, reduce shrinkage or oiling out or find ways to simplify your production process, our flaked fats have a role to play.

AAK flaked fats are value-adding oils, crystallised in a different way from traditional shortening. Swapping out part of your usual fat for AAK flaked fats will enhance texture, flavor and performance and streamline production. Replacing a solid fat content of 8% with a combination of 5% solid fat and 3% flaked fat is all it takes.

Crispier or softer?

In a thin crust pizza dough incorporating flaked fats creates minor frying pockets for a crispier bite. With a deep pan pizza crust the addition of flaked fats will open the dough texture when baking to create a more aerated, soft crumb with a shorter bite. Changing your formulation to include flaked fats will result in a more rustic, premium look product with a great mouthfeel.

Not every flake is the same. The choice of fat flake will determine the specific mouthfeel. Thick flakes will create large air pockets. Thin flakes result in small air pockets, divided evenly in the crumb. Small flakes generate small air pockets, again evenly distributed. So, if you want visible air pockets in a thick crust, use thick fat flakes. For a crispy thin pizza base, select flakes that have a steep melting point.

However, pizza production method does not influence fat flake selection. The same flakes can be used in a variety of dough types: frozen or retarded, fresh or par-baked or dry mix.

For textural analysis showing the clear difference between pizza crusts produced with and without our fat flakes read our technical white paper: Pizza white paper | AAK.

Add flavor and color

You can also use flaked fats to enhance flavor and color. AAK flaked fats are available with flavor and/or color already incorporated with a choice of plain, flavored, colored and flavored and colored. Flaked fats can carry flavors that make pizzas more delicious and unique.

Flakes are simple to add

The beauty of AAK flaked fats is that they not only improve pizza quality, they also make production simpler and cleaner. They are also easy to handle and scoopable. They can be used in automatic lines for a seamless production process.

Using flavored and/or colored flakes eliminates the risks and time needed for manually dosing small quantities of minor components in the production process.

To maintain the structural integrity of the flake and ensure even distribution of fat and flavor, the flakes are incorporated directly into the dough towards the end of the mixing process.

Reduce shrinkage and oiling out

Product performance is also enhanced with fat flakes. AAK’s flaked fats can cut shrinkage by 43%. The right shape and size of fat flakes in your dough have a direct and measurable effect on the degree of retraction.

Fat flakes will also reduce oiling out. With many pizzas delivered in carboard boxes while still warm, fats/oils from the dough can make the box soggy during transit and the pizza unappealing on arrival. The amount of oil that migrates to the cardboard box can be drastically reduced by choosing the right size flakes with the right melting point.

Tap into our expertise

For a more detailed analysis of the use of flaked fats in pizza dough, please read our technical white paper available here: Pizza white paper | AAK.

Alternatively, consult with our technical experts who possess comprehensive knowledge in optimizing dough formulations and production processes. They can collaborate with you to co-develop signature product ranges.

Consult with our experts

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