[M-BLAH]

Hi there,

I'm formulating recipes for frozen and unbaked bakery products including muffins and cakes. I've recently seen other formulas where, along with baking powder, have included calcium lactate as well. Could anyone tell me what this would do to bakery products (apart from the obvious and generic information found through googling), and whether or not I would have to alter my leavening to allow for it's inclusion. Does it have a neutralizing value at all?

Thanks guys. I hope that someone can help.

Michael.

[Furanone]

As far as I am aware, calcium lactate is preferred over say calcium chloride because as a food ingredient it imparts a very mild, bland flavour whereas calcium chloride at higher concentrations can give a noticeable salty/metallic taste.

Both CaCl2 and CaLactate have the effect of giving the dough a firmer texture (especially if other ingredients like milk proteins are added in the formulation) as the Ca2+ cation helps crosslink negatively charged polymers (casein proteins) to form a firmer network, which could help in trapping carbon dioxide air bubbles upon leavening during proofing and rising during baking. Calcium carbonate is sometimes used but can throw off balance of leavening agents since will react with acids to form carbon dioxide gas, and can impart an off flavour as well at higher concentrations. Calcium sulfate is rarely used since it has very poor solubility, but in some applications where a slow calcium release is needed it is ideal (eg. forming alginate gels slowly while in a food system).

Another example of this action by calcium is in vegetables cooked in boiling water. Often the pH of the water is alkaline so the vegetables stay a bright green colour (so magnesium will stay bound to chlorophyll and not turn to pheophytin which has a dull olive green colour). However, basic conditions also promote the softening of the vegetables, so calcium salts are also added to mitigate this and help firm the vegetables by crosslinking the negatively charged pectin polymers.

Another side benefit of using calcium lactate (since it is more expensive than calcium chloride) in the formulation, is that often there are other salts added such as sodium chloride, and if sold to food processors they may have limits set for maximum  NaCl salt addition, and CaCl2 will increase the amount detected of NaCl since most QC labs doe Volhard/Mohr's titration with silver nitrate to detect amount of chlorides.

[M-BLAH]

Hello,

Thank you very much for that information. You have my appreciation.

I actually want to use the calcium lactate in my formula for the reasons and benefits you have mentioned; more so, to help strengthen the gluten in the flour to give better results after baking.

Through trials of the calcium lactate in our products, I have found that it reacts with sodium bicarbonate (especially as higher temperatures). Now, would this mean that we would need to adjust our leavening. Calcium lactate has a pH of between 7 and 8, which is relatively high, yet reacts like an acid. We need a final batter temperature between 7 and 7.4. I believe that, after adding the lactate, the alkaline/pH levels are elevated too high and we experience over-browning and too early a carbon dioxide release.

We require a very slow leavening system. We have tried slightly increasing the levels of sodium bicarbonate (from 0.4% to 0.45% of the flour weight) to allow for the calcium lactate. We have also tried keeping the acids and bicarbonate perfectly neutralized, and adding the lactate without any leavening adjustments. Neither approach has yet to give us the results we require.

Do we need to calculate the neutralization value for the calcium lactate in order to properly adjust the levels of sodium bicarbonate used? Other formulas of similar products to ours use sodium hexametaphosphate with the calcium lactate. What would the reason for this be?

Thanking you again,
Michael.

[M-BLAH]

Hello,
I am a baker and have recently been informed of a valuable ingredient called calcium lactate, and it's benefits in bakery products. Can anyone be kind enough to pass on any information they may know about it, and more specifically, what it actually does in baking. I am only a baker and not a food scientist, however, I find it very interesting.
I am also trying to determine the correct usage amounts in order to 'neutralize' it with sodium bicarbonate. I already have a well-functioning leavening system and do not want to disrupt it to much.
I hope that someone could offer me some info and/or advice.
Regards,
Michael.

[Borek]

You have already asked this question in August, didn't you?

[M-BLAH]

Hello,

Yes, I did.

Was there a reply? I actually didn't see any!!

[Arkcon]

I merged this new thread with your old one.  You did get a lengthy reply.  Maybe if there's something still missing, you can be more specific.

[M-BLAH]

Hi,
Yes. My mistake!
I have read the previous replies. And had found them very useful.
I am finding it difficult to get accurate info with regard to the usage amount. I know that calcium lactate reacts with sodium bicarbonate somehow, contributing to some kind of leavening and altering the pH of the batter. The only thing is, I am not certain as to how much to use, and by how much I would need to decrease and/or increase the reacting acidulants to allow for it's inclusion. I cannot find any one, not even manufacturers of the lactate, who can provide me with this info. So I thought I'd see if any one here might know a little bit about it. Hoping, anyways.
Cheers again. And apologies again for the re-thread!

[Arkcon]

It would be a difficult calculation for someone who's very new to the pH of buffers.  But not completely beyond us.  However, we have to figure in other things, such as the pH effect of other ingredients, and taste of final product.  Maybe you can experiment with different amounts of each in the otherwise same mix of ingredients,and get the answer you really can use.

[M-BLAH]

Hey,
Ok. So taking into consideration all this valuable information; if I was to determine the neutralization value of calcium lactate with sodium bicarbonate, what would be the best and most accurate way of doing so? Any suggestions?
Thank you.
M.

[Borek]

if I was to determine the neutralization value of calcium lactate with sodium bicarbonate, what would be the best and most accurate way of doing so?

Experimental. You can use simple equilibrium calculations to roughly predict in what ratio both substances have to be used, and then fine tune the procedure untill you get teh desired effect.

There are way too many things to account for for a reliable theoretical approach. That is - we know how to approach such a problem, but we don't have enough information about the dough itself, so we can't reliably predict how it will behave. And while we can measure all necessary parameters to construct a model that can be used to predict how the equilibrium will behave, it will be much easier to avoid the theoretical part and just experimentally find how much of bicarbonate/lactate to use.

[M-BLAH]

Hi,

That's probably the best idea, you're correct.

Interestingly, sodium bicarbonate sits well at around 0.5% of the batter weight. There must be enough bicarbonate for the calcium lactate, otherwise the acidulants will not react properly/adequately during mixing and baking.

I've trialled levels of calcium lactate from 0.1 to 0.5% of the batter weight. I've experimented with setting the bicarb 1:1 in ratio with how much lactate is used, and then the remaining bicarbonate is added with the acids (set at neutralised values). Th pH of sodium bicarbonate hovers between 7.5 and 8.5, lactate typically between 6.5 and 8.5. However, this is where I am finding problems, as they are both have a very similar pH. So it's a very fine line!

The benefifts of using lactate in leavening are that the amount acids that are used can be minimial, and to ensure that the product will set correctly during baking. Not knowing the actual amount of bicarb to use with the lactate almost defeats the purpose of using it.
I will attempt in more experiments with it.

I thank you for you help.

[Furanone]

Hey Michael -- I sent you a personal message (pm) a few days ago. Not sure if you have seen it, but if not look into it by clicking on "my messages" at top left menu bar of forum in between Profile and Members.