FAKULTI SAINS DAN TEKNOLOGI MAKANAN

FST 4922

CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY OF OIL AND

FAT

SHORTENING

LECTURER: ASSOCIATE PROF. DR. ABDUL AZIS ARIFFIN

GROUP MEMBERS MATRIC NUMBER

Tan Tai Boon 143218

Ridzuan Yusuf 144648

Yong Wen Zhi 143869

Nurul Nadiah Farhanah bt Maaruf 145451

Norfarishah Farhan Binti Mohd 145464

Jais
 TITLE

The effect of different types of fat in dough expands.

ABSTRACT

A study on the effects of four types of oils (shortening, stearin, RBDO, and soybean)
on dough expansion had been carried out. The results revealed that shortening gave the best
dough expansion with the height of 1.6 cm whilst soybean oil showed to have the lowest
height that was, 1.1 cm. In hardness test, there was no significant difference between the
different oils used. Despite that, shortening was said to result in the hardest puff theoretically.
The ratio of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids contributes considerably to the unique effect
of shortening on dough expansion.
 INTRODUCTION

Bread is one of the important sources of protein. Most of the European and
Mediterranean countries, bread is known as staple food and it provides more nutrients than
any other food sources. In bread making technology, many improvements in order to develop
better and more preferable bread have been done. One of the improvements was by adding fat
or lard or also known as a shortening. Shortening was used in bread making to increase it loaf
volume of dough systems. Shortening is made either from animal fat or vegetable oil.
Vegetable oils are often used as raw material for shortening such as soybean oil, cotton seed
oil and palm oil. For years, palm oil was predominantly used to replace soybean oil due to the
high cost of soybean oil production. Shortening is function as to increase the loaf volume of
bread dough and to provide crumbly texture. This is due to the effect of inhibiting the protein
long chain formation in dough system by shortening.

Pomeranz (1988) in his study stated that, the effect of shortening has been linked to its
modulation of protein-native polar lipid interaction in dough systems. Based on shortening
capabilities in improving bread volume, many studies have been done to develop new types
of shortening. Shortening contains of triacylglycerols where these lipids will interact with
protein gluten in bread. Different types of fat will produce different types of result.
(Pomeranz et al., 1965) reported that the increase in volume of the bread is related to the
amount of shortening added. Other studies suggested that, different types of fatty acid
compositions in shortening influence the lipids to either interact more strongly to gluten
protein or not in order to keep it from damage (Aibara et al., 2004). Soybean oil, stearin and
refined bleached deodorized oil (RBDO) have different amount of fat compositions compared
to shortening. This experiment was conducted in order to compare the effect of different fats
and oils used in bread dough layers by spreading technique on the expansion rate of the puff.
Ingredients Amount (%)
High protein flour 50.0
Water 27.5
Sugar 1.5
Salt 0.75
Yeast 0.75
Improver 0.05
Vegetable shortening 1.5
Oil (shortening, soybean oil, stearin, RBDO) -
MATERIALS AND METHOD

Apparatus

1. Weighing balance

2. Mixer

3. Proofer

4. Cutter

5. Roller

6. Tray

7. Oven baking

Method

All the ingredients (except oils) were weighed according to the basic formulation

All the dried ingredients were mixed for 30 seconds

↓
 Water and vegetable shortening were added and mixed at speed no. 2 for 15 minutes

Dough was taken out from mixer and kneaded manually for few minutes. The dough was
proofed for 10 minutes

Dough was cut to four small sizes and round up and left for 10 minutes

After resting, the dough was rolled to flatten it to a very thin layer sheets (almost
transparent)

Each of the flatten dough was spread by different oils (shortening, soybean oil, stearin
and RBDO) and then folded to ten layers

Folded flatten layers were cut into two pieces:

• Without closure of the side of the flatten folded dough (FFD)

• Closure the side of the flatten folded dough (FFD)

*Closure the side of the FFD by clipping it using fingers

The FFD was duplicated for each oil used

The FFD were measured for height and length (before baked)

The FFD were put into the oven with temperature of 180 0C in 15 minutes

↓
 After baked, the increments of the height and length of FFD were measured

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Height (cm)
Fat/Oil Hardness (g)
Initial Final Increase
Shortening 1.6 3.2 1.6 24793.5±13482.1
Stearin 1.0 2.5 1.5 15496.9±8500.8
RBDO 1.2 2.6 1.4 26140.2±12126.6
Soybean 1.0 2.1 1.1 2874.8±2383.1
Table 1: The effect of different fat/oil used on the height and hardness of puff

(i) Shortening

(ii) Stearin
(iii) RBDO
 (iv)Soybean

Based on Table 1, shortening has the highest increment of puff crust which is 1.6 cm
while soybean oil gives the lowest increment of puff crust which is 1.1 cm. In terms of
hardness, the result does not clearly differentiate between different oil and fat used.
Theoretically, shortening gives the hardest puff followed by stearin, RBDO, and soybean.
This is due to the expansion and shortened processes of the dough sheet layers. Shortening
will cause the bread expands the most during baking and will be shortened a little bit during
cooling. While for other oils and fat, the bread will slightly expand from the original size
during baking, and will be shortened a lot during cooling. The ratio between saturated to
unsaturated fatty acids of shortening is 70:30, for stearin, 60:40, for RBDO, 50:50 and for
soybean is 20:80. Shortening appears as hard solid at room temperature while stearin appears
as less solid compared to shortening which it still can flow at room temperature. While for
RBDO and soybean oil, both oils are liquid at room temperature.

Shortening is a solid fat which contains saturated fatty acids. When it is spread onto
the dough sheet layers, the fat will melt and becomes liquid and leaves air spaces. These air
spaces make the layers of the dough expand because the moisture in the air will evaporize.
While for soybean oil, it contains many unsaturated fatty acids. These unsaturated fatty acids
make soybean oil is in liquid form. When heating, the soybean oil does not undergo phase
changes. It remains liquid. The air spaces contain in the oil do not change and remain the
same. This leads to less expansion of the dough sheet layers since not much water evaporized
from the air spaces. The rate of expansion of stearin used is almost the same with the rate of
expansion of shortening used. This is because stearin is also a solid fat. While for RBDO, the
rate of expansion is between the solid fat and liquid oil. This is due to the same ratio of
saturated to unsaturated fatty acids. The longer the fats take to melt in the oven, the more the
air cells. The melting point of shortening is higher than that of other fats and oils, and it stays
solid longer (http://www.baking911.com/pastry/101_intro.htm).

The word "shortening" refers to any fat that may be added to produce a short
(crumbly) texture of the breads or any baked products. The short or crumbly texture is a
result of the fact that the fat inhibits the formation of long protein (gluten) strands. The
important characteristic of shortenings is these shortenings must have a wide plastic range at
room temperature. The term ‘plastic’ implies a solid, non-fluid, non-pourable shortening at
room temperature (Gillies, 1974; Nelson, 1969). In a puff pastry, the shortening is layered
between sheets of dough. The shortening is not mixed into the unleavened flour or dough but
is placed on top of the dough and folded to form several alternating layers of dough and fat.
The fat keeps the layers of dough separate and flaky and the moisture contributes the ‘puff’ as
it turns to steam during the baking process (Chrysam, 1985).

Shortening coats the flour proteins, reducing their contact with the moisture in the
dough and preventing gluten from forming. They also shorten the length of the gluten strands
when the flour is stirred with water, preventing tough bread and to tenderize the bread. Fat
coats the flour particles so the elastic formation slows down. It makes the gluten strands
slippery so the gas bubbles can move easily and it gives the final bread a finer
grain (http://www.baking911.com/howto/how_baking_works.htm).
 Wheat is the only grain with significant amounts of gluten-forming potential. Two
proteins found in wheat flour are glutenin and gliadin, which form an elastic substance
known as gluten when stirred with moisture. When wheat flour is moistened and manipulated
through stirring, beating and kneading, these two proteins grab water and connect and cross-
connect to form elastic strands of gluten (Weegels et al., 1996). If flour has a lot of these
proteins, it grabs up water faster, making strong and springy gluten. The bread dough is made
from high protein flour. High protein flour contains high gluten. The elastic gluten network
formed serves many functions. Like a net, gluten traps and holds air bubbles. The air later
expands due to the leavening process when the dough is baked, causing the dough to
rise. During baking, the stretched gluten becomes rigid as the moisture evaporates due to
heating. The viscoelastic properties of gluten provide the perfect combination of elasticity
and rigidity by expanding the gas while still holding its shape.

REFERENCES

Aibara.S., Ogawa.S. and Hirose.M. (2004). Microstructure of bread dough and the effect of
shortening in frozen dough. Journal of Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemical
69(2), 397-402.

Baking 911. How Baking Works. Available at:

http://www.baking911.com/howto/how_baking_works.htm. [Accessed on April 14,
2011]
Baking 911.How Baking Works. Available at:
http://www.baking911.com/pastry/101_intro.htm. [Accessed on April 14, 2011]

Chrysam, M. M. (1985). Table spreads and shortenings. In T. H. Applewhite (Ed.), Bailey’s

Industrial Oil and Fat Products, vol. 3 (pp. 41–125). New York: John Wiley and
Sons.

Gillies, M. T. (1974). Fluid shortenings. Gillies, M. T. (Ed.). Shortenings, Margarines and

Food Oils (pp. 1–226). NJ: Noyes Data Corporation.

Nelson, K. W. (1969). Baker’s all-purpose, plastic shortening composition. US Patent

document: 3429714. OH, USA: The Procter and Gamble Company.

Pomeranz.Y. (1988). Composition and functionality of wheat flour components. American

Association of Cereal Chemist, St. Paul, MN, USA, pp. 219-370.

Pomeranz, Y., Shogren, M. D. & Finney, K. F. (1968). Functional Breadmaking Properties of

Lipids. Journal of Food Technology 22(3), 76.

Weegels, P. L., Hamer, R. J., & Schofield, J. D. (1996). Critical review. Functional properties
of wheat glutenin. Journal of Cereal Science, 23, 1–18.