Bake Twentyfive: Lesaffre

This is the next in our series of Supply Side Innovators featured in our Bake Twentyfive issue. Each weekday, we will spotlight a new Supply Side Innovator that can help you create the flavors, textures, and designs your customers will love.

Lesaffre’s world-class Baking Center in Milwaukee provides a real-world environment to tackle today’s toughest challenges in baking. The Baking Center is a baking lab where Lesaffre can duplicate all baking formulas and processes used by customers.

“The greatest strength of the Lesaffre Baking Center team is the combination of years of baking experience from its members and the diversity of background and skills,” says Arnaud Deniaud, vice president of technical services for Lesaffre. “We have bakers who are experts in industrial baking, whether it is fresh buns and bread or frozen products. Others are specialists in artisan production or flatbread and Hispanic items, to name a few. Our team also includes scientists who team up with our bakers to understand the science behind the art of baking.”

Lesaffre is committed to innovation through various means:

• Identify the needs of your bakery clients.
• Innovate and provide solutions tailored to processes, equipment and applications (crusty bread, sweet bread, flatbread, steamed bread, crackers and pastries).
• Predict and analyze market trends, consumer patterns and cultural diversity.
• Pass on and share unique expertise.

Lesaffre recently introduced Saf-Pro Artisan Fleurage semolina and seed toppings, which provide a 2-in-1 solution for taste and aroma. Created through a patented process, these ingredients deliver a unique flavor that will enhance any bread product. With Artisan Fleurage, bakers can start with a single dough to create a wide range of unique tasting products.

Artisan Fleurage is the first concept of tasty topping ingredients to personalize the taste of baked products, starting from a single plain dough. Artisan Fleurage solutions result from a combination of ingredients derived from fermentation (yeast extracts) and cereal products, which offers a delightful aroma and cracker-like crispiness, as well as aromatic notes, to baked products.

Using innovative ingredients such as Fleurage from Lesaffre, bakers can bring a natural nutty flavor to unique breads. During a recent demo for Lesaffre, Pierre Zimmermann, Master Baker and owner of La Fournette in Chicago, demonstrated how to use Fleurage as a flavor enhancer for twisted baguettes and fougasse.

Increasing numbers of consumers are demanding clean label and organic products, and Lesaffre plays a crucial role in helping bakers solve problems and introduce innovative products. According to Tom Benner, President and CEO of Lesaffre, the company has launched 30 new ingredient products in the past year. He calls Lesaffre’s Artisan Fleurage, “a truly innovative item that has to be tasted.”

Fast facts

Last year, Lesaffre formally opened its state-of-the-art blending facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 2018, Lesaffre purchased Delavau Food Partners, a leading innovator in baking ingredients based in North America. Building on decades of nutritional expertise, Delavau Bakery Partners by SafPro makes it possible for foodservice and consumer brands to improve the eating experience, nutrition and shelf life of baked goods, snacks and sweets.