Mischa Bassett F&N 453 Individual Project Effect of Various Butters on the Physical Properties of Biscuits November 2, 26
2 Title Effect of various butters on the physical properties of biscuits Abstract Today s society continues to greatly exceed the recommended amount of dietary fat consumption established by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture. Making dietary changes to consuming less saturated fat and trans-fat could significantly reduce an individual s risk for developing heart disease, obesity, hypertension, or various cancers. Identifying low-fat alternatives that could be used in place of butter, especially during baking, could be the beginning step in solving the issue. Land O Lakes Butter and two low-fat spreads, Benecol Spread Lite and Brummel & Brown, were tested in biscuits to observe their effects on volume and texture. A Seed Volume Apparatus was used to measure biscuit volume and a Texture Analyzer determined the biscuit s texture. In addition, a sensory taste panel was recruited to complete a survey on the overall acceptability of the biscuits. Results of the experiment found that biscuits made with Benecol Spread Lite were most acceptable compared to products made with butter or Brummel & Brown. Benecol Spread Lite produced biscuits that had a similar volume with more buttery taste compared to butter. However, such products did result in having the toughest texture. Overall, substituting Benecol for butter may enhance the flavor of baked goods and provide a healthy alternative to aid in lowering health risks. Introduction Because our society is currently under an obesity epidemic as well as other health related diseases, it is important to find methods to improve health and diet. Lichtenstein et al (998), as well as other pieces of scientific literature, states that a diet high in
3 saturated fat or trans-fat potentially increases an individual s risk for developing heart disease. Being able to recognize methods to incorporate low-fat options into a regular diet could greatly diminish the risk Americans have for developing heart disease, obesity, hypertension, or various cancers. The overall mission was to find a healthier alternative that produces an equivalent or improved taste without diminishing the quality of products compared to those prepared with regular butter. In order to identify if Benecol Spread Lite and Brummel & Brown are acceptable alternatives, the volume and texture of biscuits will be analyzed by the Seed Volume Apparatus and the Texture Analyzer and compared to the results of biscuits made with butter. Additionally, a taste panel will use the hedonic scale to rank their preference among the biscuits. The primary purpose for conducting this experiment is to analyze if the imitation butters of Benecol Spread Lite and Brummel & Brown, which are lower in total dietary and saturated fat, could be used to replace butter in baking. In the following biscuit preparation, Land O Lakes Butter, Benecol Spread Lite and Brummel & Brown were used as the controlled, independent variables. The dependent variables consisted of the volume, texture and acceptability of the various biscuits. Methods The overall experimental design was to replicate the same biscuit, with only one variation among the three samples. Land O Lakes Butter, Benecol Spread Lite and Brummel & Brown were used to differentiate the biscuits. The dough was prepared from a basic biscuit recipe found at www.cooks.com. Each biscuit preparation began by mixing together 46.7 g all-purpose flour, g baking powder, and 3.3 g salt into a large, room temperature bowl until the mixture is homogeneous. Once completed, 36.7 g Land
4 O Lakes Butter was cut-in to the mixture. This process can be done by using a fork or pastry blender to cut the butter into the mixture until it resembles course crumbs. Then add 8 ml of 2% milk and stir until mixture is moistened. Next, the dough will be kneaded. To do this, begin by lightly covering the surface of a cutting board with flour. Then remove the dough from the bowl and place on the cutting board. Sprinkle flour on the dough of the dough to prevent it from sticking to the hands and also to facilitate the kneading process. Knead the dough by pressing the heal of both hands into the dough, reform the dough into a ball, and repeat times. Once this is completed, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is about ¾ of an inch thick. Use a toothpick pre-measured to ¾ of an inch and poke into various sections of the dough to determine if it is at the correct thickness. Then cut dough with a 2 ½ inch biscuit cutter. Place cut out dough about one inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Place baking sheet into oven and bake for minutes at 232 C (45 F). When minutes are up, remove the biscuits and allow to cool for minutes. Replicate this process twice substituting the Land O Lakes Butter once with Benecol and once with Brummel & Brown. The entire experiment was repeated twice more to help improve the credibility of the test results. The various samples were separately placed onto white paper plates that were labeled with a 3 digit number code to establish randomization. To further aid in randomization, the samples were presented in different orders for each trial. A sensory taste test using the hedonic scale was performed by volunteers who were in the lab during the time of experimental testing. Volunteers tried a portion of each biscuit variation and then completed the sensory scorecard. An example of the sensory scorecard can be seen in Figure.
5 One biscuit from each sample was used to determine the texture and volume. The biscuits were first tested using the cone probe of the Texture Analyzer set to the muffin setting to determine the grams of force needed to penetrate the biscuit. Each biscuit was tested three separate times in three different locations on the biscuit s surface. All test results were recorded in the lab notebook and averaged for each trial. The results from the Texture Analyzer can be seen in Table or Figure 2. Then, each biscuit was wrapped in plastic wrap and labeled to identify the sample. Any additional plastic wrap was cut off in order to determine the most accurate volume. Each biscuit sample was then placed into the Seed Volume Apparatus to identify the biscuit s volume. Values were recorded into the lab notebook. The results from the Seed Volume Apparatus can be seen in Table 2 or Figure 3. Discussion According to www.foodsubs.com (996-25), diet butter spreads do not work well in baking because they produce products that are flat and thin. Additional research conducted by Smith and Johansson (24) found that fats that were high in saturation resulted in bread products that had high loaf volume and low loaf weight. Consequently when cooking with low-fat substitutes, the resulting products were low in volume, less tender and less moist (995). However it should be noted that only a small amount of fat needs to be present in the dough to facilitate gluten to stretch, yielding a loaf with greater volume. In all three trials there was very little difference in the volume between the samples. Furthermore, the biscuits made with Benecol Spread Lite had the same average volume as the biscuits made with Land O Lakes Butter. The biscuits made with Brummel & Brown were only 3.3 cm³ smaller. This data can be seen in Table 2 or Figure
6 3. There are several possible sources of error that may have caused an accurate detection in the volume of the biscuits. One error may have been due to a crack in the Seed Volume Apparatus that caused seeds to escape from the tube during use, which slightly altered the amount from the original volume. Because the biscuits were wrapped in plastic wrap, the excess wrapping may have increased the volume of the biscuits. In baked goods such as muffins or biscuits, reducing the amount of fat in a recipe may result in a tougher product because gluten develops more freely (995). Table and Figure 2 shows that the biscuits made with butter were much more tender compared to the biscuits made with the low-fat options. In this experiment, both the Brummel & Brown and Bececol Spread Lite had extremely similar averages, with Benecol being only slightly tougher. A study conducted by Hatae et al (23), researched how the preferences among panelists changed due to baking doughnuts with various low-fat frying oils compared to being made with high-fat oils. Results of the study concluded that the preference in taste was higher when the high-fat frying oil was used and decreased as the oil contained less fat. Contrary to the work done by Hatae et al, the results of this experiment concluded that the product made with the low-fat option, Benecol, had a greater likeability compared to the product made with butter. When the responses of the surveys were tallied, there was a trend seen that biscuits made with butter were generally well liked. Similarly the biscuits made with Benecol Spread Lite were ranked more in the liked categories than among the disliked category. Biscuits made with Brummel & Brown distributed the categories from moderately liked to moderately disliked fairly evenly. The tallied results from the sensory survey for acceptability can be found in Table 3 and
7 illustrated in Figure 4. Analysis of the results from the sensory surveys found that the biscuits made with Benecol Spread Lite had a greater likeability than the biscuits made with Land O Lakes Butter. The biscuits made with Brummel & Brown were least acceptable. However because the standard deviation values are rather large, the acceptability rankings are less precise. and standard deviation values can be found in Table 4 and Figure 5. This distribution may be due to individual s preference for buttery tastes. Many volunteers added comments that the Benecol sample had a strong buttery taste and that the Brummel & Brown samples were very dull and lacked any taste. On the other hand, several volunteers noted that it was difficult to detect any difference among all three samples. Based on such comments and the possibility that volunteers may have just quickly filled out an answer, it could be believed that the responses on the sensory tests may not accurately illustrate the likeability. Products made with Benecol Spread Lite were found to be more acceptable than products made with butter. Benecol Spread Lite produced biscuits that had a similar volume and a better buttery taste compared to butter and Brummel & Brown. However, such products did result in having the toughest texture, which may be preferred by some individuals. Overall, substituting Benecol for butter may enhance the flavor of baked goods and provide a healthy alternative to aid in lowering health risks. Additional work in the future needs to determine if Benecol Spread Lite can be used in other baked products to create similar flavors and physical characteristics that are desirable. Because only two alternatives were tested in this experiment, it would be necessary to test more imitation butters on the market to accurately identify which ones work best in baking.
8 Results Choose from the following: Like extremely 66 Like moderately Like slightly 33 Neither like nor dislike Dislike slightly 384 Dislike moderately Dislike very much Dislike extremely Rank the sample in order of preference. = Best 3= Worst 66 33 384 Figure. Sample of Sensory Scorecard
9 Table. Texture Analysis of Biscuits made with Butter, Benecol or Brummel & Brown Butter Trial Benecol Trial Brummel & Brown Trial Texture Analyzer (grams) 54.2 5 5. 5.8 63.3 65.8 56.7 6.9 6.2 62.5 59.7 6. Variable Brummel & Brown Benecol Trial Butter 2 3 4 5 6 7 TA (g) Figure 2. Texture Analysis of Biscuits made with Butter, Benecol or Brummel & Brown
Table 2. Volume of Biscuits made with Butter, Benecol or Brummel & Brown Determined by Seed Volume Apparatus Butter Trial Benecol Trial Brummel & Brown Trial Volume (cm³) 8 55 55 63.3 75 7 45 63.3 85 45 5 6 Variable Brummel & Brown Benecol Trial Butter 5 5 2 Volume Figure 3. Volume of Biscuits made with Butter, Benecol or Brummel & Brown
Table 3. Subjective Taste Analysis of Biscuits Extremely liked Butter Benecol Brummel & Brown Liked very much 3 7 4 Moderately liked 7 4 3 Slightly liked 7 4 5 No preference 3 Slight disliked 2 Moderately disliked Disliked very much Extremely disliked 7 Participants 6 5 4 3 2 Butter Benecol Brummel & Brown Extremely liked Moderately liked No preference Moderately disliked Extremely disliked Description Category Figure 4. Subjective Taste Analysis of Biscuits
2 Table 4. Overall Acceptability of Biscuits Variation Acceptability Standard Deviation Butter.8.65 Benecol.6.7 Brummel & Brown 2.6.78 3 2.5 Acceptability 2.5.5 Butter Benecol Brummel & Brown Variable Figure 5. Overall Acceptability of Biscuits
3 References Alden, L. 996-25. Fats. The Cook s Thesaurus. Retrieved November 7, 26. http://www.foodsubs.com/fatsoils.html#fat. Cooks.com: Cooking, Recipes and More. 26. Easy Biscuits. Retrieved September 2, 26. http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/,74,469-25522,.html. Lauterbachs S and JA Albrecht. 995. Home Economics: Functions of Baking Ingredients. Retrieved November 7, 26. http://cbshe.blogspot.com/25/9/functions-of-baking-ingredients-nf94.html. Lichtenstein, A.H., E. Kennedy, P. Barrier, et al. 998. Dietary fat consumption and health. Nutrition Review. 56( ): S3-9 Smith, P.R. and J. Johansson. 24. Influences of the Proportion of Solid Fat in a Shortening on Loaf Volume and Staling of Bread. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation. 28: 359-367.