While familiar plants provide us with the most common sources of food grade starch — namely corn, potatoes, wheat and rice — new sources occasionally do emerge to provide various functional and quality characteristics. Two polymers, amylose and amylopectin, comprise the main components of starch. The difference between the amount of these polymers various starches contain helps determine their functional use in an end product. For example, a high amylose starch might be used in an edible coating, while a waxy cornstarch with a high ratio of amylopectin to amylose is more of the non-gelling variety that forms viscous pastes when heated.

In sweetgoods, such as brownies, cookies and cakes, starches perform a number of useful functions. They can help replace eggs, reduce spread and increase volume in cookies; build cake batter viscosity; assist with moisture management in muffins, snack cakes and brownies during baking, which extends shelf life; act as an adhesion aid for glazes; provide air incorporation, build batter viscosity and improve mouthfeel for reduced-fat and fat-free muffins and cakes.

Texture applications

Cargill Texturizing Solutions, Minneapolis, offers a line of starches with lipophilic properties that function as emulsion stabilizers. Egg products in baked foods supply foaming, emulsification, coagulation, flavor and texture. A lipophilic starch works well in combination with eggs to partially replace whole eggs in cake formulations. One version is a cook up starch and the other available variety is a pregelatinized waxy maize starch. Combined with hydrocolloids, lecithins and emulsifiers (and sometimes soy flour) in functional blends, formulators can achieve egg replacement of 50 percent and more while retaining finished product quality. Soy flour is sometimes used for egg replacement in certain types of cookies as well as for moisture retention.

To maintain proper cake batter viscosity, Cargill recommends instant, pregelatinized starches. While individual starch choice varies widely depending upon the end product, in general, these starches will help set structure and control texture, increase volume and help retain moisture.

Starches assist with moisture management in muffins.

Photo Courtesy of National Starch Food Inovations

Clean label

Some bakers choose a native starch for its clean label advantages, as modified starches do not necessarily meet the clean label profile many bakers seek. Starches are modified to improve functionality, impart stability caused by the pH of a system, and improve processing conditions (i.e. temperature, shear) and shelf life. They also are modified to alter the viscosity development during processing or in the final product.

“Baked goods requiring a ‘natural’ label can still benefit from native starches (not chemically modified) as well as combinations of native starch. Such products still positively impact batter viscosity, texture, moisture retention and shelf life,” says Sandy Nieman, senior food scientist for bakery, snacks and cereals, Cargill.