Baking Fats

7 articles

Butter grades, fat content and specialist types: unsalted, cultured, high-fat & tourage butter

A practical guide for professional bakers covering the EU/UK legal definition of butter, the difference between 82% standard, 84%+ high-fat, cultured and tourage grades, how fat content and crystal structure govern baking performance, how to select and handle butter for laminated pastry, enriched doughs and flavour-critical applications, with data extracted from the Polmlek Unsalted Butter 82% spec sheet and comparative data from Kruszwica and Cardowan supplier specifications in the Domson catalogue.

How fats work: shortening, aeration, plasticity and emulsification in baking

A deep-dive into the science behind baking fats for professional bakers. Covers the four core functions every fat performs (shortening, aeration, plasticity, emulsification), crystal polymorphism and why it matters, Solid Fat Content (SFC) curves with first-party data from seven catalogue products (Polmlek, Kruszwica, Cardowan, CSM, Master Martini), the science of laminated doughs (croissant, Danish, puff pastry), frying fat management, and sustainability (palm oil, RSPO, palm-free). Includes dosage table by application, fault-cause-remedy table, three formula cards, and a fully sourced catalogue comparison.

Butter, margarine, shortening & oil: which fat for which job?

A practical professional reference covering every major baking fat: butter, cake margarines, laminating/puff-pastry margarines, vegetable shortenings, liquid oils and lard. Explains fat composition, Solid Fat Content (SFC), crystal forms, allergen status and the technology behind laminated doughs. Includes a master comparison table, SFC data for eleven catalogue products from seven spec sheets (Polmlek, Kruszwica, AMARG, Master Martini, CSM, Cardowan), formula cards for shortcrust, croissant, high-ratio cake and oil-based muffin, and a fat-related fault-diagnosis table. Covers sustainability (RSPO) and the EU trans fat limit.

Frying fats & oils for doughnuts and bakery frying: smoke point, stability and selection

An in-depth guide to selecting and managing frying media for professional bakery doughnut production — covering fat chemistry, smoke points, oxidative stability, oil quality monitoring and RSPO sustainability credentials, with direct references to the catalogue range.

Laminating fats for croissants, puff pastry & Danish: butter vs roll-in margarine

A practical, data-driven guide for professional bakers choosing between butter and roll-in margarine for laminated viennoiserie. Covers the physics of Solid Fat Content (SFC) and why it determines lamination success; the composition and working properties of standard unsalted butter (82%) and tourage butter (~84%); how roll-in puff pastry margarines are formulated to deliver broader plasticity and higher melting points; how to read an SFC curve to select the right fat; step-by-step lamination process guidance; a full fault table; and allergen, trans-fat, and sustainability considerations. Numeric SFC and melting point data are extracted directly from five Domson-catalogue spec sheets (Polmlek butter, Kruszwica Maestra Puff Pastry, Cardowan Crown NHAV Pastry, Cardowan Coronet HR Shortening, CSM Marvello) and cross-referenced against BAKERpedia, the IREKS Compendium, and the BC Campus open textbook on baking ingredients.

How margarines and shortenings are made: hydrogenation, interesterification and fractionation

A practical deep-dive for professional bakers into how the bakery fats on the shelf are actually made. Covers the three key industrial processes — hydrogenation, interesterification and fractionation — and explains what each one does to the crystal form, solid fat content (SFC) and functional behaviour of the resulting fat. Includes SFC profile data extracted from ten first-party spec sheets across the Domson catalogue (Kruszwica Maestra, Cardowan Crown NHAV Pastry and NHAV HR Shortening, CSM Marvello, AMARG Wyborna, Master Martini Marina, and Polmlek Butter), allergen declarations, storage conditions, a lamination fault-finding guide, and a regulatory checklist covering EU trans fat limits (Regulation 2019/649) and the legal definition of 'margarine' (Regulation 1308/2013).

Palm oil, palm-free alternatives and RSPO: navigating sustainability in bakery fats

A practical guide for professional bakers to understand the sustainability debate around palm oil in bakery fats — what RSPO certification means in practice, how to read a product's sustainability declaration, and what the technical trade-offs look like when moving to palm-free alternatives. Covers SFC profiles, crystal polymorphism, trans fats and process contaminants, with full data extracted from first-party spec sheets for seven fat products in the Domson catalogue (Cardowan Creameries, CSM Bakemark, Kruszwica, Polmlek). Every RSPO claim is traced to a specific spec-sheet section or regulatory reference; food-safety and regulatory claims are flagged for human review.