Advancing The Understanding Of Puff Pastry Margarines With LAOS Method

Puff pastry margarines require a precise balance of elasticity and viscosity to ensure optimal performance during lamination and baking. Conventional methods such as Solid Fat Content (SFC) analysis, hardness measurements, and the thumb test provide limited information, often missing critical nuances in structural behavior. This study explores the use of Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear (LAOS) to evaluate the complex rheological properties of puff pastry margarines, offering a more comprehensive understanding of their performance characteristics.
For this study lamination margarines were processed using slightly different conditions and subjected to various tempering temperatures, which led to significant changes in their structural and mechanical properties. LAOS not only detected these changes but also highlighted variations in viscoelastic behaviors that were not discernible with traditional techniques. Moreover, advancements in LAOS data analysis enabled us to extract detailed insights into the nonlinear viscoelastic response at higher harmonics, providing a deeper understanding of the internal structure. By comparing LAOS results with conventional methods, we established the superiority of LAOS in detecting subtle differences and its potential as a powerful tool for quality control. These findings pave the way for integrating advanced rheological techniques into routine analyses in the fat and oil industry.
The study discusses the methodology, results and the evolution in data analysis tools in maximizing the potential of LAOS for evaluating complex food systems like puff pastry margarines.