Photos from Course

Fargo, N.D., USA -- Twelve participants from Egypt, Jordan, Oman, and Pakistan are learning more about fortifying their bakery products with soy this week at Northern Crops Institute (NCI). The Baking with Soy Short Course runs from July 16-20.

The hands-on laboratory course is taught by Dr. Clyde Stauffer, Technical Foods Consultants, Cincinnati, Ohio.
 
“Two people in the world are identified as specialists in the use of soy in baked products, and they are both at NCI this week,” says Dr. Pat Berglund, NCI Director.  “Clyde Stauffer is the U.S. expert. The other is a baker from Jahwah Modern Bakeries Co., Jordan.

Most of the participants are expert bakers who have been busy all week in the NCI Baking Laboratory.  They are concentrating on baking and evaluating soy-enhanced pan breads, hearth breads, flat breads, soft rolls, donuts, and cookies. 

Participants fry soy-enhanced donuts on the first day of class.
Dr. Clyde Stauffer, instructor of the course, is at far right.

One participant, Mazen El Sakhawi, General Manager of Mazex Import-Export, Egypt, imports soy on a regular basis.  “I came to the course to learn more about soy so I can correctly explain its benefits to my customers,” says Mazen. “I sell soy to many bakeries for use in bread, including some five-star bakeries in Egypt that can afford to have value-added ingredients in their bread.”

Ahmad Maani, Military Bakeries Group Commander, Jordan Armed Forces, is convinced of the benefits of soy in baked products.  He supervises the bread production that feeds the Jordanian military. 

“We use soy PDI 90 for bread, and we produce about 55 tons of bread per day,” says Maani.  “All the bread that is served to our army is supplemented with 3% soy.  Soy increases the nutritional value of bread and cookies, improves its shelf life, improves the appearance of the loaves of pita bread or Arabic breads, improves the elasticity of the dough, and saves energy during the baking time.  It also gives more food to the yeast so we can decrease the time of proofing and decrease the amount of yeast. From our experience, there are many benefits from using soy.  People need to try it and, in the time, they will notice these benefits.”

Maani came to the course to answer some questions that have arisen during his work.  “We also produce cookies, which are supplemented with 4% soy PDI 20, for the army and for the school children’s eating program. We add soy to increase the percentage of protein in the cookies.  If I want to increase the percentage of soy, it affects the hardness of the cookies,” he explains.  Maani is working with Stauffer to solve this problem. 

On Tuesday, the group toured Pan-O-Gold Baking Company, Fargo, hosted by Cliff Sheely.

Staff from Cenex Harvest States (CHS) is also attending the course. At the conclusion of the course, the group will travel to Mankato, Minn., to tour a CHS plant, which produces soy flour from Minnesota soybeans.

Sponsors for the course are the US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council (MSRPC). USSEC identified participants for the course and sponsored travel expenses.  MSRPC is sponsoring scholarships for this course.  This is the second year that they have sponsored projects in baking with soy.  In 2006, MSRPC sponsored training for NCI staff to learn the finer points of soy in baked products.

“This course is another opportunity to promote the use of soy, which has excellent functional properties for baked products,” says Berglund. “Wheat remains the basis for all these products, but soy enhances some baking properties.”

Another international baking with soy course is scheduled for the end of August.

Northern Crops Institute supports regional agriculture and value-added processing by conducting educational and technical programs that expand and maintain domestic and international markets for northern-grown crops.

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