HERZA bake-stable chocolate

Nov. 23, 2009 – With individual decorations and various bake-stable chocolate pieces, HERZA Schokolade makes bakery products visually attractive and creates a characteristic flavour. Besides standard products, the company offers tailor-made variants for special purposes. Like all the functional chocolate pieces, the decorative and bake-stable varieties are also available in organic and Fair Trade quality.

Nov. 23, 2009 – With individual
decorations and bake-stable chocolate pieces, HERZA Schokolade
makes bakery products visually attractive and creates a characteristic
flavour. Besides standard products, the company offers tailor-made
variants for special purposes. Like all the functional chocolate
pieces, the decorative and bake-stable varieties are also available in
organic and Fair Trade quality.

Decorative chocolate for the right atmosphere

At Christmas time, little fir trees and stars are practically a must for giving cakes and biscuits a festive appearance. The HERZA range includes multicoloured mixtures of chips and slivers, which are also available as coated variants. New additions to the portfolio are nougat drops, coated micro-slivers and white micro-drops.

Bake-stable chocolate pieces for different applications

Whereas the demands on chocolate specialties used for decorating baked goods mainly have to do with appearance and flavour, the use of chocolate pieces as an ingredient of bakery products presents challenges of a very different kind. One vital criterion is resistance to abrasion, for as soon as chocolate comes into contact with the dough, ugly brown marks can appear. The reason for this is the “chocolate dust” that naturally adheres to the pieces and mixes with the dough. Thanks to a purely technical process without the use of further additives, HERZA’s abrasion-resistant chocolate has a smooth, dust-free surface. The dough keeps its light colour.
 
Another problem in the past was the use of white chocolate in bakery mixes.

“As white chocolate naturally has a high fat content, the task we faced was to develop a recipe that would withstand the high temperatures during baking”, says Sandra Kohlenberg, head of applications technology at HERZA. “After much trial and error we created bake-stable white chocolate pieces that keep their shape and don’t disintegrate even at high temperatures.”

These guarantee high enjoyment value in chocolate muffins and brownies, for example, or in the relevant bakery mixes. This innovation paved the way for further attractive products that have now found their way into the portfolio; they include bake-stable chocolate pieces in different colours. Mauve or green, yellow with lemon flavour or red with strawberry flavour – the multicoloured varieties offer ideas for a host of new products.
 
HERZA’s chocolate range contains a great diversity of shapes and sizes. Not only do they make for variety; they all have specific properties too. One example is micro-drops: unlike the bigger pieces, these do not sink down during baking. Moreover, they are easy to distribute evenly. Another recent addition to the range is coated micro-slivers.
 
HERZA offers a wide selection of flavoured chocolate and compounds, too. Besides dark fruit chocolate, novel products like chocolate chips with orange, coffee or ginger and chocolate cubes with nibs or rum ensure pleasant surprises.

Pilot cooling tunnel and trial bakery: From the idea to practical testing

Abrasion resistance, baking stability, diversity of size and flavour: in order to create the desired properties the applications technologists first test the various functions at the laboratory in Norderstedt. One of the laboratory’s most important pieces of equipment is the pilot cooling tunnel. This simulates the conditions of full-scale production at HERZA precisely, but it has the important advantage that all shapes and formulations can initially be tested on a small scale. Once the desired size and consistency have been defined, practical trials are carried out. The products are thoroughly tested in the trial bakery of the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe. If all goes well the products have the relevant properties from the start. If not, there is more work ahead for the laboratory. All the chocolate pieces are designed specifically to meet customers’ individual requirements.

For more information about HERZA Schokolade GmbH & Co. KG, call +49 (0)40 / 284 039-919 or e-mail abuenting@stern-wywiol-gruppe.de.