Silvery Tweed launches a new range of legume-based bakery ingredients
The growing demand for bakery products with nutritional and sustainability claims has led Silvery Tweed Cereals to launch a new range of legume-based ingredients.
“They use less water in the growing process than traditional crops and remove carbon dioxide from the air, often making them carbon negative. They also absorb and recycle other toxins,”
Among the new products launched by the Northumberland-based grain processor are flours made from broad beans, chickpeas, and white beans, as well as split red lentils and broad bean flakes. All of these ingredients can contribute to increasing the protein and fiber content of baked goods.
Legume flours can be added to baked goods such as breads, tortillas, and flatbreads, partially replacing wheat flour. Broad bean flakes add texture and a nutty flavor to breads, cookies, and other products. Additionally, split red lentils are ideal for breadmaking, where traditional split lentils are too large.
An analysis by Silvery Tweed revealed that adding 10% chickpea flour to a bakery mix resulted in a 1.8% increase in protein and a 1.1% increase in fiber. Even better results were achieved with white bean flour, which increased protein by 1.9% and fiber by 1.8% when the same proportion was added.
With more than a quarter of the broad bean flakes composed of protein, they provide the greatest protein boost: 2.9% more when added 10% to the recipe (although fiber only increased by 0.9%). Silvery Tweed also referenced McCance and Widdowson's nutritional data on red lentils, which indicates they contain 23.8% protein and 4.9% fiber. This translates to a 2.4% increase in protein and a 0.5% increase in fiber when added 10% to the mix.
“Pulses are healthy and nutritious, and are gaining popularity as people become more aware of them as natural sources of protein and fiber,” said Julie Telfer, director of new product development at Silvery Tweed. “They can be used as a main ingredient or as a substitute in cooking and baking, and are also a natural source of magnesium.”
Telfer pointed out that pulses also offer broader environmental benefits. “They require less water to grow than traditional crops and remove carbon dioxide from the air, often making them carbon negative. They also absorb and recycle other toxins,” he added.
Legume crops, such as beans and lupins, are especially efficient at storing chemical energy because they fix atmospheric nitrogen and can capture more sunlight throughout the day than cereals.
While red lentils, chickpeas, and broad beans are not commercially available in the UK (they are imported from Turkey, Canada, and France), Silvery Tweed sources its broad beans from farms within a 50-mile radius. Before being milled or rolled at its factory in Berwick-upon-Tweed, the beans are cleaned and hulled at the pulse processing plant located 20 miles away in Belford.
Pulse Processing has estimated that producing one tonne of spring beans requires a total of 1576.2 MJ of energy. This includes cultivation, harvesting, transport, and processing, with the majority of this energy (1445 MJ) used during on-farm cultivation operations, assuming a yield of 4.5 tonnes per hectare. Processing accounts for only a small proportion, at 25.2 MJ per tonne.
Silvery Tweed is a family-run business specializing in premium grains and seed ingredients, supplying the bakery and breakfast cereal sectors. It employs over 70 people who clean and process grains sourced primarily from the Borders region, as well as from its own farm on the northeast coast.