Bakery reformulation enters new era as ingredients balance nutrition, taste and texture

Bakery is experiencing a reformulation renaissance as protein and fiber fortification, along with lower sugar and sodium, drive innovation in the sector. Bolstered by consumer demands for more nutrition per bite, bakery-boosting functional ingredients and additives are changing the way manufacturers formulate baked goods.

Food Ingredients First sits down with Ingredion, Kerry, and Puratos to discuss what bakery reformulation looks like in the functional food era.

“Today’s bakery landscape requires brands to balance nutrition, sensory appeal, ingredient acceptance, and cost pressures simultaneously,” says Dr. Liyi Yang, global applications Snacks and Bakery category technical lead at Ingredion.

“Innovation is increasingly focused on helping products deliver the eating experiences consumers expect, while addressing challenges such as sugar reduction, protein, and fiber fortification, clean label goals, cocoa reduction, and egg replacement.”

“Consumers don’t experience products through nutrition, texture, and indulgence separately,” Yang continues. “They experience them together, which is why successful bakery innovation must deliver positive nutrition without compromising the eating experience.”

Peggy Dantuma, the director of bakery applications at Kerry, spotlights mold-inhibitor replacement as one of bakery’s hardest clean label jobs. She notes that simpler labels must still deliver shelf life, freshness, and taste across complex supply chains.

“Successfully navigating this challenge requires both deep scientific expertise and a holistic category-view approach that combines clean label solutions to extend shelf life while meeting consumer and category expectations,” says Dantuma.

According to Dr. Sara de Pelsmaeker, the group health and well-being director at Puratos, the company’s Taste Tomorrow research shows that 74% of consumers seek digestive wellness alongside taste and convenience, making “stacked benefits” more valuable than single claims. 

She also highlights pulse-based flours, functional fibers, and fermented ingredients, which can boost gut health and protein quality, while improving texture and flavor.

“Ultimately, we are seeing a shift toward bakery products that deliver better nutrition without feeling like a compromise — combining satiety, digestive wellness, and great taste in formats consumers already know and enjoy.”Yang at Ingredion says bakery innovation must deliver nutrition without sacrificing texture or eating quality.

Beyond high protein in bakery

Kerry, Ingredion, and Puratos all put protein and fiber at the top of the bakery demand list, while Puratos adds gut health as a third. The GLP-1 shift is one of the biggest drivers of innovation and reformulation.

De Pelsmaeker says high-protein and GLP-1 trends have pushed bakery past protein content toward satiety and nutritional balance. Appetite changes and muscle-loss worries make protein quality the priority. Manufacturers now want baked goods that move beyond their traditional carbohydrate role, though enrichment cannot cost the product taste or texture.

“Not all proteins perform in the same way in bakery, so manufacturers are increasingly interested in ingredients that can deliver nutritional benefits while still creating products people genuinely want to eat,” says De Pelsmaeker. “Pulse-based flours are one promising example, while fermentation could also play an important role in improving the quality and functional performance of plant-based proteins.”

However, Yang at Ingredion says that raising protein brings trade-offs, leaving products gritty, chalky, or dry, adding taste problems and causing texture drift over shelf life.

“In bakery applications, protein can also affect batter viscosity, spread, browning, and finished structure,” Yang explains. “The focus today is not only achieving protein targets, but also maintaining volume, tenderness, and eating quality.”

“Research suggests GLP-1 medications can alter taste preferences and increase sensitivity to sweetness, creating opportunities for products that combine protein, reduced sugar, and great sensory performance. As brands respond, demand is growing for ingredient systems that help deliver positive nutrition while maintaining softness, cohesiveness, and indulgent textures.”

Kerry says its proprietary research finds people on the medications choosing higher-protein, lower-sugar, and lower-carbohydrate foods, with altered taste perception sharpening sweetness sensitivity, eroding tolerance for very sweet products, and favoring smaller, more nutritious portions.

Maria Brandt, Kerry’s global product director for bakery and dairy enzymes, says protein brings bitterness, astringency, viscosity problems, and heat instability. Biobake Fresh enzymes slow starch retrogradation, the main staling driver, holding crumb softness and moisture, while fermentates and buffered vinegars extend mold-free shelf life and cut waste.Dantuma at Kerry points to mold-inhibitor replacement as one of bakery’s hardest clean label jobs.

“At the same time, emerging nutritional needs are driving demand for more specialized protein ingredients,” says Brandt. “The focus is on pinpointing the specific off-notes and sensory gaps associated with a specific protein source and addressing them through targeted taste modulation, masking, and flavor optimization strategies.”

“Kerry helps customers shift from simply reducing sugar to optimizing sweetness through a holistic approach that combines sweetness modulation and masking technologies.”

Lowering sugar and salt in baked goods

According to Dantuma at Kerry, sugar carries flavor balance, mouthfeel, browning, moisture retention, texture, and preservation, while salt shapes overall flavor perception and product functionality. Reformulating successfully demands a holistic approach covering sensory performance and product stability alike.

She adds that the company’s Tastesense portfolio tunes both sweetness and salt perception, pairing Tastesense Sweet with Tastesense Masking to hold sweetness quality, while covering off-notes from leavening systems, hydrocolloids, starches, and emulsifiers. Tastesense Sweet delivers up to 50% sugar reduction alongside suitable bulking systems, and Tastesense Salt enables up to 30% sodium reduction.

Beyond taste, Dantuma says Kerry works on the wider formulation, using fiber-based bulking systems, enzyme solutions, and texture-modifying ingredients to rebuild the structure and moisture retention sugar normally provides. In applications such as brioche, sweet rolls, and high-sugar breads, cutting sugar with Tastesense Sweet can also improve dough handling and fermentation performance.

“From a shelf life perspective, reducing sugar or salt introduces additional formulation challenges, as both ingredients can contribute to the overall microbiological stability of baked goods,” says Dantuma.

“Our applications teams work closely with customers to validate shelf life extension following reformulation, while utilizing predictive modeling tools to help optimize shelf life, reduce risk, and accelerate development with confidence.”De Pelsmaeker at Puratos sees pulse flours and fermentation lifting protein quality alongside gut health.

Ingredion frames sugar reduction as a commercial opportunity, noting that consumers worldwide have been cutting intake for years. Its proprietary “Food & Beverage Manufacturers” study found that 90% of companies rank it as a strategic priority, while 26.4% of consumers globally say they buy more reduced- or no-added-sugar products, rising to 36.2% in North America in 2024.

Yang says that the trade-offs surface differently by product format. Cakes and muffins can lose tenderness, cookies can shift in spread and snap, and bars can firm over time. Sugar itself also drives structure, spread, chew, and flavor development, and holds those attributes steady across a product’s entire shelf life.

“Successful sugar reduction focuses on rebuilding what sugar does, not just what it tastes like,” says Yang. “That means addressing sweetness quality, bulk, moisture retention, browning, and stability so products continue delivering the great taste, texture, and eating experience consumers expect.”

“Ingredion offers complex sweetener solutions, various bulking options, and a wide range of texturizers to help maintain the taste, texture, and shelf life of sugar-reduced baked goods.”

De Pelsmaeker at Puratos agrees and describes sugar reduction as a delicate balancing act, noting that bulk and the overall eating experience are also at stake.

“Puratos can help manufacturers address these challenges through functional fibers and sugar-reduction solutions designed to maintain the key qualities consumers expect,” she says. “By combining the right ingredients and formulation expertise, bakers can reduce sugar while preserving texture, taste, and indulgence, without compromising the overall quality of the finished product.”

The future of bakery ingredients

As for where the companies plan to invest in the coming years, Kerry says it expects enzymes to move from a specialty purchase to an industry standard. The company is expanding its predictive modeling so customers can settle shelf life questions faster.

“Alongside enzyme innovation, Kerry continues to advance solutions that help control mold while supporting label-friendly formulation goals,” Brandt tells us. “We offer next-generation bakery preservation technologies designed to reduce proofing times, help mitigate cost pressures associated with yeast usage, and improve bread volume.”Brandt at Kerry backs enzyme systems that hold crumb softness across a longer shelf life.

“At the same time, we’re expanding our predictive science and modeling capabilities to help customers make faster, smarter shelf life decisions, reducing development risk while accelerating innovation.”

Puratos will concentrate on functional fibers and sugar-reduction systems designed to hold the qualities consumers expect, arguing that the right ingredients combined with formulation expertise let bakers cut sugar without surrendering texture, taste, indulgence, or the finished product’s overall quality.

“This is where the trend becomes particularly interesting,” says De Pelsmaeker. “The future of high-protein bakery is unlikely to be about simply putting a bigger number on the front of the pack. It is about creating products that can support satiety, muscle health, and overall well-being, while continuing to deliver the taste, texture, and enjoyment that remain fundamental to bakery.”

Meanwhile, Ingredion points to texture as one of the strongest drivers of product satisfaction and perceived quality. Yang says that Ingredion’s proprietary consumer research finds 82% of those surveyed associate a creamy texture with indulgence, and 52% say they would abandon a food if the texture disappoints.

“Ingredient volatility is also shaping innovation priorities,” Yang stresses. “Cocoa reduction has become a growing focus as brands navigate supply constraints and rising costs while preserving the taste, color, and moist, creamy, or silky textures consumers associate with chocolate indulgence.” 

“Likewise, egg reduction and replacement continue to be important because eggs contribute structure, moisture, emulsification, and aeration in bakery systems. Successful approaches start by identifying which functional roles eggs perform within a formulation and then protecting attributes such as tenderness, softness, volume, and crumb structure.”