Biscuits

The main ingredients in a biscuit are: flour, sugar and fat.
For this application the fat is called shortening. By coating of the gluten of the flour, the dough will be not so elastic as a bread dough: the dough stays “short”.

The fat or shortening can be supplied on three ways:

• crystallised fat in extruded blocks or bag-in-box
• crystallised fat in pumpable form
• hot fat (not crystallised).

For the application the level and the type of fat is important for:

• homogeneous distribution in the dough
• possibly aeration of the dough
• final dough hardness
• spread in the oven
• hardness of the biscuit
• eating quality; texture and flavour
• shelf life of the biscuit

Main effects can be summarised as follows:

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