Offering heart-healthy options in your bakery is a great way to show your customers you care about them and their health needs. However, finding ways to include heart-smart alternatives without sacrificing flavor or quality can be challenging. After all, desserts and pastries aren’t exactly known for being low in sugar, fat, sodium, and cholesterol.
Not to worry though, we’re here to guide you on using heart-smart ingredients that can easily be swapped or incorporated into your formulas and keep your customers (and their hearts) happy while ensuring your products remain delicious.
4 Heart-Smart Ingredients to Try in Your Bakery’s Formulas
Make Pastries with Phyllo Dough
Originating in Ancient Greece, phyllo is a very thin unleavened dough commonly used in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Phyllo dough (also known as filo dough) is the lowest-fat pastry with only 2.9 grams of fat per 100 grams and contains zero cholesterol making it a great alternative when making pie crust or even fill your bakery case with new items.
It is important to keep in mind when layering your phyllo dough, the contents of the oil or butter you use as this can quickly increase the fat content. When possible, use oils such as olive, avocado, or coconut to keep your phyllo dough heart-friendly!
Use phyllo dough to make baklava, turnovers, tarts, and even phyllo dough pizza!
Use Whole Grains
White flour is a refined grain and is considered bad for heart health given it lacks fiber and essential nutrients which can lead to blood sugar spikes. Consider offering alternatives in your bakery that use whole grains like oats, quinoa, and whole wheat flour as they provide fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants that help lower cholesterol, regulate blood sugar, and support overall cardiovascular function.
Whole grain bread is a no-brainer here but if you’re looking for something a little sweeter or different consider offering protein balls, yogurt parfaits, acai bowls, or muffins made with whole wheat flour.
Incorporate Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate contains something called flavonoids which are antioxidants that can reduce blood pressure and lower the risk of heart disease making it a perfect heart-healthy alternative to milk chocolate.
Use dark chocolate as a coating to cover those pretzels or strawberries. Dark chocolate also makes for amazing bark and mendiants.
Substitute Your Oils with Greek Yogurt
Greek yogurt is a great source of protein, calcium, and probiotics. Low or non-fat Greek yogurt can be a healthy substitute for various oils you might use in your recipes while ensuring the outcome remains moist.
Try using it in your cake, muffin, and biscuit formulas in combination with some of the other heart-healthy ingredients we shared above to really offer your customers a heart-smart treat they’ll be sure to love.
Takeaway
Keeping your customers’ health needs in mind when baking is no doubt a challenge, especially when trying to offer them heart-healthy options that are low in sugar, fat, sodium, and cholesterol. But it can be done and doing so is sure to please your health-conscious customers on restricted diets and show them that you care!
Using heart-healthy ingredients such as phyllo dough, whole grains, dark chocolate, and Greek yogurt are great ways to adjust your formulas without sacrificing flavor and quality.
At Valley, our team is ready to help you explore how heart-healthy alternatives fit into your business. Let’s connect and see how we can support your business and help you offer your bakery customers healthy choices.
Click here to explore our ingredients and food products.