A forum for Bakers, Caterers and players in the baked goods industry in Nigeria. An online marketplace and digital shopping mall for news, information, data, statistics and history as pertains the baked goods industry in Nigeria. A social networking site as well.
Sunday, 1 July 2018
Bakers Brace Up For Review in Flour Price
Feelers from the Nigerian Flour Milling Association, indicate that the price of flour - a major ingredient in the making of bread and other baked products, may be going up over the next couple of days or weeks (as the case may be). Although, we do not have all the details of the price review, however, news from the grapevine suggests that the price of 50kg bag of flour (that is the standard pack size for flour) may go up with as much as N600. As we understand, the proposed price review by millers is as a result of the harsh operating business climate in Nigeria; the ease of doing business has continued to worsen over the years.
As the industry looks forward to another round of price adjustment, we are sure the bakers are bracing up for the unpleasant news.
Although, increment in price of flour and other ingredients used for baked goods is a burden to bakers, it is also not strange to bakers. However, while bakers would look ahead to adjusting the price of their products to accommodate the change, it is also critical for us to look at other ways to cushion the impact beyond price increment. Bakers should focus a lot on the technical end of the business and see a way they could use it to offset the burden. The following actions would be beneficial to bakers.
I). The use of modern equipment like spiral mixers – to maximise water absorption of flour and also minimize dough loss. This would improve yield or cuts. There could be additional 3 to 5 litres of water to gain when spiral mixer is adopted over dough breaker or milling machine.
2). The use of high quality flour – While high quality flour would result in perfect product and reduced loss, they also have a direct bearing on yield. This is because, good quality flour, is a function of the gluten-forming proteins in the flour. The higher the gluten, the higher the quality and also yield. Technically, the rate of water absorption of flour is twice its protein and about a third its carbohydrates (on a weight-weight basis). In other words, higher gluten results in higher water intake. There are simple tests we can do to analyse gluten within the bakery. Soon, Naija Bakers' Corner would be promoting Do It Yourself (DIY) culture within the bakery. We would also be running a Do-It-Yourself baking school, utilizing tools like baking webinars on social media to enlighten bakers. Please stay tuned.
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