Clean Label Texturizers: Pregelatinized Starches and Flours

Baking

They increase dough volume and make it easier to handle by enhancing its elasticity. Adding pregelatinized flours allows more water to be incorporated into the dough, which helps extend the bread’s shelf life.
In gluten-free bakery products in particular, there is often a lack of structure during shaping and in the early stages of baking due to the absence of the gluten network—this is where precooked flours can be especially helpful.

Instant starches, such as wheat starch, are often used to adjust the viscosity of doughs in shelf-stable bakery products and pastries. Starches help compensate for fluctuations in flour quality (e.g., low gluten quality).

Plant-Based Dairy Alternatives

Plant-based dairy alternatives lack the milk proteins responsible for forming a light gel and creamy texture. Clean Label tapioca starches not only provide desirable textural effects, but also offer high resistance to demanding processes and retrogradation, enabling them to withstand the harsh production conditions and extended refrigerated storage of yogurt alternatives.
Thanks to organic-quality Clean Label tapioca starches, it is possible to produce yogurt alternatives with not only a clean and appealing label, but also a focus on sustainability.

Soups and Sauces

Depending on the desired consistency, required heat stability, acid resistance, or whether the starch needs to gelatinize in cold conditions, there is a wide variety of products to choose from. For example, UHT-treated sauces like mayonnaise require highly functional thickeners—preferably cold-swelling—with a long, smooth texture.
Instant starches based on tapioca or potato may be suitable ingredients, depending on the preferred botanical source. For dehydrated sauces and soups prepared by the consumer, corn or potato starches provide quick hydration and a creamy mouthfeel.
Wheat starches, with their strong white opacity, are ideal for whitening and can partially replace cream, milk, or other whitening agents.
Coarser pregelatinized wheat flours are ideal for improved mixability and for preventing lump formation. They are less hygroscopic and therefore easier to hydrate.

Fruit Fillings 

Fruit fillings must retain their properties even when refrigerated or frozen, and under acidic pH conditions. Pregelatinized tapioca starches give fruit fillings a smooth, glossy surface with high transparency, without the risk of syneresis or delayed thickening.

Starches also play an important role in dessert and pastry creams, where they provide a rich and creamy mouthfeel. In addition, they ensure bake stability and help the creamy mass maintain its shape. This means cakes and baked goods can be filled and decorated creatively.
Depending on whether the creams are prepared cold or hot, baked and/or frozen, there is a range of potato, tapioca, or waxy corn starches to choose from.

Savory Snacks

In directly expanded snacks, pregelatinized potato-based starches achieve the desired expansion and firmness. In contrast, pregelatinized wheat starches are particularly well-suited for baked snacks, resulting in a pronounced crispy texture.
Depending on the type of snack and the production process, blends of hot- and cold-swelling starches are used. For coated nuts, for example, typical formulations include 50–85% native starches and 15–50% cold-swelling starches. The choice of starches depends on the desired texture, the processing method, and the ingredients used.

Meat Alternatives

Meat alternatives are expected to match their animal-based counterparts in every aspect of taste and texture. In the past, this was achieved using numerous additives, often resulting in long ingredient lists filled with E-numbers.
This is where Clean Label starches come in—they help create a meat-like texture while keeping the ingredient list simple and consumer-friendly.
Potato starches, with their high gelatinization capacity, provide a juicy mouthfeel and, when combined with fibers, deliver the product stability needed to withstand demanding processing conditions and freeze-thaw cycles.