There is a lot of confusion in cookie and cracker manufacturing today. Let’s focus on one of the major areas of confusion: leavening. It is one of the areas that is usually understood and set by the research and development group. Recipes are developed, tested, refined and documented. Once the formula is locked to prevent changes or deviations from occurring, it is up to the others to implement. The area most responsible is the mixing department and their employees. However, small deviations that occur in mixing the doughs will greatly affect the dough characteristics and the finished product attributes. Even though stages and procedures are written on the recipe card, changes find their way into the process.
There are five basic forms of leavening in the biscuit manufacturing process: air, steam, CO² from yeast, CO² from chemical reactions, and CO² from thermal decomposition.