Challenges of enrichment: Psyllium / hardness.

As fibres are products of nature, we can’t design them 100% to our liking; of course the larger fibre length can be (mechanically) shortened and insoluble fibers can be (partly) solubilised. This leaves sufficient challenges for any product developer. For example a known fibre, commonly used in many glutenfree products is Psyllium. Psyllium can absorb a massive amount of water (about 20 times its weight in water) and create a gel. This is great if you are looking for certain stability in dough handling and depositing/ shaping. Within this gel matrix you are even able to bind some oil as well. A big downside to this is that the release of water during heating (cooking, baking) is poor; resulting in breads, cookies and cakes that seem to be undercooked and poor taste.