CA1100350A - Milk subtitute for leavenable food compositions - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

There is provided a milk substitute for use in leavenable food compositions, i.e. foods containing a cereal, shortening and, normally, milk. A portion of the milk normally used in those conventional compositions is replaced by a milk substitute which is a combination of de-proteinated and de-ashed whey and a food-grade neutralized caseinate. Substantial amounts of the milk and,in many of the compositions all of the milk, may be replaced by the milk substitute and the leavened volume of the resulting food will be essentially equal to the leavened volume of the conventional food made with milk. In baked foods, pore size, texture and crumb characteristics are maintained with the present milk substitute.

Description

110~350 The present invention relates to a milk substitute for leavenable food compositions. More particularly, the invention relates to such milk substitutes in conventional food compositions containing a cereal, shortening and, normally, S milk. Of special importance in the present invention are such leavenable food compositions as cake compositions and bread compositions and to the leavened food product produced therefrom.

Milk is a normal necessary ingredient in leavenable food compositions, such as cakes and bread, since other liquids for solubilizing the cereal of these food compositions produce unsatisfactory leavened properties. For example, if water replaces the milk in these compositions, the leavened volume of the food composition is most substantially reduced, the pore lS size of the leavened food composition is non-uniform and sub-stantially larger, the texture of the leavened composition is rough and non-uniform, and the crumb characteristic changes from small crum~s to flakes of non-uniform size and shape.
Finally, the mouth feel and eating texture are most distinct.
A typical leavening of compositions of this nature is illustrated by the somewhat flat, but raised, mid-eastern style breads, some pie crust compositions, and some pancake compositions.
Accordingly, for most of the widely accepted leavened products, milk is an essential ingredient, along with a cereal (usually in the form of a flour) and shortening.

The exact function of milk in these leavenable compositions is not fully understood. Milk does not contain any known necessary nutrients for yeast growth in yeast leavened bread, beyond the nutrientsalready contained in typical cereals. This is, of course, easily reGognized in that water will form a yeast leavened bread, although the resulting bread is not satisfactory for many points of view, as explained above.
A further complicating factor in understanding the role of milk in leavened products, i.e. in bread, is the need for heat treating the milk for use in the leavenable compositions.
If the milk is not heat treated, substantially inferior leavened products result. Thus, milk is conventionally scalded, i.e., heated to just under the boiling point of the milk and kept there for a few seconds or more. Alternatively, in an industrial process the milk may be heated to about 180F and maintained at that temperature for about 15 minutes to effect the same result as scalding. Improperly scalded milk produces poor loaf volume and poor texture, as well as pore size and crumb character-istics,somewhat similar to the use of water instead of milk inthe leavenable compositions.
Substantial efforts have been made in the art, however, to replace milk in these conventional leavenable compositions, since milk is, of course, relatively expensive in comparison with other of the ingredients in the composition and the ,,~

11(~(~350 scalding requires careful process control, as well as being a relatively time consuming operation. These efforts have not, generally, been satisfactory and only limited uses of milk substitutes have found commercial acceptance.
In the foregoing regard, one of the limited but more widely accepted milk substitutes is whey. Normally only a small portion of the milk is replaced by the whey, since undesired effects will result with larger amounts.
For example, loaf volume can be adversely affected and pore size and uniformity may suffer. Often, only that amount of whey which will essentially compensate for the proteins and similar nutrients lost by the eliminating of part of the milk is used to avoid adversely affecting the characteristics of the food product. Under the circumstances, whey has very limited utility as a milk replaced.
However, whey may totally replace milk in the leavened compositions when chemical additives are placed in the composition to mitigate the undesired effects of the whey. Such artificial and chemical containing compositions, however, are considered to be inferior to the traditional leavened compositions and are not widely commercially accepted. Some efforts have been made, however, to avoid both the undesired effects of whey and those of chemical additives.

` ~10~350 Hence, U.S. Patent 2,336,634 issued in 1943, acknowledges the problem of using whey in bread formulations, particularly in replacing milk, but suggests that some of these whey induced difficulties can be mitigated by acidifying the whey with sulfuric acid and then neutralizing the whey with calcium hydroxide to near neutrality. The so processed whey is then heat treated at temperatures up to 180F and thereafter concentrated by evaporation.
The problem of using whey in bread formulation is also acknowledged in U.S. Patent 2,736,654 issued in 1956, but that patent suggests mitigating the descreased loaf volume by adding calcium carbonate to the whey, optionally, with calcium peroxide as a dough-improver.
U.S. Patent 3,061,442 issued in 1962 also recounts the difficulties in replacing milk solids by whey. This patent attributes the difficulties occasioned by the use of whey to the relatively low protein content of whey, and the inability of the whey to raise the pH of the dough.
Accordingly, that patent suggest that the whey be neutralized and a hydrophylic agent, such as sodillm caseinate, be added.
U.S. Patent 3,445,238 issued in 1969 references the foregoing patent but suggests that corn flour be employed as the hydrophylic agent. U.S. Patent 3,525,627 issued in 1970 also references the aforediscussed U.S. Patent 3,445,238 and suggests that non-fat milk solids in bread dough impro~es the water absorption capability and handling characteristics, Thus, 1~0~350 replacing these ~ilk solids with ~hey causes the undesired results because the whey has poor moisture absorption and poor handling characteristics, which ultimately produce the poor texture, crumb characteristics, moisture retention properties and reduced low volume. That patent also recounts that heat denatured whey improves the whey for use in dou~h formulations and thatpH adjusted whey also modifies some of the adverse effects thereof, but this patent goes on to teach that the hydrophilic agent must be corn flour and in addition there must be a water absorbing agent comprising soy flour.
It also teaches the use of the whey solids, rather than the whole whey.
In yet another approach, U.S. Patent 3,737,327 issued in 1973 teaches that whey is to be heated to about 200F or higher for twenty minutes or more to precipitate the whey protein. After cooling, the whey is inoculated with yeast and ammonium and acid is added to maintain the pH at about 3.~ to 7Ø
It can therefore be appreciated that the art has recognized the advantages of replacing milk by whey or "processed"
whey but the art has also recognized the serious disadvantages - occasioned by the use of substantial amounts of whey or "processed"
whey. Many different efforts have been made in the art to avoid, or at least mitigate, these difficulties. However, these efforts have not met with wide commercial success and high quality baked goods still require substantial amounts of milk in the composition and the amount of whey or "processed" whey in those compositions remains relatively small.

11~3SO

For the same reasons recognized in the past, it would be of decided advantage in the art to provide a replacer for milk in such leavenable compositions, so long as the quality of the leavened product, including loaf volume, texture, mouth feel and crumb characteristics, are not deteriorated by that use.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a milk substitute for use in leavenable compositions. It is a further object of the invention to provide leavenable compositions and leavened compositions using that milk substitute. It is a further object of the invention to provide processes for obtaining that milk substitute. Other objects will be apparent from the following disclosure and claims.
The present invention provides an improvement in a leavenable food composition containing a cereal, shortening and milk, wherein at least a portion of the milk is replaced by a milk substitute. According to the invention, the milk substitute is a combination of (a) de-proteinated and de-ashed whey and (b) a food-grade alkali, alkaline earth or ammonium neutralized caseinate. In this regard, at least 60~ of the protein and ash must be removed from the whey, and preferably at least 90% of the protein and 80% of the ash are removed.
With such de-proteination and de-ashing, the resulting whey supernate may be used to replace at least 50% of the milk in conventional leavenable compositions and with many compositions the supernate may totally replace the milk.
The method for producing the milk substitute for replacing at least a portion of the milk contained in such food compositions requires removing ash from the whey by neutralizing the whey to a pH of 5 to 9 and allowing the ash to precipitate from the resulting supernate. Thereafter, the protein is removed from the resulting supernate by at least one step of (a) raising the temperature of the supernate to at least 175F and allowing the protein to precipitate, and (b) passing the supernate through an ultra-filtration membrane which retains the protein. The resulting de-proteinated and de-ashed whey supernate is recovered and mixed with an alkali or alkaline earth or ammonium caseinate.
The milk substitute of the invention, for use in a leavenable composition, comprises, in combination, (a) the de-proteinated and de-ashed whey and (b) a food-grade alkali, alkaline earth or ammonium neutralized caseinate. The milk substitute may be in a dry form or in a liquid form. The dry form may be reconstituted prior to incorporation into the leavenable composition or reconstituted by liquid added to the leavenable composition.
The food compositions to which the present invention particularly relates are leavenable food compositions. These compositions conventionally contain a cereal, shortening and milk. The cereal is usually in the form of a ground product, e.g., flour, although the cereal may be in various forms and combinations of forms, e.g., pulverized, ground, cracked, etc.
The cereal may include oats, barley, etc., but it is preferred that the cereal be wheat flour.
The shortening may be any of the conventionally used shortening, e.g., animal and vegetable shortening. In view of the nutritional restrictions for saturated fats, animal shortening is not preferred and vegetable shortening, particularly partially unsaturated vegetable shortening, is preferred, e.g., 3:~0 corn oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, etc., and the partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated forms thereof.
Thus, the particular cereal and form thereof and the particular shortening and form thereof are not critical to the invention and may he chosen among the well known conventional cereals and shortenings. Likewise, the proportions of the cereals and shortenings are not critical and may be chosen as desired and as is well known to the art. Generally speaking, however, the shortening will be at least 1% and up to 50~ of the cereal.
The food composition may contain any of the other conventional additives and flavorings for leavened food compositions, e.g., salt, flavoring, dough conditioners, yeast, yeast nutrients, preservatives, etc.
In conventional food compositions of the present nature, the milk need not be fresh whole milk, although that is often the case, and skim milk, dry milk solids and non-fat dry milk solids may be used. Thus, for purposes of the present specification and claims, the term "milk" is intended to embrace whole milk, dried whole milk, skim milk, dried skim milk, dry milk solids and non-fat dry milk solids, as well as other commercially available milk fractions.
With the present milk substitute, at least 50~ of the milk may be replaced in conventional compositions while maintaining the same essential characteristics of the leavened food composition, i.e., the leavened volume of the food composition with the milk substitute therein is at least equal to the leavened volume of the food composition made with all milk.
As explained hereinafter, the preferred caseinates are sodium and calcium caseinates. For bread, the preferred caseinate is calcium caseinate. Thus, in conventional bread compositions where the milk is high heat non-fat milk solids, at least 75%
of that milk may be replaced by the present milk substitute made with the calcium caseinate and the leavened volume of the bread with the milk substitute therein is at least equal to the leavened volume of the bread made with all milk.
On the other hand, when the food is conventional cake composition, i.e., will contain sugar and flavors, the preferred caseinate is sodium caseinate. Here again, when the milk is high heat non-fat milk solids, at least 75% of the milk may be replaced by the milk substitute made with the sodium caseinate and the leavened volume of the cake with that milk substitute is at least equal to the leavened volume of the cake made with all milk.
The de-proteinated and de-ashed whey may be in a dried form, i.e., roller dried, spray dried, etc., or it may be in a liquid form. However, when in the liquid form, it is preferred that the solids content of the whey is within + 35~, e.g., + 20%
of the usual solids content of milk. This provides very predictable use of the liquid whey and is in a form which is easily handled in preparing the leavened composition.
When the food is bread, it is preferred that the ratio of the whey to the caseinate, on a solids basis, is from 100:3 to 100:10, since this provides optimum results. On the other hand, when the food composition is cake, the ratio of the whey to the caseinate, on a solids basis, is from 100:10 to 100:35 for optimum results. However, ratios outside these ranges may be used for certain formulations and the ratio of caseinate to whey can be adjusted for the particular conventional composition in which the milk substitute is being used. However, generally speaking, the ratio of the whey, either as a liquid or dry powder, X

to caseinate is between 100:1 and 100:50, on a solids basis.
In order to avoid the undesired effects of whey on the food products, the normal content of protein and ash in the whey should be reduced by at least 60%. Preferably, the content of the protein in the whey should be reduced by at least 90~ and the content of ash be reduced by at least 80~. For optimum results, however, at least 90% of both the protein and ash will be removed, e.g., 95%.
Within the above ranges of de-proteination and de-ashing of the whey, the milk substitute may be used in sub-stantial amounts without adversely affecting the properties of the leavened product. This is true whether or not the leavening is by yeast leavening or mechanical leavening, lS such as whipping, bubbling, etc., or by chemical leavening, such as sodium bicarbonate.
Ash is removed from the whey by neutralizing the whey, i.e., to a pH of 5-9, and allowing the ash to precipitate.
Thus, the term "ash", as used in the present specification and claims, means the components of whey which may be pre-cipitated therefrom at a pH of between 5.0 and 9Ø The chemical composition of the ash is not fully identified, but the ash includes minerals and high molecular weight components which are referred to as "proteo-peptones". One of the substituents of whey which can be precipitated and which provides very unusual and important properties is disclosed _ ~ _ lla~3so in co-pendiny Canadian application Serial No. 257,329 filed on July 20, 1975. That substituent is referred to in that application as "whey colloidal precipitate". Essentially similar processes for recovering the whey collodial precipitate may be used for removing the ash, and the only essential difference is that more care must be exercised in recovering the whey colloidal precipitate,since the functionalities thereof are desired for certain uses, while in the present process it is quite satisfactory to accomplish a gross removal of precipitate which will include the whey colloidal precipitate as well as other precipitated solids. No special care of precipitation or recovery of the precipitate is required in the present invention.
Also, as disclosed in that application, the "whey colloidal precipitate" should be substantially protein free.
Processes are described in that application for removing the protein fractions from the whey. These processes include heating the whey to at least 175~F and passing the whey through an ultra-filtration membrane which retains the protein.
Thus, it can be appreciated that the processes described in the aforenoted application will accomplish the ~ separation of the protein and ash from the whey, which is re~uired according to the present invention. In that application the precipitate produced by the process is recovered and used for various functions such as emulsifying and clouding, while 1~0~350 `

in the present invention the supernate is recovered and used to produce the present milk substitute. Accordingly, the process details described in that application will not be repeated herein for the sake of conciseness.
Basically, however, the ash is removed from the whey by neutralizing the whey to a pH of between 5 and 9 with an alkali, alkaline earth or ammonium base, or precu-sor thereof, as defined herein, preferably between 6.0 and 8.0 and ideally 6.8 to 7.2. This causes insolubilization and precipitation of the ash. The amount of ash precipitated is maximized at near neutrality, but the broader above ranges will produce the minimum ash removal. Temperatures are not critical and may be from as low as the freezing temperature up to 400F (which higher temperatures will also cause protein precipitation as noted hereinafter).
The protein is removed by one or both of two processes. The first process is that of causing insolubili-zation and precipitation of the protein by heating the whey to a temperature of at least 175F and more preferably at least 180F, e.g., up to 400F and especially up to 300F
or 212F. The insolubilized protein is then allowed to precipitate from the supernate.
The second process for removing the protein is to pass the whey through an ultra-filtration membrane where the _ ~ _ B

llQt~350 pore sizes are selected to remove sufficient protein that the resulting permeate (supernate) has been depleted of the protein to at least within the above noted ranges.
Ultra-filtration membranes of this nature are well known in the art. However, for optimum results, it is preferred that the membrane provide essentially de-proteinated per~eate, i.e., at least 90% of the protein being removed, and for this reason a membrane which prevents passage of molecules with molecular weights greater than 50,000 is preferred.
After raising the pH to precipitate the ash, the ash is removed by any conventional means, such as decantation, centrifugation, filtration (even ultra-filtration) or the like. This is, however, not required, particularly when the protein is to be removed by a heat treating step. The neutralization and heat treating step may be conducted at the same time. The order of the heat treating step and the neutralization step may be reversed, if desired.
T~hen ultra-filtration is used to separate the protein, it is preferred that the ash be removed prior to that ultra-filtration step, since this facilitates the use of the membrane. This is not a critical sequence of steps, but simply avoids possible contamination of the ultra-filtration membrane.
In any event, after the protein has been removed from the resulting s~pernate, by at least one of the steps _ ~ _ of raising the temperature of the supernate and passing the supernate through an ultra-filtration membrane, the de-proteinated and de-ashed whey supernate is recovered, again, by any conventional means such as decantation, centrifugatior., filtration, and the like. These separation steps are not critical so long as the supernate is de-proteinated and de-ashed to the above ranges.
If desired, the whey may be dried at this time, e.g., roller drying, drum drying, tray drying, sp~ay drying, and thereafter mechanically mixed with the caseinate in dry form. Alternatively, the supernate may be directly mixed with the caseinate and, if desired, dried in a similar manner to a dried form. The dry form is easily reconstituted with water by cimple mixing. The mixing in either case is not critical and any of the standard industrial mixers, paddle mixers, turbo mixers, etc., may be used.
Of course, if desired, the whey and the caseinate need not be separately combined, but the mixing of the whey and the caseinate may take place in the same operation where the ingredients of the food composition are mixed. Thus, the whey, either in liquid or dried form, and the caseinate may be mixed directly with the other ingredients or part thereof of the intended food composition. For purposes of the present specification and claims, the mixing of the whey and caseinate should be so construed.

lla~3so The necessity for the combination of the de-proteinated and de-ashed whey and the caseinate is not understood. However, it has been discovered that the protein, at least, causes serious difficulties in loaf volume, among other difficulties, and the presence of the ash, at least, engenders serious difficulty in other leavened characteristics, such as pore size and crumb characteristics. Therefore, eliminating only the protein or only the ash will not avoid the problems acknowledged in the prior art in connection with the use of whey.
On the other hand, it has been discovered that the de-proteinated and de-ashed whey must be used in the presence of the defined caseinate in order to avoid yet other problems.
The caseinates, apparently, increase stability of the leavened composition so that the desired leavened properties are maintained through all of the processing steps, including the cooking, transportation and storage steps. Thus, it is necessary that the milk substitute for use in a leavenable food composition be the combination of the de-proteinated and de-ashed whey and the food-grade alkali, alkaline earth or ammonium neutralized caseinate.
- It will be appreciated that the milk substitute of the present invention provides significant advantages for use in leavenable compositions. The milk substitute is shelf-stable and may even be prepared in the dried form. Thus, the lla~`3So milk substitute may be contained in the leavenable composition for longer periods of time without spoilage or deterioration.
When converted into the leavened food product, the present milk substitute remains stable in the leavened compositions and does not provide additional opportunities for bacterial growth or other deterioration beyond those opportunities presented in the normal leavened product.
While the invention has been described particularly in regard to leavenable and leavened compositions, it will be appreciated from the foregoing that the milk substitute provides the unique advantages of allowing gelation of starch and protein containing systems, as opposed to other milk substitutes, such as whey, ~7hich interfer with that gelation. Accordingly, the milk substitute o.f the present invention may be used in any starch or protein system which requires gelation, e.g., custards, conectionaries, ice creams, and the like.
It should also be appreciated from the foregoing that the terms "leavenable composition" and "leavened composition" should not be narrowly construed, e.g., as only breads and cakes, but is to be broadly construed to include other raised cereal/shortening compositions such as pancakes, some pie doughs, pastries, shortcakes, etc.
The invention will be illustrated by the following examples, but the invention is not limited thereto and is fully applicable to the foregoing disclosure, as is defined by the annexed claims. In the examples and in the foregoing description, all percentages are by weight unless otherwise specified.
EXAMPLE I
PREPARATION OF T~IE SUPERNATE
Two hundred pounds Beatreme*acid whey were sus-pended into two hundred gallons of water and the suspension was heated to 102F, with stirring, to dissolve the acid whey and disperse the non-soluble fractions in the water. The solution/dispersion was then passed to an ultra-filtration membrane (Westinghouse*Membrane, D-150) and the permeate from the membrane was collected (essentially a protein-free fraction).
Fifty gallons of the permeate, at essentially room temperature, were stirred and potassium hydroxide was slowly added thereto to raise the p~ of the permeate from about 4.4 to 5.6, at which pH a precipitate from the whey permeate began to form. The final pH was 6.8.
Similar procedures were carried out, except in the second procedure the pH was raised to 7.2; in the third procedure the permeate was heated to 180F and then the potassium hydroxide was added until a pH of 7.2 was reached;
and in the fourth procedure, the permeate was heated to 180F
and the pH was raised with potassium hydroxide to only 5.7.
In each of the procedures, the precipitate was removed from the supernate by centrifugation and the supernate was recovered, although the solids content of the recovered /~
D
~ * Trademark l~U~350 supernate varied with the procedures. The su~ernate from each procedures was dried.
EXA~IPLE II
P EPARATION OF THE SUPERNATE
The first procedure of Example I was repeated except that the permeate was treated with calcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide in separate pro-cedures. The supernate of each procedure was recovered and each could not be distinguished from the supernates of Example I, other than the presence of the calcium or magnesium or sodium ions, as opposed to the potassium ion.
EXAMPLE III
PREPARATION OF THE SUPERNATE
Twenty-five hundred gallons of raw acid whey from cottage cheese were fed to a Westfalia*separator operated at a bowl speed of 1600 rpms. The feed rate of the acid whey was 1600 gallons per hour. The sludge from the separator, containing casein fines and other insolubles, was discarded and the clarified acid whey was recovered. The pH of the clarified acid whey was about 4.4. The total amount of clarified acid whey recovered was about 2450 gallons. To the recovered clarified acid whey were added 45 lbs. of calcium hydroxide, in 5 lb. additions, until the pH stabilized at about 7.3. This, essentially, neutralized whey was then fed to the ~estfalia*separator with a bowl speed of 1600 rpms and at a feed rate of about 800 gallons per hour. About 315 1~
~L~ * Trademark gallons of wetted precipitate was removed as the sediment from the separator and the supernate was recovered. The super-nate was heated to 180F and a precipitate formed. The whey was cooled and fed to the Westfalia*separator and wetted pre-cipitate was removed as sediment from the separator and thesupernate was recovered.
EXAMPLE IV
PREPARATION OF THE SUPERN~TE
. _ .
Clarified acid cottage cheese whey (pH 4.0-4.5) was adjusted in pH to 3.5 with HCl (citric acid may also be used) to increase permeability of the non-protein elements components and to reduce membrane fouling. The whey was fractionated with a Westinghouse*ultra-filtration membrane D-150, so as to produce essentially de-proteinated whey permeate.
The permeate was adjusted to a pH of 8.0 with NaOH to cause precipitation of the ash. After heating to 195F for 15 minutes, the suspension was cooled and the solids were removed by centrifugation. The supernate was spray dried in a conventional box dried (320F inlet/190F
outlet alr) to provide a white, free-flowin~ powder.
EXAMPLE V
PREPARATION OF THE SUPERNATE
- Clarified cottage cheese whey is passed through an ultra-filtration membrane (Abcor*Ultra-Filtration Membrane for Cheese Whey). The permeate was adjusted to a 6.5~ solids B
~ * Trademar~

1~0~350 by evaporation and autoclaved at 250F for 15 minutes. The precipitate is removed by centrifugation. The supernate is neutralized with i~aO~I to ~H of 7.2 and separated from the resulting precipitate by centrifugation.
E"~lPLE VI
PREPARAI'ION OF THE MILK SUBSTITUTE
Clarified cottage cheese whey is passed through an ultra-filtration membrane (Romacon*U.F. Membrane) and the permeate therefrom is collected and neutralized with calcium hydroxide to a pH of about 7.2 and precipitation is allowed to take place. Precipitate ranged in size from colloidal size to flocculent. The supernate was separated from the precipitate by passing the supernate through an ultra-filtration membrane with upper limit of 50,000 mole-cular weight. The resulting supernate was about 6% solids.Commercially a~ailable calcium caseinate was added at room temperature to the supernate in a ratio of 5 parts of the caseinate to 95 parts of the supernate, on a solids basis.
Thereafter, the mixture was pasteurized. Part of the pasteur-ized mixture was concentrated by vacuum panning and part ofthe mixture was dried by a conventional box-type spray drier (320F inlet/190F outlet air) to a reconstitutible free-flowing powder.
The concentrated mixture was used totally in place of milk in a conventional white bread composition containing bleached wheat flour, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, sugar, _ ~ _ ~ * Trademark ~1~0350 salt and baker's yeast. The dough was allowed to proof in a conventional manner and was baked at 400F for 30 minutes.
As a comparison, the same composition was prepared, proofed and baked under the same conditions, with the exception that high heat non-fat milk solids (high heat solids) were used in ~lace of.the present milk substitute.
A comparison panel evaluated the two baked products and concluded that the products were indistinguishable in appearance, texture, mouth feel and taste.
A similar test was conducted with the dried milk substitute wherein an amount of the spray dried powder was reconstituted with water to provide a 8.5~ solids concentration.
Otherwise, the ingredients and procedures were the same.
Here again, the panel concluded that the baked goods prepared with the high heat solids and the baked goods prepared with the dried milk substitute were indistinguishakle.
PLE VII
PREPARA~ION OF THE MILK SUBSTITUTE
The procedure of ~xample VI was repeated, with the exception that the base used for neutralization was sodium hydroxide and the leavenable composition was a conventional cake composition, i.e., bleached wheat flour, shortening, ~ sugar, salt, vanilla flavoring and baking powder. Again, comparison cakes were produced with both the liquid milk substitute and the dried milk substitute and in each case the baked cakes were indistinguishable from the cake baked with high heat solids.

, 11(~C~3SO

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the objects of the invention have been achieved. It will also be appreciated that various modifications are apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, sweet whey may S be used in lieu of the acid whey of the examples. In doing so, the sweet whey must first be acidified by adding a food-grade acid thereto, e.g., a mineral acid such as HCl or Y,2SO4 or an organic acid such as acetic acid or lactic acid, etc., until a pH of less than 5 is reached. Thereafter, the acidified sweet whey is treated in the same manner as that illustrated above in connection with the acid whey.
For some unl;nown reason, if acidification of the sweet whey is not accomplished, the ash will not precipitate therefrom when adding the defined bases. Thus, the term "whey" in the specification and claims should be so construed. Also, while at least 50% of the mil~ normally used in the various compositions may be replaced by the present milk substitute, the amount may be much lower (or higher). Thus, any desired portion of the milk may be replaced, e.g., 1% replaced to 100% replaced, but usually at least 10% and more usually at least 30~ will be replaced. Most products, however, will have at least 75% replaced. Finally, it will be appreciated that mixtures of the defined bases and caseinates may be used and the claims are to be so construed.

~3 _ ~ _

Claims (34)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined are defined as follows:

1. In a leavenable food composition containing a cereal, shortening and milk, the improvement wherein at least 10% of the milk is replaced by a milk substi-tute which is a combination of (a) de-proteinated and de-ashed whey, and (b) a food-grade alkali, alkaline earty or ammonium neutralized caseinate, and wherein the ratio of said whey to said caseinate is from 100:1 to 100:50 and wherein at least 60% of the protein and ash content of the said whey has been removed.

2. The food composition of claim 1 wherein the milk is selected from whole milk, skim milk, dry milk solids and non-fat dry milk solids, and at least 50% of the milk is replaced by the said milk substitute.

3. The food composition of claim 2 wherein the leavened volume of the food composition with the milk substitute therein is at least equal to the leavened volume f the food composition made with all milk.

4. The food composition of claim 1 wherein the caseinate is a sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium of ammonium caseinate.

5. The food composition of claim 4 wherein the food is a bread, the caseinate is calcium saseinate, the milk is high heat non-fat milk solids and at least 75% of the milk is replaced by the milk substitute and the leavened volume of the bread with the milk substitute therein is at least equal to the leavened volume of the bread made with all milk.

6. The food composition of claim 4 wherein the food composition is a cake, the caseinate is sodium caseinate, the milk is high heat non-fat milk solids and at least 75% of the milk is replaced by the milk substi-tute and the leavened volume of the cake with the milk substitute therein is at least equal to the leavened volume of the cake made with all milk.

7. The food composition of claim 1 wherein the solids contents of the whey is within + 35% the solids content of milk.

8. The food composition of claim 1 wherein the food is bread and the ratio of the said whey to caseinate is from 100:3 to 100:10, on a solids basis.

9. The food composition of claim 1 wherein the food is cake and the ratio of the said whey to caseinate is from 100:10 to 100:35, on a solids basis.

10. The food composition of claim 1 wherein at least 80% of the protein and ash have been removed from the whey.

11. The food composition of claim 10 wherein at least 90% of the protein has been removed from the whey.

12. The food composition of claim 11 wherein at least 90% of the ash has been removed from the whey.

13. The food composition of claim 1 wherein the leavening is a yeast leavening.

14. The food composition of claim 1 wherein the leavening is achieved by mechanical action leavening.

15. A method for producing a milk substitute for replacing at least 10% of the milk contained in a cereal/shortening/milk leavenable food composition com-prising:
(1) removing at least 60% of the ash from whey by neutralizing the whey to a pH of 5 to 9 and allowing the insolubilized ash to precipitate from resulting supernate;
(2) removing at least 60% of the protein from the resulting supernate by at least one step of (a) raising the temperature of the supernate to at least 175°F and allowing the protein to precitate, and (b) passing the supernate through an ultra-filtration mem-brane which retains the protein;
(3) recovering the resulting de-proteinated and de-ashed whey supernate; and (4) mixing the said supernate with an alkali, alkaline earth or ammonium caseinate in ratios, respectively of between 100:1 to 100:50.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the ash precipitate is removed from the resulting supernate prior to step 2(b).

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the order of steps 1 and 2(a) are reversed.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the pH of step is from 6.0 to 8Ø

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the temperature of step 2(b) is at least 180°F.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the ultra-filtration membrane prevents passage of molecules with molecular weights greater than 50,000.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein the supernate is dried prior to step 4.

22. The method of claim 15 wherein the mixture of the supernate and caseinate is dried.

23. The method of claim 15 wherein steps 1 and 2(a) are carried out simultaneously.

24. The method of claim 15 where steps 2(a) and 2(b) are both carried out.

25. A milk substitute for use in a leavenable food composition, comprising, in combination:
(a) de-proteinated and de-ashed whey; and (b) a food-grade alkali, alkaline earth or ammonium neutralized caseinate; and wherein the ratio of the said whey to the said caseinate is between 100:1 to 100:50 and at least 60% of the protein and ash content of the said whey has been removed.

26. The milk substituete of claim 25 wherein the caseinate is sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium of ammonium caseinate.

27. The milk substitute of claim 25 wherein the solids contents of the whey is within ? 35% the solids content of milk.

28. The milk substitute of claim 25 wherein the ratio of the said whey to caseinate is from 100:3 to 100:35, on a solids basis.

29. The milk substitute of claim 28 wherein the said ratio is from 100:10 to 100:35.

30. The milk substitute of claim 25 wherein at least 80% of the protein and ash have been removed from the whey.

31. The milk substitute of claim 30 wherein at least 90% of the protein has been removed from the whey.

32. The milk substitute of claim 31 wherein at least 90% of the ash has been removed from the whey.

33. The milk substitute of claim 25 in a dry form.

34. The milk substitute of claim 25 in a liquid form.