The answer to that question in a trial formulation lies somewhere between that moment and months of work later. Although the formula is still viable sensory-wise, even the best recipe may not meet the consumer-friendly labeling parameters sought by the marketing department, cost and equipment constraints.
With the purpose of helping formulators rise to these challenges, Bakery Innovative Technology (BIT Corp.[tm], Patchogue, N.Y.) launched the integration of Production, Recipe, Ingredient, Management Software (PRIMS[tm]) with Color-Tec's[tm] (Clinton, N.J.) Formulator[tm]. These Microsoft Windows-compatible software packages allow bakers to achieve an optimal formulation by guiding recipe development, testing, labeling and production scale-up. “Your R&D departments will know everything about the product--from how it will look to the length of its shelflife--before they even bake a test batch,” says Bob White, president of BIT Corp.