The benefits of soy protein are being highlighted at Northern Crops Institute’s Baking with Soy course attended by 12 bakers and food scientists, ingredient suppliers and supply chain managers from Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. The class began Aug. 5 and concludes Aug. 9 at the institute on the NDSU campus.

The World Initiative for Soy in Human Health is co-sponsoring the course. The initiative, created in 2000, is a program of the American Soybean Association that brings the nutritional benefits of U.S. soy protein to people in developing countries.

“By incorporating soy flour into their daily diets, we hope that undernourished people can improve their nutritional status through increased protein and other benefits,” institute director Mark Weber said, noting another Baking with Soy course is planned for October for another group from Africa.

Clyde Stauffer of Technical Foods Consultants, Cincinnati, is the lead instructor. His lectures focus on the various functional properties of adding soy to baked products. Stauffer also leads sessions on calculating calories, using cost spreadsheets and the various kinds of wheat and their flour characteristics. 

Thunyaporn Jeradechachai, institute quality specialist, and institute food technologists Rachel Carlson and Natsuki Fujiwara are leading hands-on baking laboratory sessions.

Stephanie Sinner, North Dakota Soybean Council director of marketing, welcomed participants on the first day of class. On Friday, Aug. 9, attendees will tour the Todd Weber family farm near Wheatland, N.D.

Northern Crops Institute supports regional agriculture and value-added processing by conducting educational and technical programs that expand and maintain domestic and international markets for northern-grown crops. The institute is funded by the states of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota and commodity groups in those states and Montana.