IGDI will leverage Ginkgo’s adaptive laboratory evolution technology to improve its sourdough starter culture product
Il Granaio delle Idee (IGDI), an innovative international developer and provider of clean-label baking ingredients, and Ginkgo Bioworks, which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, announced a new collaboration. IGDI has identified a new sourdough bakery strain that can improve the flavour and aroma profile of baked goods via its starter culture product, Pater. This collaboration will leverage Ginkgo’s Adaptive Laboratory Evolution (ALE) technology to accelerate the growth rate of IGDI’s selected strain.
Lactic acid bacteria help give sourdough its distinctive taste. IGDI has used its proprietary technology to develop a product, Pater, that keeps lactic acid bacteria dispersed in flour, viable and stable over time. Pater is a shelf-stable, dried baking mix that can be used to make sourdough en masse, enabling artisanal and industrial bakers to expand their potential offerings of sourdough-based products. Bakers can use Pater to enhance the flavour, fragrance, structure, and colour of bread, improve digestibility, and extend bread freshness. Additionally, Pater can produce natural emulsifiers, and can thus lessen the reliance on chemical additives used widely in the baking industry.
IGDI would like to incorporate a new strain in Pater to further improve the flavour and aroma of baked goods. To grow this strain economically, IGDI will leverage Ginkgo’s ALE technology as it seeks to evolve the strain towards a higher growth rate. Ginkgo uses ALE as a fast, powerful strain development tool that can adapt strains to industrially-relevant conditions without gene editing.
