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Plant-based ingredients specialist Roquette has unveiled Wellence GF 1229, a new functional ingredient solution designed to boost performance and quality in gluten-free baked goods.

Wellence GF 1229 is a novel cellulosic hydrocolloid designed to support processing flexibility. According to Roquette, it delivers increased bread volume and slice height, a finer and more consistent crumb structure, and softer texture retained over time.

While consumer interest in gluten-free products continues to grow, challenges such as poor dough texture and handling, insufficient loaf volume, uneven crumb structure and loss of softness are holding back product quality.

Recent European research highlighted quality and availability as important considerations for gluten-free consumers, while another study found that only 10% of global bakery launches in 2025 carried a gluten-free claim, despite 45% of consumers expressing interest in these foods.

Wellence GF 1229 aims to help fill the gap, suitable for use in a wide range of product applications such as loaves and bread rolls, bagels, pizza dough and more.

According to Roquette, the solution increased bread volume by 23% versus the market benchmark in recent application trials. Meanwhile, loaves made with the ingredient demonstrated approximately 50% lower instrumental hardness after 21 days, and customer trials have highlighted ‘strong proofing and loaf expansion,’ as well as improvements to texture, crumb structure and mixing performance.

The solution benefits from a low recommended usage level, delivering improved cost-in-use, and can be easily integrated into established baking processes. For manufacturers already using cellulosic hydrocolloid solutions, in the case of like-for-like substitutions, no labelling changes are required, Roquette said.

Matthieu Ramette, innovation project leader at Roquette, said: “Wellence GF 1229 shows what is possible when we put the consumer experience at the heart of formulation”.

“By expanding our gluten-free portfolio, we are giving bakers new tools to solve some of the category’s toughest challenges and to create breads that people want to come back to.”

Wellence GF 1229 will be presented officially at Food Ingredients Europe, taking place in Frankfurt, Germany, from 17-19 November 2026.