Characterization of a bigel-based margarine substitute for laminated pastries using beeswax and carnauba wax blends

Consumer awareness of the health risks associated with saturated fats has driven the food industry to seek healthier alternatives, particularly for challenging applications like puff pastry. Bigels, hybrids of hydrogels and oleogels, represent a promising clean-label solution for laminating fats. This research investigated binary bigel systems, consisting of 70% oleogel and 30% hydrogel, with varying ratios of heterogeneous carnauba wax (CRW) to homogeneous beeswax (BEW) (14:0–0:14) in the oil phase, while characterizing their microstructural, thermal, and rheological properties. All formulations exhibited a hydrogel-in-oleogel organization; microscopy revealed that CRW promoted finer droplet dispersion, while the 7:7 ratio formed a dense, synergistic crystalline network. Furthermore, wax proportions effectively modulated melting transitions, with CRW significantly enhancing thermal stability and delaying mechanical softening. Mechanical analysis revealed a synergistic effect of the waxes, with hardness peaking at 7:7 ratio. Notably, bigel performance during baking showed a distinct trend where the 14:0 and 7:7 formulations demonstrated superior lamination capabilities, which correlated more strongly with a high structural recovery and better thermal stability than with hardness alone. Although bigel-based pastries exhibited lower specific volume than the margarine reference, they achieved comparable aesthetic and textural qualities. These results demonstrate that binary wax networks can create tunable systems that withstand baking conditions with only 70% total fat and 4 wt% saturated fat (compared to 80% and 42 wt% in margarine, respectively). These findings provide a pathway for designing healthier fat replacers that maintain the structural integrity required for high-quality laminated pastries.