Veggie Food for Thought

Our Daily Bread

Despite the claims to be ‘wholemeal’ or ‘fresh’, most bread from supermarkets or big commercial bakery chains is jam-packed with rubbish. Our daily bread wasn’t always like this!  Since World War II, bread manufacturers have done their best to produce bread as quickly as possible – meaning bigger profits to them and worse health for us. Making bread rise more quickly means that more gluten has to be added, along with other dodgy extras such as ‘chemical improvers’, hydrogenated or fractionised fats, extra salt and extra yeast. Such ingredients don’t necessarily have to be listed separately under the law, either.  It’s no coincidence that gluten and yeast allergies are on the rise – far higher than pre-war.  Not only this, but the nutritional quality has gone down, not to mention the fibre content. Commercial bread-making has a big role to play in all these problems.

So, what do you do if you want good quality, unadulterated bread?

• Buy stoneground organic (preferably wholemeal) if possible – but whatever you do, try to avoid bread with lots of additives. Big supermarkets do carry some bread that is of good quality – eg Duchy brand.
• Or – get a breadmaker and make your own. Prices range from £37 to the hundreds, but one of the best rated is around £76. A breadmaker is easy to use and will pay for itself quickly. You stick in the ingredients at night and have a fresh baked loaf in the morning! Alternatively, use it to make the dough and then bake in the oven.