Artisan Bread

80% of the bread sold in the UK is made by the industrial Chorleywood Process in large plants, in fact 50% of all bread is made by just two companies. Only 3% is made by independent master bakers, the rest being accounted for by in-store bakeries. The closure of small independent bakers is a feature of life in Somerset that many have responded to by purchasing breadmakers. Whilst the bread they make may be an improvement on most of what is available in supermarkets the type of bread that can be made in them is restricted by the process, thus a new category of loaf, the breadmaker loaf, has been born. Breadmakers have however resulted in people becoming more interested in the bread making process and the ingredients used. Other factors influencing the UK bread market are the rise in pre-packed sandwich sales, increased intolerance to wheat and the Atkins Diet.

What is in our loaf today?

The loaf we eat today differs from that sold in the past in a number of regards. Firstly the wheat grown has been engineered to be more disease resistant and give higher yields. Compressed yeast (grown on sugar beet molasses) is used in place of brewers yeast or natural leavening agents but whilst in the 1930’s yeast accounted for around 0.5% of the finished product 1.75-2% is common today in order to get the bread to rise more quickly. Thus a process that used to take between 16 and 24 hours now takes around 3. Enzymes known as “flour improvers” are also used to boost the loaf volume and the softness of the crumb.

What are the alternatives?

Genuine artisan bakers can be found who still produce a traditional loaf. In addition to eschewing the use of flour improvers and using either natural leavens or small quantities of bakers yeast these bakers will often include within their range breads made with spelt, an ancient variety of wheat, which some people who have registered a reaction against modern wheat can tolerate. The longer proving time involved in making these breads allows a fuller flavour to develop. The bread will have a good crust and a chewy crumb as well as being more digestible. Miller John Lister of Shipton Mill conducted tests with his local allergy clinic using loaves fermented for different time periods. He found that people with wheat allergies were unable to eat bread fermented for less than 10 hours but with dough fermented for 10 hours or more their problems either disappeared or were less severe.

You could of course make traditional bread at home. Whilst the proving time is longer than that given in a breadmaker you don’t need to do anything during this time. These loaves are often referred to as “overnight risen”, although of course you could allow them to rise during the day! The process can be remarkably flexible and even the kneading phase becomes less critical in slowly made breads.