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The shocking truth about bread
Independent, The (London), Aug 24, 2006 by Andrew Whitley
So why are calcium propionate, amylase, chlorine dioxide and L- cysteine hydrochloride now crammed into our daily bread? Andrew Whitley, Britain's leading organic baker, reveals how our staple foodstuff was transformed into an industrial triumph, but a nutritional and culinary disaster. And, overleaf, he shares essential recipes for making your own slice of homemade heaven
Back in the early 1960s, the national loaf was fundamentally re- designed. The flour and yeast were changed and a combination of intense energy and additives completely displaced time in the maturing of dough. Almost all our bread has been made this way for nearly half a century. It is white and light and stays soft for days. It is made largely with home-grown wheat and it is cheap. For increasing numbers of people, however, it is also inedible.
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Now, as technology finds ever more ingenious ways to adulterate our bread, so science is revealing the havoc this may be causing to public health. As recent research suggests, we urgently need to rethink the way we make bread.
British industrial bread commands little respect. This isn't surprising when it is promoted with such mixed messages. Some loaves, described as having "premium" qualities, seem barely distinguishable from others being sold at less than the price of a postage stamp. "Healthy-eating" brands, adorned with images of nature and vitality, make detailed claims about the virtues of this or that added nutrient. But the big bakers keep quiet about nutrition when pushing their "standard" loaves, which still account for over half of the market and are sold on price alone.
You might think that keeping prices down would be a good way to increase sales. But with bread, low cost and low quality have become so intertwined that conventional economics are turned on their head. We produce some of the least expensive bread in Europe, but our bread consumption is also one of the lowest.
It will take more than clever branding or a little soya, linseed and omega-3 to dispel the prevailing image of British bread culture as one dominated by pap. If that seems a harsh judgement, take a look at what actually goes into your daily bread.
In 1961 the British Baking Industries Research Association in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, devised a bread-making method using lower-protein wheat, an assortment of additives and high speed mixing. Over 80 per cent of all UKbread is now made using this method and most of the rest uses a process called "activated dough development" (ADD), which involves a similar range of additives. So, apart from atiny percentage of bread, this is what we eat today.
The Chorleywood Bread Process (CBP) produces bread of phenomenal volume and lightness, with great labour efficiency and at low apparent cost. It isn't promoted by name. You won't see it mentioned on any labels. But you can't miss it. From the clammy sides of your chilled wedge sandwich to the flabby roll astride every franchised burger, the stuff is there, with a soft, squishy texture that lasts for many days until the preservatives can hold back the mould no longer. If bread forms a ball that sticks to the roof of your mouth as you chew, thank the Chorleywood Bread Process - but don't dwell on what it will shortly be doing to your guts.
This is Britain's bread: a technological marvel combining production efficiency with a compelling appeal to the lowest common denominator of taste. It is the very embodiment of the modern age.
In the box (below) is a breakdown of the additional ingredients - aside from flour, water, salt and yeast - in a typical CBP loaf. Bread made with just these four ingredients was the basis of my bakery business for 25 years. Even yeast (as an added ingredient) is unnecessary with natural leavens or sourdoughs. So it is reasonable to ask: are these ingredients necessary? And, if not, what are they doing in our bread?
Enzymes are modern baking's big secret. A loophole classifies them as "processing aids", which need not be declared on product labels. Additives, on the other hand, must be listed. Not surprisingly, most people have no idea that their bread contains added enzymes.
An enzyme is a protein that speeds up a metabolic reaction, and are extracted from plant, an-imal, fungal and bacterial sources. Chymosin, for example, is the enzyme used to curdle milk for cheese- making. It is either derived from rennet from a calf's stomach or synthesised by genetic engineering.
As you can see from the box, a whole host of enzymes are used in baking. Their status as processing aids is based on the assumption that they are "used up" in the production process and are therefore not really present in the final product. This is a deception that allows the food industry to manipulate what we eat without telling us. In their own trade literature, enzyme manufacturers extol the "thermostability" of this or that product' in other words its ability to have a lasting effect on the baked bread.
