It’s Real Bread Week

Created and run since 2010 by the Real Bread Campaign, Real Bread Week encourages people to bake and buy real bread where ‘real’ is bread made with just flour, water and salt - the yeast being a ‘wild’ fermented culture developed from flour and water.

Others would disagree and argue that commercial yeast is a fine product, but the choice between them really boils down to personal preference - while wild yeast offers artisanal complexity and potential health benefits, commercial yeast provides convenience and reliability.

So, leaving you with that decision we’re talking about bread today because baking bread yourself makes sense for your health and the health of the planet.

Health Benefits of Home Baked Bread

When you bake bread at home, you have complete control over the ingredients you use. You can avoid artificial unhealthy fats, sugars, flour treatment agents, emulsifiers, enzymes and preservatives often found in commercially made bread. By opting for whole grains and organic ingredients, you can boost the nutritional content of your bread and tailor it to your dietary needs.

And who can resist home baked bread fresh from the oven? By avoiding the prolonged storage and transportation times associated with store-bought bread, you can enjoy the taste and texture of bread at its peak!

Environmental Benefits of Home Baked Bread

By baking with local ingredients you can support regional producers and reduce the environmental impact of long-distance transportation and if you can source local organic flour it can help promote sustainable agriculture practices.

Take a look at the flour from these mills:
Burcott Mill (Burcott) Stoates (Dorset) Wessex Mill(Wessex)
and check out local stockists of some or all of them:
Wells - The Good Earth, Glastonbury - EarthFare

Buying flour in paper packaging versus commercial made loaves wrapped in plastic has surely got to be better. And to keep your bread fresh at home why not craft a fabric bread bag? (click the link for pdf and video instructions)

Another benefit of baking at home is that you can make efficient use of your oven by adding a loaf to an already hot oven, baking multiple loaves at once, or why not get busy with the yeast and make some Chelsea Buns and a loaf!

Here are a few recipes to try:

Click on the image for Wholemeal Bread Recipes from BBC Good Food including this delicious seeded loaf.

Click on the image to download a recipe for Focaccia and info on how to use the same dough for
Caramelised Onion and Mustard Seed Flatbread.

Click on the image to download a recipe for a rich Swedish Dill Bread

If you have recipes to share please send them to sustwells@gmail.com