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© Old School Bakery 2015

Allergen advice

What is Real Bread?

Essentially Real Bread is made with just four ingredients: flour, water, Yeast (either commercial or a natural sourdough starter) and salt. Any other ingredients added should be natural (e.g. seeds, nuts, cheese, milk, malt extract, herbs, oils, fats and dried fruits) and themselves contain no artificial additives.

Slow is better

Modern mass produced bread is produced in very short process that introduces a number additional ingredients such as extra yeast, extra gluten, fat to improve crumb softness, reducing agents to help create stretchier doughs, soya flour to add volume and softness, emulsifiers to produce bigger, softer loaves and retard staling, preservatives - to extend shelf-life, and any of a wide variety of enzymes (see the BBC’s article on the Chorleywood Process). There is a growing belief that bread made in this way is significant in the growth of Gluten sensitivity in this country.

In the long slow fermentation that produces sourdough bread, important nutrients such as iron, zinc and magnesium, antioxidants, folic acid and other B vitamins become easier for our bodies to absorb moreover, gluten is broken down and rendered virtually harmless. Diabetics should note that sourdough produces a lower surge in blood sugar than any other bread. Even our loaves made using commercial yeast are risen slowly for improved flavour

Why stone-ground?

Bread made from the Old School Bakery is made using Organic Stone-ground flour ground in UK flour mills. Stone-ground milling creates flour that is more nutritious because in the grinding process the flour stays cool.  Rollers used in mass production mills heat up the flour, which kills most of the vitamins.  The high temperatures also cause the oils in the grain to turn rancid so flour created using a roller will spoil faster than stone milled flour

If you would like to know more about Real Bread try visiting http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/why_real_bread/