Notes on Real Bread

The Real Bread Campaign is part of charity called Sustain, which does great things to promote better food and farming practices in the UK.

The aim of the Real Bread Campaign is to encourage bakeries and individuals to bake bread without all the chemicals, additives and other unnecessary rubbish that goes to create the pappy, pasty excuse for bread they sell in supermarkets. And don't even get me started on the abomination that is crustless bread - if it doesn't have a crust it is NOT bread!

To qualify as Real Bread it must be free from artificial additives and contain only the 4 main ingredients of bread (although you can add natural and additive free things such as nuts, seeds, fruit etc.). These are:
Flour
Water
Salt
Yeast

And that's it. Mass produced bread contains all sorts of other nasties to make the dough rise quicker and the loaf last longer. The altering of the bread making process in this way has changed our bread into something that many people find difficult to digest, and it's thought that it has led to the increase in allergies and intolerances to wheat and gluten.

Real Bread requires a longer fermentation process which means that it is much easier to digest and much better for you. The only problem with Real Bread is that once you start eating it, you will never want to go back to the crappy supermarket stuff!

It just so happens that the 11th-17th May is Real Bread Maker Week: a national week of celebration for the wonder that is Real Bread and the people who make it. I'll be celebrating Real Bread Maker Week by posting recipes for different kinds of Real Bread: the basic loaf, sourdough and baguettes, all of which are things I love to eat at home, and I hope you will too!

Happy Real Bread Maker Week everyone!