A real bread has nothing more in it than good quality flour, water, yeast and salt. The type of flour, the process (kneading, shaping) and the yeast all contribute to the creation of dozens of different types of breads – from a basic white loaf to a fancy French baguette.
Our Breads
- Sourdough – Bread risen using a natural starter or levan without the use of commercial yeasts.
- Yeasted breads – Risen using a organic Bioreal® yeast (the only commercially available organic yeast in Europe as fas as I can tell!)
A few notes on the ingredients and process we use
Salt:
Salt is an essential part of the bread making process. It acts as a flavour enhancer, it helps strengthen the gluten, helps to create a nice brown crust and acts as a mild preservative.
Current FSA guidelines are to have no more than 1% salt in the finished loaf, so a loaf made with 500g of flour plus water ends up at about 650-700g cooked weight, so it would have 7g of salt added. That’s just over a level teaspoonful, and would represent a shade over 100% of your daily recommended intake of salt at 6g/day. (so don’t eat a whole loaf in a day!) If you would like a loaf with less (or more!) salt as a special order, please let us know.
Nuts, seeds, etc.
We use these in the kitchen and may produce bread, tray-bakes, etc. containing them. (Note that some of malted wheat flours we use may contain various seeds e.g. sesame. Please check the label and ask if you are not sure)
Gluten
We don’t add gluten, but the Wheat, Spelt and Rye flours we use all contain gluten which is not suitable for people with Coeliac disease.
Ferment/Rise time
Real bread takes time to make – up to 9 hours for the initial ferment or rise, then a further 1 to 2 hours “proving” before being fired in a hot oven. Its something well worth waiting for!
Flour sources
All out breads are made with organic flour from various mills. Typically FWP Martthews Ltd who are based in the Cotswolds, England.