"Real" wholemeal bread vs "spongy" sliced w/m bread?

100% agree with MOnica. If it is not good enough for the ducks in the park why are we expected to eat it... (Personally rye bread only. Hard to find, slows meals as you really need to chew - but no digestive problems or headaches since 2000 - the year I stopped eating refined). One slice = at least 2 paste bread.

I make whole meal loaves in my bread maker - three a week.It is lovely and without additives.I rarely buy shop bread except for occasional burger buns.

My local Waitrose hasn't had Cranks for ages. 🙁

Oreo

The reason many things including bread doesn’t taste as good as it used to is low salt.
Salt is what brings out the flavour in cooking and health diktats means that very low amounts are used.

I don't believe this - "real" bread is delicious (my husband's no salt breads are all delicious).
That includes rye, spelt, khorasan, einkorn, yeasted, sodabread or sourdough

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202402/medium-236981-img-2116.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202402/medium-228033-img-2117.jpeg

A couple of the many bread recipes from the 1982 edition of The Cranks Recipe Book

When I enquired in Waitrose yesterday, the partner looked it up and confirmed that Cranks bread was ‘ no longer on the system’
The space on the shelf where it formerly sat was full of Jason’s bread.

It's sad to learn that Cranks have ceased producing their "Whole Lotta Loaf". Substitutes like the Heyford loaf will have to stand in for this absence, at least for now. Really, though, it looks like homebaking is the way forward over the longer term. . .

Many thanks for the input.

The Heyford loaf at Waitrose? Hmm, that sounds interesting! Thanks for the suggestion.

there is a great real bread campaign these days which explains all the differences, its just like the old days we had a real ale campaign

www.sustainweb.org/realbread/

shysal

Each time I try sliced wholemeal bread I detect a bitterness which has put me off. Instead I buy multigrain or seeded.

Same for me.
I thought I was the only one, judging by the fuss my mum made when I said I didn't like it.

Oreo

The reason many things including bread doesn’t taste as good as it used to is low salt.
Salt is what brings out the flavour in cooking and health diktats means that very low amounts are used.

I home make every food we eat, breads included.

I use 1t salt, 1t sugar, 1t yeast, 3+c flour, water - that means 1 loaf has daily salt for a person. We eat a slice (or equivalent of my other sorts of bread) at meals. How could the salt in 3 portions of bread be a health issue?

That's bad news about Cranks bread.

shysal, bitter if using old stale flour

I like Jason’s bread - sold in most supermarkets. My favourite is the seeds and grains.

Each time I try sliced wholemeal bread I detect a bitterness which has put me off. Instead I buy multigrain or seeded.

What I notice is the bread I make myself in the bread maker will last only a couple of days, three at most before it goes stale. Bought bread lasts 5 or 6 days. What are they adding and is it unhealthy ? Same applies to fruit and veggies. I found some old shop bought strawberries at the back of the fridge, a couple of weeks old. They didn’t have a mark on them which I found very scary. Maybe they will invent something to keep us from going off and old whilst they’re at it ?

I have a cranks recipe book and actually made one of their recipes yesterday. I loved their food right from the start, when cranks came into being and I have been a bread maker for 55 years. In my genes btw

wrt bread, I make cranks-type bread a lot. Very basic simple recipes, not a lot of yeast and certainly no improvers. I don`t eat shop bought bread at all. My loaf this week was made from einkorn flour, low gluten, an ancient wheat and very tasty and satisfyingly dense

Findout if you have a local artisan baker. There may be one at your local farmers market.

Sadly our local baker closed after over 30years in business, but we found asomeone else local, working on a smaller scale, who sells at our local Farmers Market.

We are on the move, and I ahve already researched where the local proper baker is.

Sainsbury has a pretty decent wheat and rye sourdough half-loaf and there are other variations in the range. TTD as you'd expect.

Wasn't Crank's the first vegetarian/ vegan restaurant in London during the 60's?

Waitrose bakery section do a small organic wholemeal bloomer, unsliced, which reminds me of the bread I used to buy years ago from Cranks bakery.

I make all my own bread as I have never found a good supermarket bread.
I make a wholemeal no knead recipe and a sourdough.
I have my grandchildren staying at the moment, they just want to eat my homemade bread and homemade butter!
It’s flour water salt and starter for the sourdough and flour, water yeast, oil and salt for the wholemeal.
So simple.
If I have potato water I use that, it gives extra rise.

I love Cranks bread, so emailed them to see what the situation is. Received this reply -

Some bread that looks at first sight as though it is wholemeal is actually just "brown" bread and has none of the outer part of the wheat in it at all. It should be labelled as "brown bread" not as "wholemeal bread"
It’s often thought that ‘Brown’ bread is made from wholemeal flour. This is not the case as it is simply white flour bread with additives to make it look brown, such as caramel taylorsofbruton.co.uk/newsletter/quick-guide-to-bread-flours/

Bread and Flour Regulations 1998
"Wholemeal - all the flour used as an ingredient in the preparation of the bread must be wholemeal. The term “wholemeal” is not defined in law, however it is
generally accepted that wholemeal flour is the entire wheat grain, which contains the bran and the germ."
"Wheat germ – the bread must have an added processed wheat germ content of at least 10% calculated on the dry matter of the bread."
"Other descriptions of bread, such as “white”, “brown”, “stone-ground” are not specifically prescribed by law. However, the use of such descriptions will be subject to the rules of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 – “where there is no name
prescribed by law for a food, the name used must be sufficiently precise to inform the purchaser of the true nature of the food and must not mislead"
"Note that as part of these legislative changes, the use of the flour bleaching agents, e.g. chlorine and chlorine dioxide is no longer allowed. Therefore claims for the use of unbleached flour are meaningless and should be avoided."
www.spab.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/MillsSection/Planning_Download_Bread_and_Flour_Regulations.pdf

The reason many things including bread doesn’t taste as good as it used to is low salt.
Salt is what brings out the flavour in cooking and health diktats means that very low amounts are used.