Ultra processed bread

Most of the big brand pre sliced breads are ultra processed nowadays. This is why we bought a breadmaker a few months ago so we can cut down on additives.

Jason's Sourdough seems to be the least processed. They do a loaf with sunflower seeds. I've bought this from Sainsburys but I don't know who else stocks it.

I have just come up to bed after preparing my sourdough after its bulk rise, it will now sit in the fridge ready to bake at some stage tomorrow.

Ingredients are flour, water and salt.

I add a seeded flour and sometimes just a handful of seeds instead.

It’s easy, cheap and nutritious and exactly as bread was made in biblical times.

I use the method and recipe by Elaine Boddy, she is all over the internet and has written books.

Aldi do a pretty good sliced seeded sourdough, it’s softer than the very chewy (and expensive) Waitrose seeded sourdough. Jason’s so a nice one that is also expensive but a better size slice for toasting. They are made with fermented flour. The only Hovis loaf I’ve found that is fairly free if YPFs is their soft white batch loaf, not seeded though, all their seeded bread is high in UOFs and unrecognisable ingredients. Jackson’s are as bad. Well done for reading the ingrdiebts list, it’s amazing that so few people bother.

If you use Facebook there is a good page called Go UPF Free, which is worth following.

Sorry for typos!

Any bread from a supermarket will be Ultra processed, even the ones on the binstore bakery area. However the most processed are all those made by manufacturers like arburtons, Mother's Pride etc. The most processed loaf is the Toasty.

Ideally the only place to buy bread is from a proper old fashioned baker, but this is expensive and, as I have discovered, since we moved area they cannot always be found.

The best compromise, if you cannot access a baker is a loaf from the bakery counter in a shop like Waitrose.

Sago

I have just come up to bed after preparing my sourdough after its bulk rise, it will now sit in the fridge ready to bake at some stage tomorrow.

Ingredients are flour, water and salt.

I add a seeded flour and sometimes just a handful of seeds instead.

It’s easy, cheap and nutritious and exactly as bread was made in biblical times.

I use the method and recipe by Elaine Boddy, she is all over the internet and has written books.

Thank you Sago !

Not all ultra processed foods are equally bad, it's a very broad term and the key, as always, is a balanced diet.

Ultra-processed foods: how bad are they for your health? - BHF share.google/lI7MRVQkDV8FOwaOg

I don't buy it but I don't think the Aldi loaf is considered an UPF.

Here's what's in it:
Wheat Flour (with added Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water,
Sourdough Culture,
Mixed Seeds (Brown Linseed, Millet Seeds, Golden Linseed, Sunflower Seeds, Poppy Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds), Rye Flour,
Malted Wheat Flakes,
Wheat Bran,
Malted Barley Flour,
Salt

No commercial yeast or added emulsifiers etc.

​The culture is fermented and grown in the UK by Nicholas & Harris, who are apparently an artisanal craft bakery based in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Ocado have Gails sourdough - we have that or buy from Hambletons in Oakham and the Rutland area- expensive but we have cut down our consumption of bread dramatically.

Thanks for that link Old Frill

Supermarket bread is ultra processed junk. I buy my bread from a local Baker...made with organic flour and no nasties in. it. I also have a bread maker.... lovely bread and only 3 ingredients.

Ultra processed also takes into account the amount of processes a food has to go through in order to produce the end product, too, doesn't it?
In which case i would think most foodstuffs are ultra processed.

Warburtons thick sliced bread for toasting is my favourite bread.
I have probably 4 slices per week as a treat.
Such a pleb me.

‘Bread is the staff of life’

How times change, we all seem to be frightened to eat a slice of bread nowadays.

🍞

Samsara1

Ocado have Gails sourdough - we have that or buy from Hambletons in Oakham and the Rutland area- expensive but we have cut down our consumption of bread dramatically.

Yes we have ordered Gail’s sourdough bread with Ocado and I think they also do Jason’s sourdough bread.

M0nica

Any bread from a supermarket will be Ultra processed, even the ones on the binstore bakery area. However the most processed are all those made by manufacturers like arburtons, Mother's Pride etc. The most processed loaf is the Toasty.

Ideally the only place to buy bread is from a proper old fashioned baker, but this is expensive and, as I have discovered, since we moved area they cannot always be found.

The best compromise, if you cannot access a baker is a loaf from the bakery counter in a shop like Waitrose.

So agree about Supermarket bread being UP. Even Waitrose.
Our local farm shop is stocked by an Artisan Baker who delivers 3 times a week. The bread is wonderful but expensive as you will pay £2.49 for a small loaf and £5 for a couple of Danish pastries and £7 for an apple tart. They do very well.

M&S do a loaf described as "Only 6 Ingredients Sunflower Seed and Spelt Sliced Toasting Loaf", The ingredient list is: "Wheatflour* 287g
Malted Wheatflour 4g
Fermented Wheatflour 1g
Water 224g
Sunflower Seeds 42g
Spelt Grains 42g
Salt 4g
Yeast 1g

Sago

I have just come up to bed after preparing my sourdough after its bulk rise, it will now sit in the fridge ready to bake at some stage tomorrow.

Ingredients are flour, water and salt.

I add a seeded flour and sometimes just a handful of seeds instead.

It’s easy, cheap and nutritious and exactly as bread was made in biblical times.

I use the method and recipe by Elaine Boddy, she is all over the internet and has written books.

Which flour do you use, please?

I think the price is what deters many people from buying healthier bread. We love bread but is just two of us and we don’t eat a lot so we can afford a more expensive loaf but I imagine is not the same for a family.

I can't remember where, but I read that Jason's is not as healthy as other sourdough brands. I like that it is a better shape for the toaster.
I am fortunate to have a bakery in my village, but it would be very expensive for a family. Their cheese and Marmite is delicious but costs over £4 for a small loaf, so is an occasional treat only for me.
It is a shame that the tastiest filling for a sandwich is bacon, which is ultra processed!

There are plenty of supermarket loaves that are considered UPF-free, it’s wrong to condemn them all. Read the ingredients lists, just avoid those with ingredients you would neither recognise individually, nor find in your kitchen (eg emulsifiers).

The Real Bread Company defines “fermented flour” as a processed ingredient, there has been an ongoing row with Jason’s because they use it in their widely available sourdough, they maintain it is not ultra-processed.

I enjoy making bread by hand, the traditional way with flour, yeast, salt, water, and I like to add a little butter and honey, plus various seeds. But in my electric oven it is a lot more expensive to bake my own than to buy a loaf, I don’t have freezer space for bread. Using a sourdough starter is great if you’re baking your own regularly.

Talking about supermarket in-store bakery counters, I prefer Morrisons as their loaves are wrapped, unlike Waitrose and M&S where the bread is exposed so it’s touched and squeezed by many fingers, French sticks stupidly placed in bins at just the right height for small children to cough over them, and already stale and dry by late morning because they’re not covered. Morrisons have super range, they’ll slice and re-bag it if asked, and at least it hasn’t had unwashed hands all over it.

Basgetti I use Waitrose own flour, their seeded one is excellent.

If I find my self in a farm shop I love to buy artisan flours.

Here’s today’s loaves

Calendargirl

‘Bread is the staff of life’

How times change, we all seem to be frightened to eat a slice of bread nowadays.

🍞

It’s not the bread it’s the crap like palm oil they are putting in it and the folic acid because they use a synthetic one.

I use an app called Yuka - I can scan barcodes on any food (and most other products ) and it tells me if it’s excellent, good or bad - the reason for the result and better alternatives. I was surprised at how badly some apparently healthy loaves scored.