Bread - ultra processed

[PineappleB]

I am trying to cutdown the amount of ultra processed food my family have. DC love bread- white bread , and they eat loads. Thought may be those baked in store would be better because they have shorter shelf lives, may 1-2 days. But just checked that they also have emulsifier. So are they equally bad?
Is home baked the only option? Have busy day to day life so really want to find easier way other than home baked to avoid Ultra processed bread.

yes, but you can pick them up on eBay. Ive had mine getting on 20 years

when cutting the bread, don't push - lightly cut with a saw action in a straight line. or get an electric knife

I slice the loaf in half, then slice each half separately. You end up with smaller slices but at least they are tidy!

I'd cut out more obvious nasties, like breakfast cereals, sweets, crisps, ready-meals etc

Panasonic is the best imo. Gorgeous bread, no nasties. You don't need to look for recipes - the bread maker comes with its own booklet of recipes and instructions. The order you put the ingredients in is important apparently, and it differs from breadmaker to breadmaker.

I had a cheap breadmaker - Morphy Richards, I think, and results are average. For last 20 years, I've had a Panasonic. I'm on my second one, and I would say it is worth the investment. I have a scoop in the flour - four scoops + 1sp salt + drizzle olive oil + a blob of fresh yeast (free from Tesco) + a cup of water.

Once you have a scoop and a cup that saves you weighing and measuring, it is a 2 min job. The basic recipe in the booklet (I think it's 600g flour and 400ml liquid) works every time. I also do brioche using same flour , yeast and salt, spoonful or two of sugar, butter instead of olive oil and milk and egg instead of water. Granary loaf is half white and half granary flour less a spoonful with same oil, salt, yeast etc.

Weekends, I tend to make baguettes and rolls in stand mixer, but the breadmaker gave me the confidence to try lots of other breads. The whole world makes bread - it's very easy once you get the technique right.

Definitely leave to cool before slicing. I sharpen my knives every week including bread knife. makes such a difference.

Had our panasonic for 6 years…used 4ish times a week for bread plus doughs for pizza etc…never had an issue! Don’t even clean it…brilliant thing!

Those with bread makers- would you say that's more electricity efficient in comparison to using an oven?

I have a v small kitchen and need some convincing.

It's heating a smaller area, though you could do multiple loaves in the oven, then freeze them. Don't forget it does all the kneading for you ...

Do lots of sawing but minimal pressing down with the knife when you cut.
I can cut slices less than 5mm from home made bread.

Edited to add: my bread knife is donkey’s years old and probably not very sharp!

Totally agree with those saying bread would be the last item to target when getting rid of UPF - unless you really want to make your own all the time.

There are so many more obvious targets such as ready meals, pizza, bought cakes, biscuits sweets, flavoured yoghurts, the list goes on and on.

That said, a bread maker is quick, convenient and the bread is much cheaper. If I'm making it, I only use flour, water, yeast, salt and olive oil in mine.

I buy the sliced sourdough from supermarket, seems the best option for us but not perfect. I'd be looking to reduce white bread first, it has such minimal nutritional value.

I would've agreed before. However, bread is an everyday food for most so if you do something about that the one change is more impactful.

Also, it's v likely OP is already avoiding all the other ones.

Thank you.

yes, Panasonic is the best, we are on our second, but it gets a LOT of use
It really is very very easy
also makes excellent pizza dough, so that's another UPF you can avoid

@GoldenKiwi get yerself a bread slicer https://www.amazon.co.uk/bread-slicer/s?k=bread+slicer

find a decent sourdough bakery. Roughly what part of the country are you in? We use Hoxton which is Southampton based but has shops all over Hampshire.

I totally agree with sunnylight

bread is an everyday staple and if you can switch that to homemade in a bread maker, it’s literally 2 minutes to make.

if your consuming 4 slices of bread a day at 2 meals, that could easily be 30% of your diet and it’s UPF. Get rid of that one item will drastically reduce your UPF intake

a child could have white sliced bread sandwich and cereal for breakfast and it’s 60% UPF every day

added to that homemade is cheaper

This is an illustration of why overly simplistic categorisations of good and bad foods don’t help.

Not all ‘ultra processed foods’ are equal. UPF does not necessarily mean unhealthy.

Here’s what the British Heart Foundation have to say on the matter: https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/nutrition/ultra-processed-foods#:~:text=It's%20also%20important%20to%20remember,of%20crisps%2C%20sweets%20or%20pizzas.

A hand-held electric knife sorts this out, once you get used to it. Can do very even slices.

Thanks all yes I think I just need to buy a bread slicer or electric knife! Will look into it

It’s not the food item, it’s how that item is made and what ingredients are used. That’s why purchasing different types of bread from different places, will allow people to eat bread that isn’t UPF. The thread is not about avoiding bread or cutting it out but finding bread that isn’t UPF

Often the supermarket fresh sourdoughs have less nasties in them. That is what I used to get but now I have a breadmaker with a timer, so I just stick the ingredients in the night before and it's ready in the morning. Have a look on Facebook marketplace to see if someone near you is selling one.

Do you not have a bakery near you, OP? They are generally better than supermarkets and use higher quality ingredients.