Cranks bread discontinued?

[Allabouttheskin]

I love Cranks wholemeal bread and buy it from my local supermarkets, but they haven't been stocking it recently. A friend has just told me that Cranks have discontinued it. Not sure if that's true, but if it is what a great pity. Does anyone have a recommendation for an alternative? I'm looking for a proper wholewheat bread with minimal ingredients and definitely no sugar added. I don't want sourdough or rye. I'm thinking that finally I'm going to have to make my own bread...

Can't recommend anything really from supermarkets etc unfortunately . My local ish artisan baker does organic wholemeal loaves (& grinds the wheat herself) so might be an idea to see if you have someone similar locally?

owners of cranks have stopped making the wholemeal bread. Not sure how that can happen when they were the only large wholemeal loaf available Waitrose, and many food retailers across the UK! Never mind that fact at Waitrose the bread would sell out fast!

below is email from parent company of Cranks:

“Dear Customer,

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with Cranks.

We are sorry to announce that our product ‘Whole Lotta Loaf’ has now been delisted from sale.

Due to the current nature of rising production costs the manufacturer of Cranks bread could no longer support the production of the product”

Have you tried Jason's bread. We love their sourdough loaf. We also buy the Bertinet bakery sourdough loaf.

Both better toasted so not sure if that's what you would like. We used to buy cranks bread and like these more.

Both from Ocado but can get Jason's bread in Tesco.

Yes exactly, Gymreject - sold out at my Waitrose too. Such a pity they've stopped production - thanks for letting me know. No other supermarket bread like it - it was kind of heavy and filling like homemade wholemeal - something that none of the other supermarket loaves manage.

Well damn, I was wondering about this too. I was thinking it was Waitrose being crap and discontinuing stocking yet another product (a long list at this point) but if it's Cranks who have discontinued making it there's no point complaining (not that there would have been anyway). I used to like the Cranks sunflower loaf too but that hasn't been around for years. I do make my own bread occasionally but god knows how you'd replicate the particular texture of Cranks bread. What a shame.

Have you got a local baker?

My quality of life has improved inordinately since I got an artisanal baker within easy walking distance.

Real bread is so much better than supermarket processed stuff. And i didn't appreciate it until I could get decent stuff easily.

My Waitrose thought they were re jigging their recipe and it would be back in stock. What a shame. Maybe people wouldn't pay price although Waitrose sold out quickly.

We love it too. Thing is for the quality the price is good - you get a lot of bread and not much air for the price. Please start making it again Cranks!

Mind, as we got it from Waitrose this has made it possible for us to decide not to shop there at all because of the Waitrose support for breast binding in teenage girls and fetish in their male staff.

Mind, as we got it from Waitrose this has made it possible for us to decide not to shop there at all because of the Waitrose support for breast binding in teenage girls and fetish in their male staff.

Huh?

So you didn't mind about the JL/Waitrose breast binding and fetish controversy before you couldn't get your favourite bread there..

OP we've just started making our own using the no-knead method so it is really easy if you plan ahead. We made a few all at once, so now we have a freezer full of bread which is just made from flour, yeast, salt and olive oil and it is delicious.
Try this recipe

no Oolong we really did, but mrPSD might have continued to buy the bread there whereas now we simply won't buy anything from JLP/Waitrose.

For all those who are missing the famous old Cranks wholemeal bread… I have just discovered a decent alternative – it's not as perfect as Cranks was, but Duchy Organic Wholemeal Bloomer 400g (at Waitrose in the fresh bread rack) has a decent taste, texture, and density. It is a smaller loaf, oddly shaped, but it seems impossible to find organic wholemeal that isn't sourdough... so I was relieved to find this! It was so disappointing to discover that Cranks is no longer supplying or making that bread. I even wrote to Cranks, but never had a reply - don't think they exist anymore.

Same here Tess55 - I wrote to Cranks but got no response. Will check out that Duchy wholemeal, although the word Bloomer makes me think it will be too soft and spongy!

This really is heartbreaking. Cranks wholemeal has been my go-to for years - and, yes, one of the main reasons being no added sugar or processing! It's so hard to find wholemeal at all these days, as the whole market's been hijacked by sourdough for some reason. Even Gail's, purporting to be a bakery, does nothing but sourdough. The only option, for those who are asking, I think, is the Heyford wholemeal or the Duchy one (that's probably the least refined) from Waitrose, but quite honestly the good old Cranks with its simple, only three, ingredients is hard to beat. It is unique and, even if the manufacturing costs have risen, would we not all be prepared to pay a little bit extra to keep it?

I was searching Google to find out what happened and came across this post. I had a cranks recipe book from 1982 and started making my own. Simple just 5 ingredients. All from Waitrose!! I have posted the recipe below. Let’s keep it alive for the next generation.

Does anyone have news on the Cranks bread company? Gutted its gone & hoping another organisation has taken it over. Nothing ever matched up to Cranks. Day old sourdough is jaw breaking & risks more dentist bills.

Any recommendations please? Can't make my own oven is ancient

Sadly yes 😞 I contacted Waitrose , who were a regular stockist . They confirmed it to me in an email this week .

I’ve dug out my Cranks 1985 recipe book , which has the proper recipe for their loaf .
made one yesterday - proper dense wholemeal . Can’t believe that no supermarket/health food shop stocks anything like it anymore .
if anyone wants the recipe I can post it up

By hand but the brilliant thing about the original cranks recipe is , there is no kneading involved . You mix it ,put in loaf tin, then let it prove for 25 -30 mins and then put in the oven . It’s the easiest bread to make

How about a pumpernickel style bread or similar.

Here’s the recipe.