Almost every household buys bread regularly. But the daily breakfast ingredient has come under fire recently from consumer watchdog Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) that says it contains residues of the carcinogenics potassium bromate, potassium iodate or both. So why compromise on quality when you can bake healthy bread at your own convenience?
Vidhya Ganesan, a homebaker has been making her own breads for her family’s consumption since the time she learnt how. Their favourite — whole wheat bread. “The very first time I baked my own bread, I enjoyed the fulfillment of making something for the family that was completely preservative and chemical free. It just takes a couple of hours or more to prepare and bake bread with basic ingredients. Can we not spend a little time baking and delivering healthy food to our families?” she asks.
Another foodpreneur, Harini Sankarnarayan, who has been baking her own bread for some time now, says, “For me, it is as simple as eating fresh food customised to suit your palate. Bread is as simple to make at home as is your rotis. You can make your bread in a few hours or you can schedule it in such a way to make sure you have fresh bread everyday. It is a lot less work than what people believe it to be.”
Says celebrity chef and Mrs South Asia International 2014, Ruchika Sharma, “In fact, not just breads, anything you buy from outside has preservatives so it’s always better to learn to make it yourself. Few simple ingredients go into bread making — flour, yeast, salt and sugar. I have seen lots of people buying even Indian breads. That makes me feel sad as cooking is so simple if we plan our weekend groceries well. We can buy fully automatic bread makers in which we need to add all the raw ingredients and the bread gets freshly baked! I make different varieties of bread to impress my fussy kid with different shapes and sizes.”
One of Chennai’s most popular breadhouses is Old Madras Baking Company and they have been serving fresh, artisanal bread since 2014. Says Kamalika Krishmy, who works with OMBC, “Our bread is completely preservative-free and risen using natural means. Also, leftover breads are donated to charities and a fresh batch is prepared for the next day.” For those who want to try their hand at bread-making, practice makes perfect, she adds; the first time is hard for everyone. “Start with a normal white loaf and once you master that, you can go on to whole wheat. There are plenty of recipes for white bread. One thing we should keep in mind before buying low-cost store products is reading labels. Many of us forget this step when buying packaged products,” she says.
“Bread made by us at our own bakery is just like bread made at home. We bake the bread every day and it is free from any harmful preservative intake (usually used to increase shelf life in stores) with a wide variety ranging from whole wheat, brown bread, multigrain, gluten free etc,” says chef Sikandar Reddy, Deli9.
(With inputs from Devika Gowri)
BASIC bread recipe:
Ingredients
- 250 gm basic flour
- 5 gm compressed yeast (fresh)
- 10 gm oil/butter
- 10 gm sugar
- 125 ml water
- 5 gm salt
- 10 gm milk powder
Method
Dissolve yeast, sugar and a little water in a bowl and let it stand for 10 minutes. Knead the flour by mixing all other ingredients, remaining water and the yeast mixture, to form a soft dough. Ferment the dough for 30 to 40 minutes by covering it with a wet muslin cloth. Then, put it in a greased bread mould and let it rise for another half hour. Finally, bake it in a preheated oven for 1800C for about 20 to 30 minutes or until done. Use as required for making different types of breads
Note: Vanilla powder/essence Can be added to kill the smell of yeast.
— Ruchika Sharma
