Our bread is already 100% British say Real Bread bakers

Real Bread bakers around the country are up in arms at recent media reports that suggest forthcoming products from two big bakers will be the first commercial loaves to be made with 100% British wheat since the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.

“Big Deal! Bakeries like ours have been using flour from 100% British wheat for years and unlike these Chorleywood loaf behemoths, we're using it to make Real Bread,” said craft baker Tom Herbert of Hobbs House Bakery, Chipping Sodbury.

Many bakers who have listed their loaves in the campaign's online Real Bread Finder are able to tell their customers not only the local mill at which their 100% British flour was produced (and in several cases stone ground) but also exactly where in the UK the wheat was grown.

Chris Young of the Real Bread Campaign added:

“Any shortening of the grain chain from seed to sandwich is great news, especially if purchasing from small, independent cereal farmers and millers is maintained over the long term. However, what must not get lost in the nationalistic hoo ha is the fact that the big bakers continue to use a cocktail of artificial additives and unlabelled processing aids in many of their loaves.”

Also of concern to the Real Bread Campaign is whether the wheat varieties that are being used and the way that they are grown, milled and baked are necessarily the best options for our health, our communities and the environment.
Supported by the Big Lottery Fund's Local Food programme, the Real Bread Campaign is a not-for-profit initiative, co-ordinated by the UK charity Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming. Its aims are to encourage and support the increased production and consumption of additive-free Real Bread in Britain.

For more information, please contact Chris Young or Richard Watts at the Real Bread Campaign on:

realbread@sustainweb.org or 0203 5596 777

 

Notes to editors

Bakeries already producing some or all of their Real Bread using flour from locally-grown or at least British wheat include:

• Allendalle Bakery Allendale, Northumberland http://www.allendalebakery.com/
• Auroan Handmade Bread North Shields, Tyne and Wear
• Beanies Wholefoods Sheffield http://www.beanieswholefoods.co.uk/
• Cafe Royal Newcastle, Tyne and Wear www.sjf.co.uk/caferoyalbakery/caferoyalbakery.php
• Castle Bakery Ogle-Ponteland, Tyne and Wear http://www.thecastlebaker.co.uk/
• Cheesie Tchaikovsky Clitheroe, Lancashire
• Cinnamon Square Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire http://www.cinnamonsquare.com/
• Cornfield Bakery Wheatley, Oxfordshire http://www.cornfieldbakery.com/
• Daylesford Organic http://www.daylesfordorganic.com/
• Denver Mill Denver, Norfolk http://www.denvermill.co.uk/
• Food For Thought Haxby, Yorkshire http://www.foodforthoughthaxby.co.uk/
• Hobbs House Bakery Stroud, Gloucestershire http://www.hobbshousebakery.co.uk/
• Leakers Bakery Bridport, Dorset http://www.leakersbakery.co.uk/
• Pinpastry Exeter, Devon
• Royston's Deli Louth, Lincolnshire  http://www.roystonsdeli.co.uk/
• St Kew Harvest  Wadebridge, Cornwall
• The Handmade Bread Company Slaithwaite & Marsden, Yorkshire http://www.thehandmadebakery.coop/
• The Loaf Crich, Derbyshire http://www.theloaf.co.uk/
• The Ludlow Food Centre Ludlow, Shropshire http://www.ludlowfoodcentre.co.uk/
• The Old Farmhouse Bakery Steventon, Oxfordshire http://www.theoldfarmhousebakery.co.uk/
• The Organic Farm Shop Cirencester, Gloucestershire http://www.theorganicfarmshop.co.uk/
• True Loaf Bakery Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire http://www.trueloafbakery.co.uk/
• Winterborne Bakery Winterbourne Kingston http://www.winterbornebakery.co.uk/

Local Food: has been developed by a consortium of 16 national environmental organisations, and is managed on their behalf by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT). Supported by the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme, Local Food will distribute grants to a variety of food related projects to make locally grown food more accessible. http://www.localfoodgrants.org/

The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT): is a registered charity, incorporated by Royal Charter, to promote conservation and manage environmental programmes throughout the whole of the UK. It has established management systems for holding and distributing funds totalling more than £20 million annually to environmental projects across the UK.

The Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme was launched in November 2005 to help communities enjoy and improve their local environments. The programme funds a range of activities from local food schemes and farmers markets, to education projects teaching people about the local environment.

The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/.

Sheepdrove Trust also provides generous regular funding to the Real Bread Campaign