Real bread can make you smile: Real Bread Week 2020

All over the United Kingdom (and further afield too) bakers spread the real bread message during the 11th Real Bread Week. It is not just about how good real bread is to eat, but how it can improve your mental health. Making bread is good for you.

Real Bread week logo
Real Bread Week 2020

My Real Bread Week 2020

In addition to running a sourdough class, I took part in two rather different activities.

John Lewis Cheltenham Discovery Room

The Discovery Room in the John Lewis store hosts many different talks activities from knitting to gardening, from coping with the menopause to crafts.

To celebrate Real Bread Week I gave two free bread demonstrations. It’s not the easiest location – no running water or oven! However, the attendees got involved and smelled and touched flour, learnt about water temperature, saw how to knead bread; touched the bread once shaped and asked plenty of questions.  The two sessions were very warmly received. I also got to curate a selection of items ideal for breadmaking from the cookery shop shelves.

Danielle's bread demo at John Lewis Cheltenham
The bread demo at John Lewis

Gloucester College, Cheltenham

Myself, fellow Real Bread Campaign Ambassador Dilly Boase, Douglas Muir and Dr Mary Kelly headed to the hospitality department at Gloucester College in Cheltenham.

scoring the bread Photo copyright Douglas Muir
The students practice dough scoring skills – photo Douglas Muir

Here we taught breadmaking skills to 24 hospitality students aged 17 to 19. Despite already having done a full days training, the students really got stuck into the session as we mixed, kneaded and shaped and baked dough. We loved their energy and searching questions. We hope that there are some future bakers amongst them! Renark Cousins, their tutor commented:

The students loved the day. I must thank you very much for the efforts your team made. The students actually learned a lot from the day and have reminded me of what they had learnt.

I particularly enjoyed working as a team with Dilly, Douglas and Mary prepping beforehand. Douglas brought 10 kilos of dough and we made a similar amount in advance for the students to work with. I realised it has been quite a while since I have worked with others and how much I miss it!

Ready to eat bread
The students poised to tuck into the bread they made

How other bakers spread the word

Astwood Bank Scout in Redditch got to grips with bread

Stoneham Bakehouse is a Community Supported Bakery based in the Poet’s Corner area in Hove.

Forge Bakehouse in Sheffield inspired local school children.

Bread for good mental health

The Daily Telegraph featured many of the wonderful bakeries doing sterling work in tackling mental health including Michele Stratford of Planet Leicester Bakers is one of my bread heroes. She founded Planet Leicester Bakers in 2014 with the aim of “blatantly exploiting the loveliness of bread for positive social benefit and a mantra of: ‘Good Bread, Doing Good.’ Michelle estimates at least 1000 people have become involved in the business through training, community projects, public speaking events and more. Read more about Planet Leicester Bakers 

Where in the World?

Real Bread Week activities took place all over the world!

 

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Have we missed where YOU enjoyed #RealBreadWeek? Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, USA, Wales… Any others? (Please also click on the link in our bio to let us know how it went) #homebaking #homebaker #breadmaking #artisanbread #sourdough #breadtalk #igbreadclub #huffposttaste #f52grams #instafood #wildyeast #instabread #breadporn #slowfood #organic #bread #breadstagram #realbreadweek2020 #eater #freshbread #localfood #baker #bakery #realbread

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Why Real Bread matters

The crust of the matter is that too much bread we buy is far from real bread which should be made from no more than 4 ingredients flour, water, salt and yeast.

It has additives galore added and these are possible what is making people blame bread on why they find bread indigestible. The image below shows the ingredients for a very well known brand loaf. Why does it need to include soya flour, emulsifiers, vegetable oils, vinegar and vitamin C? Seek out a loaf from your local artisan baker from the Real Bread Campaign map.

Factory loaf ingredients
Ingredients in a typical mass produced loaf

 

I've discovered

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