Latest news with #bread
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Health
- News.com.au
Aussies are losing their minds over a ‘horrifying' US food staple
A new social media trend has revealed the disturbing truth about bread in the US, leaving Aussies reeling. In clips posted to TikTok, users can be seen squishing slices of bread into a ball, claiming it will 'bounce back like memory foam' due to excessive additives. And alas, after a couple of minutes the bread unravels itself and returns to its original form – pristine and intact. Unsurprisingly, Aussies flooded the comment sections of the videos, expressing their horror at the sight. 'In Australia, when you put the bread in the shopping bag at the checkout, it always goes on top because once it's squished, it's forever squished,' wrote one. 'In Australia, when you spread Nutella on the slice you rip a hole in it,' said another. 'I'm Australian. I accidentally placed a box of tissues on my bread when leaving the grocery store and arrived home to a packet of pita bread,' wrote a third. One US woman even found that bread left in her kitchen over eight months had failed to develop any mould. Other Americans jumped in to share their thoughts on the bizarre sight. 'As an American who eats American bread, I'm never eating bread ever again,' said one horrified person. 'My bread doesn't even mould anymore, I can't remember the last time I saw it happen,' said another. 'Is our bread not supposed to do that?,' questioned a third. So naturally, I immediately ran to my kitchen to conduct my own experiment. For my research I used a slice of Helga's wholemeal bread, which in this economy, should be considered a selfless act for the good of science. Then I squished it into a ball which immediately crumpled the slice, leaving little breadcrumbs all over my counter. The bread did eventually un-crumple after around three minutes, but the damage was done. It was certainly no longer screaming, 'eat me.' So, now that we've reached that conclusion it's time to find out what the deal is with American bread. American bread is typically made using five food additives, these being: Azodicarbonamide (whitening and dough conditioner, more famously found in yoga mats), Potassium bromate and iodate (rising agents), BHA and BHT (preservatives). Australia and much else of the world has imposed strict bans on Azodicarbonamide, Potassium bromate and iodate, which have been linked to cancer and asthma – but the US won't budge. Although wheat in the US isn't genetically modified, the majority of non-organic crops are sprayed with glyphosate to dry out grain for earlier harvesting. In 2020, global pharmaceutical giant Bayer spent $US10.9 billion ($15.87 billion) to settle over 90,000 lawsuits alleging the company's glyphosate weedkiller, Roundup, causes cancer. That same year, an Irish court ruled that the bread served at sandwich chain Subway could not be defined as bread but instead as confectionary, due to its high sugar content. While it might be a blessing to some that their bread doesn't grow mould or can survive a whole week's grocery shop sitting on top of it – the trend has opened up a concerning conversation about the quality of food we receive. Maybe the US has too much going on right now to consider its bread, but it's definitely food for thought when the ingredients look more like they belong in a lab rather than on your plate.
Japan Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Communal knead: A Turkish baker in Kamakura draws queues
In the sleepy neighborhood of Omachi in southeast Kamakura, a small, unmarked building that sits a fork in the road has drawn a queue of 15 people, hinting at its new tenant. What was once a corner koban police box is now Pide, a tiny Turkish-Nordic bakery. Run by baker Burcu Alkurt, 34, and her husband and business partner, Aziz Firat, 36, Pide specializes in sourdough, which comes in shokupan (milk bread loaf) and the round pain de campagne (French country bread) shapes. Their surfaces are flaky and crispy, and their crumb is soft and airy with no trace of briny bite. The shop is named after the Turkish flatbread that Alkurt's father used to bring home when she was growing up in The Hague. 'My dad was a baker,' she says. 'The name has an emotional connection for me.' However, Alkurt was unsure if she was good enough to bake professionally. Her Turkish upbringing also meant that baking was still seen as a male profession. Ironically, as a child, she had a distaste for Trabzon Vakfıkebir, a traditional Turkish sourdough from the Black Sea region. In 2022, following a life-changing trip to Thailand where the idea of opening a Turkish food business took shape after seeing the country's entrepreneurial spirit firsthand, she left her job as a visual merchandiser to intern at Oslo's renowned bakery, Ille Brod, for two months. As she explored the mellower flavors of Nordic sourdough and noticed how women took the lead as bakers and business owners, something stirred in her. Later that year, she relocated to Kamakura with Firat, who found a product design job in Tokyo. Alkurt connected with fellow Ille Brod alumnus Tsukasa Miyawaki on the day his fabled Tokyo sourdough bakery Vaner served its last loaves. While her dreams of further study under Miyawaki's tutelage were dashed, she did receive, as a parting gift, some of his sourdough starter. This encouraged her to create her own starter. Pide has been attracting customers from near and far since it opened in January this year. | ALEX MICHAEL DWYER A string of serendipitous encounters with friendly neighbors — the jam maker who asked her to bring her bread to outdoor markets in the nearby towns of Zushi and Fujisawa, the contractor who eventually helped reshape what had become a storage building into her current space at Pide — dared her to dream of setting up a bakery of her own. After less than two years of living in Japan, she soft-opened Pide in January 2025. The locals began queuing up to try her lahmacun, a Turkish pizza, before even she and Firat arrived for work. 'That's when I realized, 'Wait, this is not normal,'' Firat says. 'It became something that we didn't imagine.' The harsh realities of running their own business soon set in, though. They've sometimes felt overwhelmed by the daily operations and logistics — the demand for her baked goods has outpaced supply — not to mention linguistic and cultural hurdles. Sourcing the right ingredients was also a particular challenge. She initially had a hard time finding the high-protein flour that was best suited for sourdough. After experimenting with 30 flours from all over Japan, she settled on a blend of six different flours for her recipe, including bread flour, whole wheat and rye from Hokkaido. 'You can make (the sourdough) acidic, sweet or mild; it's up to you,' she says, adding that sourdough is still quite a novelty for Japanese people. Apart from sourdough, Alkurt also makes kardemummabullar and kanelbullar, Scandinavian-inspired buns that have a perfect pillowy texture: Twisted, knotted and just a touch sweet, they come in two flavors — cardamom or cinnamon — and are addictive for all ages. Then there's simit — sometimes known as the Turkish bagel — topped with honey and mascarpone. It vies for your attention with breads like springy rosemary focaccia (a favorite of elderly regulars), Danish rugbro rye and pastries like lemon poppyseed cake. Burcu Alkurt (right) and her husband, Aziz Firat, bring an approachable, relaxed vibe to the bakery. | ALEX MICHAEL DWYER In line with the relaxed spirit of Kamakura, Alkurt and Firat are more than happy to answer any questions customers have about sourdough. In a way, it's also their open invitation to get to know fellow bread lovers from near and far. Their approachability has drawn the attention of an aspiring female baker from Nagoya. The newly married woman was weighing whether she should take a working holiday in Copenhagen to study bread. Alkurt invited her to Kamakura where they had a chance to bake together and chat about opening a bakery in Japan. 'When I talked to her, I really saw how afraid people are to start their own thing,' Alkurt recalls. 'I showed her that you can do your own stuff. You don't need to work 10 years at a bakery (to open your own).' 4-1-1 Omachi, Kamakura 248-0007; ; open on weekends only, from 12 p.m. until sold out
The Independent
6 days ago
- General
- The Independent
I've found the best supermarket sourdough loaves worth adding to your weekly shop
Remember a time before sourdough ruled the bakery roost? A simpler time, when tiger bread was a fancy weekend loaf, or a French stick would be a solid go-to. Now, sourdough is everywhere and has even become a status symbol. Some bakeries with cult followings sell out each morning (even on weekdays) and have queues snaking out the doors. So of course, supermarkets had to get in on the action and create their own. Thought to date back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, sourdough isn't new, but what defines it is hard to agree on. ''Sourdough' isn't a legally protected term, so technically any bread can currently be called sourdough,' explains Swie Joo, head baker at The Palmerston restaurant in Edinburgh, which bakes all of its excellent own sourdough onsite in its downstairs bakery. Generally, to be considered a sourdough, the bread must be made with a live sourdough starter (a culture made from natural yeast, not shop-bought, and bacteria) and go through a slow fermentation process. Joo advises checking the ingredients list of a sourdough loaf before you buy because if it has 'yeast' listed, it's not a genuine sourdough, as yeast should not be added. Sourdough is a leavened bread, meaning the dough naturally rises as a result of the natural yeast, creating the distinct air pockets. A well-made sourdough has a good spongy 'crumb' (the bread's internal structure) with evenly sized and distributed air pockets. If fermentation or the bake goes wrong, it can lead to 'tunnelling', where the holes are too large and frequent. In a bid to see if supermarkets could really impress with their sourdough loaves, I taste-tasted my way through more than 20 loaves. Here's how I got on. How I tested First and foremost, I kept the advice from head baker Swie Joo in mind, analysing the ingredient list of each loaf. I then tasted more than 20 loaves, including pre-sliced and non-sliced loaves from all the major supermarkets' own range. I also tested some well-known branded and higher-end options that are available in supermarkets. Where available, I chose a white loaf, so each sample was as similar as it could be. I ate it plain, in sandwiches and as toast with butter. When taste-testing, I considered the below: Crumb: I was looking for a decent crumb (the interior of the bread), which should be spongy, fairly open with evenly sized and well-distributed air pockets. A well-fermented sourdough should have a moderately open crumb with holes and a springy texture. The overall rise was also considered. Crust: I noted the exterior of the bread and whether it had a good crusty crunch. I also considered whether any of the loaves had toppings, such as seeds. Taste: A sourdough loaf is known for its delicate sour and tangy taste, so I assessed how noticeable this was. I also assessed whether the taste leaned towards traditional white sourdough or had earthy, nutty notes typical of a wholemeal loaf. Shelf life: I monitored how long each loaf stayed fresh, noting when signs of staleness and mould appeared. Sourdough tends to last around two to three days before it starts to stale and may show mould after five to seven days. If it lasted longer than this, it may suggest that preservatives were used in the bake. Why you can trust IndyBest reviews Emma Henderson is a self-confessed foodie. She was also the editor of IndyEats, The Independent' s monthly digital food magazine, and was twice shortlisted for 'best food magazine' at the Guild of Food Writers Awards. She's sampled everything from Michelin-recommended menus to the best olive oils, so she knows exactly what is worth savouring. When it comes to sourdough, she's tasted the good, the bad and the questionably stodgy all in the name of journalism. Every loaf in this review has been rigorously tested, from sniffed and sliced to slathered in butter. The best supermarket sourdough bread for 2025 is:
New York Times
24-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Is the Bread in Europe Better for You?
In a video on TikTok, Christian Collins unwraps a crusty baguette and addresses his five million followers. Why, he asks, can he eat 'pizza and full-on buns every day' in Europe, but bread in the United States and Canada causes issues? These can include an upset stomach, fatigue and a 'foggy head,' Mr. Collins said in an interview with The Times. Mr. Collins, who describes himself as a digital nomad, is just one of many people on various platforms who have, for years, talked about this puzzling phenomenon. In June, Joe Rogan amplified the idea that European bread products might be superior on his popular podcast. 'Go eat bread in Italy,' he said. 'You don't feel bad at all.' Dr. Alessio Fasano, a gastroenterologist at Mass General Brigham, said he had heard similar accounts from many of his patients with certain types of wheat sensitivities. When they eat wheat products in the United States, his patients say, they have bloating, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, joint pain, fatigue or brain fog. When they eat wheat products — particularly bread — in Western Europe, they have fewer or milder symptoms. There isn't solid research on why this may be, Dr. Fasano said. But he and other experts have some theories. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
News.com.au
18-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Popular bread brand sues for $2.5 million
A popular Aussie bread brand has sued its flour mill for $2.5 million in damages after accusing it of 'nosediving' the quality of its bread with 'inconsistent' flour. Nonna's Bakehouse – which supplies more than 100 different types of baked goods to Woolworths, Aldi and Harris Farm – and Ben Furney Flour Mills battled it out in the NSW Supreme Court this week as part of an ongoing disagreement between the two companies. The Dubbo-based flour mill lodged the legal action, which sought $800,000 from the bakery for the unpaid invoices from 2022, with Nonna's countersuing for $2.5 million for a breach of contract. The court heard how the bakehouse's issues began in 2021 when its bread became water absorbent and 'sticky' with director Francesco Sergi urging the flour mill to 'fix the issue'. Despite test runs, visits to the factory and meetings, Ben Furney Flour Mills was unable to identify any issues with the flour provided. The court heard how the bakery's research and production manager, Jorge Gironda, pleaded with the flour mill to: 'Please provide us with the right fuel to run the Ferrari.' In May 2022, Nonna's stopped paying invoices to the flour mill, resulting in the flour mill ceasing supply in August. However, Justice Kelly Ann Rees found the change came after Nonna's changed its head baker, who resigned in September/October 2021, with Mr Gironda taking over. Judge Rees found that after taking over the role, Mr Sergi had told Mr Gironda to revert to an 'original recipe'. 'Mr Sergi appears to have taken the opportunity of a change of baker to return to the baker's original recipe. 'This departed from (the former head baker's) process of adding gluten or malt if needed to achieve a consistent baking product.' Judge Rees also ruled the bakehouse's claims that they had suffered a 'substantial loss' as a result of the 'inconsistent flour' were unfounded. 'What is immediately striking from the historical financial performance of the baker, for the 2019 to 2023 financial years, is the significant increase in the baker's sales over those years, increasing by 45 per cent overall,' Judge Rees said. 'Whatever is said to have been wrong with the flour provided by the miller, it does not appear to have affected sales.' Judge Rees ruled in favour of Ben Furney Flour Mills, ordering a payment of $783,178 together with interest at 10 per cent per annum. Nonna's Bakehouse was also ordered to pay the flour mill's legal costs.
