From the farmer to the shopkeeper

From the in the field grown in the field by the farmer to the bakery, to bringing your sliced pan home to your kitchen, let us tell you about the journey your bread travels to get into your sandwich.

We’ll start at the beginning. Farmers grow different varieties of wheat that will produce flour with different properties so that the baker can purchase the most suitable flour for the products their customers want to buy. For example, some flours are best for making light, airy breads; others for making cakes or biscuits; and others for making pizza. The farmer who grows the wheat, harvests it using a large machine called a combine harvester, and brings it to the flour mill.

When the miller brings the harvested wheat into the mill, it is tested to measure the amount of protein and moisture in the wheat. Then the wheat is sorted into different varieties and cleaned to remove anything that shouldn’t be there – like small stones, wood, and other grains such as barley or oats. During milling, large rollers are used to crush the grains. For the white flour used in our sliced pans, a sieve is used to remove the wheatbran and wheatgerm. Next, the flour is ground down further and sieved a second time to give you flour. The flour is then bagged and transported to the bakery.

At the bakery, the baker starts by mixing the flour, water, yeast and salt together to form dough. When the dough comes out of the mixer, the baker checks that it’s just right before it is cut up into the weight of a loaf. Next, the dough is shaped into a ball and allowed to rest in a warm area. After 5 minutes, the dough is rolled out, flattened like a pancake and then rolled like a swiss roll. Then it’s cut into 4 pieces and put into a loaf tin. The tin is sent to another warm place so the bread can “prove” - it’s here that the dough rises. Once the baker is happy that the dough has risen enough, it goes into the oven for baking.

Once it’s baked, it is taken out of the oven and the bread is left to cool down. Then it is ready to be sliced and wrapped. The delivery vans and trucks are then on the road from about 3am, delivering fresh bread every day to shops and supermarkets all across the country, just in time for your breakfast!

For more information, check out:

https://www.fwi.co.uk/arable/wheat/crop-storage

https://fabflour.co.uk/fab-flour/how-flour-is-milled/

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/cereal-crops/spring-cereals/harvests/