Homemade organic, vegan "Warm Brown" bread at the campus Ambika Appalam

[Gayathri Nayar]

Dear friends,

    Our family has been particular about buying organic for several years, and we have taken pains to do our grocery shopping almost always at two organic stores in Adyar- the popular, puritanical Organic Farmers Market and the expensive but well-stocked Dhanyam. For several months now, we have patronized a particular brand of artisanal (or handmade) bread available at both these stores under the brand name "Warm Brown".

    Recently, we became acquainted with the Warm Brown baker himself at Dhanyam, and learnt that his entire operation, from production to packing and distribution, is a one-man enterprise. We decided to make an effort to bring Warm Brown to our campus Ambika Appalam. Warm Brown is a niche product purchased mostly by the conscious living community, and if it moves well here, we will be privileged to have a homemade, excellent brand of bread sold so close to our homes.

    Warm Brown's whole wheat organic/ vegan bread costs Rs. 80 a packet, about two to three times the cost of the cheaper, self-professed 'healthy' commercial brands like Modern or Brittannia. I would like to try to describe why I believe healthy, artisanal bread to be the best choice for our health, despite its significantly higher cost:

    Handmade or homemade bread is tougher in texture than commercial white bread. Some might find it less appealing to the eye, as it is baked entirely with whole wheat flour, jaggery, and rock salt, and without refined sugar, gluten, or the chemical cocktail of bread improvers (flour treatment agents), preservatives (including the antioxidants), artificial colors etc. that are used in the vast majority of commercial breads (and even the 'healthy' ones, like our erstwhile favorite brand, Brittannia "100% Whole Wheat"). Some of these chemicals- most notoriously, potassium bromate / iodate (indicated in the ingredients as flour treatment agents 510 / 1100)- are known carcinogens that have been banned in other countries. The object of using the flour treatment agents is to toughen the starch and make it rise better, which produces a lighter, fluffier bread. For this reason too, artisanal breads, baked without such improvers, is denser, and the bread packets are heavier than they look.

    Here are a few links to articles with more information about commercial bread brands in India, recent controversy, and their true cost to our health. (I noticed that the 2016 news article in The Hindu suggests that the offending ingredients would be banned by now, but they haven't been.):

https://scroll.in/latest/808629/cse-study-shows-alarming-levels-of-toxic-chemicals-in-bread-samples

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/cancercausing-chemical-in-bread-health-ministry-asks-food-regulator-for-report/article8642125.ece

https://foodbabe.com/healthiest-bread-on-the-market/

    I should add that Warm Brown is wrapped in eco-friendly waxed paper, which would be a boon to those wishing to reduce their eco-impact.

Best regards,

Gayathri