7 scary facts about baking aids

Today, when we buy a loaf of bread at the bakery, in a bakery store or in the supermarket, we often don’t really know what’s in it. Currently, a fairly large amount of baking aids is allowed, which is specified in the EU Regulation No. 1129/2011.

Did you know that …

• 98% of bakers often use baking aids very uncritically?
• the additive E-920 (L-cysteine) is often obtained from human or animal hair? It ensures that the bread dough does not stick to belts or machines and becomes more kneadable.
• “high-fiber” breads(not whole-grain breads) are often enriched with soy hulls and thus actually contain waste from margarine production?
• the E number 150d is formed when sugar is heated together with sulfite and ammonium compounds? The resulting sugar couleur makes the bread dark.
• often with whole grain breads from the factory the germs are made storable by heating and thus many of the valuable vitamins are also lost?
• in tests by consumer associations it was found that 98% of the wholemeal breads tested contained more salt than was necessary for the taste?
• bakers often don’t know exactly what’s in the instant flours they buy to bake their bread because the industry doesn’t disclose what ingredients their instant flours contain?

Pretty scary what baking aids are all about, isn’t it? Therefore we can only recommend you to grind your own flour with a
Salzburg flour mill
freshly grind your own flour and bake your bread from it. You’ll definitely know what’s in it and it will taste great too!

Have a great day and see you soon!

If you liked that post, you might also like this one: How can you recognize an organic food? >>

Sources

Münzing-Ruef, I. (2000): Course book healthy nutrition. The kitchen as a pharmacy of nature. Munich: Zabert Sandmann GmbH, p. 304

EU Regulation No. 1129/2011 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32011R1129&from=EN