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Local Nexus Network

Bread

Initial research summary

Defining bread The word bread is used to refer to a wide range of food products, however, all share the basic

description of ‘being made of flour or meal mixed with water or milk, with or without a leavening

agent, and then baked’.

Within the realms of this description, bread may be made from all kinds of initial flour or meal –

wheat flour, maize flour, potato flour, white flour, brown flour, wholemeal flour, etc. – mixed with

any number of additional ingredients – fats, salt, flour improvers, cheese, sugar, nuts, etc. – and

baked in an array of shapes and sizes – rolls, bagels, baguettes, round loaves, tins etc. Most bread in

UK is leavened bread, meaning that gas is introduced into the dough before or during baking - but

unleavened bread is also produced.

Within industry classifications, bread is one of four segments of the bakery sector:1

1. Bread – unsweetened, leavened loaves

2. Rolls and baps – smaller leavened breads

3. Breads of the world – other breads for example wraps, bagels, pitta bread, naans and

continental breads

4. Bakery snacks – often with additional ingredients such as sugar or fruit, e.g. cakes, pies,

tarts, hot cross buns, muffins, flapjacks, etc.

For the purposes of this project it is suggested that for the avoidance of confusion, bread should

refer to the first category only, since although the first three segments occupy a common niche in

terms of consumer utilisation, UK market data will tend to refer to only the first category.

Ingredients Within the definition of bread as given above there still remains wide scope for variation. However,

typical primary ingredients in the bulk of UK bread are as follows:

Flour: In the UK by far the predominant basis for flour is wheat. For the purposes of this

research it will be assumed throughout that we are dealing with wheaten bread.

Water: The second most important ingredient by weight, combines with flour to form a

dough.

Yeast: The leavening agent, normally in the form of baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

1 Federation of Bakers Factsheet No. 3 http://www.bakersfederation.org.uk/images/pdfs/media-and-

resources/FS3%20-%20The%20British%20Bakery%20Market%2030-10-13-FINAL.pdf

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Salt: Used not only for taste, but also impacts on gluten stability, moisture retention and

crumb and crust colour.

Secondary ingredients in industrial bread production are included in order to aid the mechanisation

of the baking process and to produce consistent breads with specific qualities including whiteness,

softness, long shelf life etc.

Flour improvers: a mixture of enzymes, oxidising agents, reducing agents, emulsifiers

Hard fat: addition of fat produces softer bread with longer shelf life.

Because it contributes the main mass of the loaf, the ingredient given most attention in the research

summary that follows is wheat flour.

UK consumption and nutrition The UK population every year purchases some 2.1 million tonnes of bread, or 2.7bn standard 800g

loaves.2 According to the Federation of Bakers the average UK household purchases 80 loaves of

bread a year,3 while the UK’s National Diet and Nutrition Survey estimates average consumption by

adults at 2.5 medium slices per day.4 The level of consumption is however declining inexorably over

time. In 1996, bread consumption was half the level recorded in 1942, and consumption continues

to drop.5 Most of this fall is accounted for by the reduction in white bread consumption, while

consumption of brown and speciality breads has seen a general trend of slow increase since the

1970s.

2 Calculated from Defra Family Food

3 IBIS World Industry Reports

http://clients1.ibisworld.co.uk/reports/uk/industry/productsandmarkets.aspx?entid=580 4 Bates B, Lennox A, Bates C et al. (2011a) National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Headline results from years 1

and 2 (combined) of the Rolling Programme (2008/2009–2009/10). Food Standards Agency & Department of Health, London. 5 DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) (2000) Household consumption of selected

foods from 1942 onwards. Available at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/statistics/foodfarm/food/familyfood/nationalfoodsurvey/

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

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19

80

19

83

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89

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Household bread purchases in the UK

All bread

White bread

Brown bread

Other bread

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Although per capita bread consumption has been steadily declining over the past half century, bread

is still a key source of energy (11% of total), carbohydrate (20%) and protein (9%) in the diet of UK

adults.6 Bread is also an important source of micronutrients including thiamine, niacin, folate, zinc,

calcium and manganese.7 The health consequences of bread consumption vary depending on the

type of bread eaten - white processed bread has less nutritional value than high fibre wholemeal

bread.

The majority of bread is purchased for preparation or consumption in the household, with around

5% of the total being purchased out of the home in the form of pre-prepared sandwiches, or

consumed with or as part of meals in restaurants, cafes or canteens.8 Bread is eaten primarily at

breakfast and lunchtime rather than at dinner.9 Women eat far less bread than men (76g / day

average compared to 133g).

Historical development Bread is one of the most ancient processed foods, present from the dawn of agriculture in the Fertile

Crescent 10,000 years ago, when einkorn and emmer (ancestors of modern wheat) were used to

make basic unleavened bread. Indeed, because they could be cultivated at scale and stored for a

relatively long time, these grains were arguably a key factor in the emergence of the first

civilisations. By 5,000 - 3,700 BCE grain had become a staple food throughout the Middle East and

Europe. Leavened bread made its appearance with the Egyptians around 2,600 BCE.

In Britain, rye was the key bread ingredient until around 1700 when wheaten bread assumed its

dominant position. As wheat and bread became more central to the British agricultural system and

diet, new legislation (e.g. the imposition and removal of the Corn Laws in the 19th Century) and

technologies (roller mills, fine sieves, baking tins) became increasingly important to its historical

trajectory.

By the early-mid 20th Century, bread production was becoming increasingly industrialised, with

growing distribution of pre-sliced square shaped loaves produced in large factories. The traditional

small bakeries that had previously served individual neighbourhoods with fresh bread began to die

out by the 1950s, but it was the widespread uptake of the Chorleywood Bread Process (CBP) after

1965 that cemented the dominance of the industrial baker (see more on this in the next sections).

“The evolution of breadmaking techniques has changed more since the mid-1940s than in all the

preceding centuries” (Cauvain & Young 2015)10

Wheat production Around 80% of the wheat used in UK flour milling is grown in the UK11, and wheat is one of the

country’s most important agricultural crops. Indeed, alongside rice and maize, wheat is one of the

6 Bates B, Bates C, Prentice A et al. (2011b) National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Headline results from years 1

and 2 (combined) of the Rolling Programme (2008/2009–2009/10). Supplementary report: blood analytes. Food Standards Agency & Department of Health, London. 7 O’Connor, A. (2012) An overview of the role of bread in the UK diet. British Nutrition Foundation Nutrition

Bulletin 37, 193-212. 8 Calculated from Defra Family Food Survey

9 Gibson, S. A. and Gunn, P. (2011), What's for breakfast? Nutritional implications of breakfast habits: insights

from the NDNS dietary records. Nutrition Bulletin, 36: 78–86. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-3010.2010.01873.x 10

Cauvain, S. & Young, L. (2015) Technology of breadmaking. Third Edition. Springer

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‘Big 3’ cereal crops globally that supply a large percentage of the world’s calories. It is an adaptable

crop that can grow across a range of climatic conditions, from Scandinavia in the north to Argentina

in the south.12 Part of this adaptability is due to the range of wheat varieties which also have

differing characteristics when milled into flour.

Of critical importance to bread making is the protein content: wheat with low protein content is

called ‘soft’ wheat while high protein content is ‘hard’. In the UK climate, the wheat that is

commercially grown is relatively low protein. This is generally considered to be lower quality and less

suitable for bread making than harder wheat varieties e.g. those that can be grown in the USA or

Canada. Although 20th Century technological developments in industrial baking have mitigated the

limitations of this low protein content to some extent, in 2014 only 12% of the UK wheat harvest

met the full specifications for bread wheat,13 and it is common for a percentage of imported grains

to be added to millers’ grists in order to meet bread requirements.

Wheat is the UK’s most widely grown crop in terms of land area, covering 1.9m ha, or around 30% of

the UK’s arable land. 16.6 million tonnes of wheat was harvested in 2014, with a market value of

£2.4bn14. Of the total harvest, around as much wheat is used for animal feed every year as is sent for

flour milling. UK wheat yields are amongst the highest in the world, at an average 7.6 tonnes/ ha

average over the past five years. This compares to a world average of 3 tonnes / ha. Much of this

yield is attributable to the high input regime used in the UK – an average wheat crop in the UK is

treated with three herbicide applications, three fungicides, two insecticides, and one growth

regulator, as well as fertiliser.15

Most of the UK’s wheat is winter wheat harvested in August-September every year. The grain is then

stored until it is required for milling, either on-farm or in centralised cooperative storage buildings.

Prior to storage the grains will be weighed, and tested for quality and condition. Grain must also be

dried before or during storage, and regularly aerated to prevent deterioration or formation of

dangerous mycotoxins.

Milling A wheat grain contains three constituent parts, the endosperm, germ and

bran. The endosperm is the large starchy carbohydrate body of the grain,

which would provide nutrition to the growing seed were it to sprout. It

contains some vitamins and minerals. The germ is the reproductive embryo

of the seed that would germinate into a plant. It is a concentrated source of

vitamins, minerals, fats and some protein. The bran is the outer coating of

the seed, consisting mostly of fibre with some phenolic compounds such as

ferulic acid, vitamins and minerals.16

11

NABIM (2015) UK flour milling industry 12

Feldman M.. Origin of cultivated wheat. In: Bonjean AP, Angus WJ, editors. The world wheat book: a history of wheat breeding. Paris, France: Lavoisier Publishing;2001. p. 3-56. 13

http://www.fwi.co.uk/arable/disappointment-reigns-for-uk-s-wheat-harvest.htm 14

Defra Agriculture in the UK 2014 15

Barling et al http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3763/ijas.2009.0331 16

(Okarter & Liu 2010)

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In milling, individual wheat grains are broken down into progressively finer pieces, retaining more or

less of the bran and germ depending on whether white, brown or wholemeal flour is required.

White flour contains only the endosperm. Flour is referred to according to the degree of ‘extraction’

i.e. how much flour is extracted from the crushed grains. White flour is 70-75% extraction, meaning

that 25-30% of the grain (including all of the bran and germ) is left behind. Brown flour is around

90% extraction, leaving behind the 10% of the crushed grain, most of which is bran. Wholemeal

flour is 100% extraction, meaning that endosperm, bran and germ are all included in the final

product.

Steps in the flour milling process:

Grading: samples are taken for analysis. Wheat is graded according to multiple criteria the

most important of which is protein content.

Cleaning: wheat is cleaned to remove stones, dust, grit, metal and other impurities. A

variety of the following may be employed:

o Metal separator screens remove any large objects

o Magnets are used to remove metal

o Aspirators suck air to remove light dust

o Spiral seed separator or disc separator

o Electronic colour sorter

o Scourers rub dust from the grain.

Conditioning (tempering): water is added to soften the wheat, making it easier to process

o The moisture content of the wheat must be controlled in order to allow the outer

layer of bran to be efficiently removed during grinding.

o Cold conditioning involves soaking wheat in cold water for 1-3 days

o Warm conditioning involves soaking wheat in 46°c water for 60-90 minutes and

resting for one day.

o Hot conditioning involves water at 60°c for a short period – this is difficult to control

and not often used.

o Wheat may also be conditioned with steam instead of water.

Blending: Wheat of different grades and moistures is blended together to obtain a batch

with the required characteristics (the grist)

Breaking: the wheat passes through rollers, breaking or cracking open the grain

o The rollers contain spiral grooves that crack open the grains and begin to separate

the interior of the wheat from the outer bran.

o The material passes from the roller through metal sieves separating it into three

categories

Middlings, or farina: the finest material

Semolina: larger pieces

Interior still attached to bran

o Middlings move to the middlings purifier, other material passes through rollers again

(up to 4-5 breaker rolls)

Middlings purifier: sieves separate the grain into endosperm, bran and germ.

o Vibrating screen with air blowing up through it to remove lighter pieces of bran

mixed with middlings

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Middlings grinding: middlings are ground into flour by large smooth metal rollers. Each time

flour is ground it is sieved to separate it into flours of different fineness, which can be

combined as desired to produce a final product.

Processing: small amounts of oxidizing agents etc added along with vitamins and minerals as

required by law. Flour normally matured for 1 – 2 months.

Packing into bags for industrial, commercial or household use.

Scale of manufacturing:

A small commercial mill might produce somewhere around 100-500 tonnes of flour per

week.

A large commercial mill might produce more like 10,000 tonnes of flour a week.

Baking Theory

The basic process of baking leavened wheat bread requires

mixing flour with water to create a network of gluten strands

that can trap and hold gas bubbles created by the

fermentation of sugars in the dough by yeasts.

Gluten is formed when through the addition of water to flour,

two proteins glutenin and gliadin are able to bond to form a

tough, elastic sheet. The gas trapped by these long strands is

carbon dioxide produced when yeast enzymes catalyse the

chemical conversion of sugars in the dough to form CO2,

ethanol and water. When the ethanol oxidises it becomes an acid (this is what gives sourdough

bread its characteristic sour taste).

Time is required for both the development of the long gluten strands and the formation of gas

bubbles. When the risen bread is baked the starch in the dough gelatinises, making the bubbles that

have been formed into a permanent feature of the loaf, called the crumb.

Stages of baking

There are infinite possible variations in the baking process, depending on the kind of bread to be

produced, but there are four stages common to all processes.

1. Mixing

2. Proving / fermenting

3. Baking

4. Cooling

There are two main variants used in commercial bread production in the UK, the Chorleywood

Bread Process (CBP) which was invented in the 1960s and accounts for most bagged sliced industrial

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bread on sale, and the more traditional Bulk Fermentation Process (BFP), which is used by some

smaller commercial bakers and craft bakers.

The essential difference between BFP and CBP is found at the fermentation stage. While traditional

bulk fermentation requires around 3 hours of fermentation time, the innovation of the CBP was that

by introducing a significant level of mechanical energy, changing the formulation of the dough with

extra water and hard fats, and adding a mixture of dough improving chemicals, the fermentation

time requirement was virtually eliminated. In the CBP the dough develops the ability to stretch and

retain gas within the first five minutes of the process. As well as radically reducing the time needed

to bake bread, the CBP also allowed the use of lower protein British wheat where previously British

bakers had been heavily dependent on imported high protein wheat.

Figure: simplified time BFP and CBP process diagram with timings

BFP Process Details

Mix ingredients

Bulk ferment (3 hours)

Divide dough

First proof (stand for 15-20 minutes)

Reshape – place on baking sheet or in tin

Final proof (45-50 minutes in temperature and humidity controlled environment)

Bake (30 minutes)

Cool (30 minutes – 2 hours)

Slicing and packaging

TOTAL: 5+ hours

CBP Process Details

High energy mix (3 minutes)

Divide dough

Intermediate proof (stand for 5-8 minutes)

Reshape – place in tin

Final proof (45-50 minutes in temperature and humidity controlled environment)

Bake (17-25 minutes)

Cool (2 hours)

Slicing and packaging

TOTAL: 3.5 hours

In addition to the high energy mechanical mixing involved in the CBP, the inclusion of a variety of

extra ingredients in the recipe is essential. These include:17

Additional water

Additional yeast – around double the amount used in BFP

17

http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/food_additives/ contains a good list

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Hard fat – fats shorten the gluten strands so the resulting bread is less chewy and has a

more fine-grained texture, with greater volume and crumb softness. It also increases shelf

life. Hovis for example use rapeseed and palm oils.18

Enzymes – proteins that speed up the metabolic process, allow more gas to be held in the

dough and keep bread softer after baking. Enzymes are considered to be utilised or

destroyed during baking so are not listed on ingredient lists.

Oxidising agents – these help to develop gluten in the dough, increasing bread volume. The

most common in the UK is ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). Many oxidising agents used in other

parts of the world are banned in the EU (e.g. azodicarbonamide, potassium bromate)

Reducing agents – these are used to break down long protein networks, making the dough

easier to mix and handle mechanically. One of the most common is L-cysteine.19

Soya flour – has a bleaching effect (other bleaching agents such as chlorine dioxide

previously use are now banned), as well as assisting in the machinability of dough and

increasing volume and softness of bread

Emulsifiers – controls size of gas bubbles in dough, an important determinant of structure,

volume and softness in industrial bread

Preservatives – the most common are calcium propionate and vinegar (acetic acid),

inhibiting mould growth and prolonging shelf life.

Scale of manufacturing:

A small craft bakery might produce something like 7-8 tonnes of bread a week.

A large plant bakery (3,000 m2) might produce 7,000 loaves an hour – circa 1m loaves a

week, or 800 tonnes of bread.20 The cost of the facility is around £10m

Wastes and byproducts Across the whole UK food system, bread is one of the products with the highest wastage rates.

According to estimates by Tesco, 34% of bread that is produced is never eaten. The figure is higher

for sliced, white bread, of which 44% is never eaten.21 This waste occurs at a variety of points in the

supply chain:

Milling

Waste is very limited. Although bran and germ are separated to produce white flour, these tend to

be redirected for other uses. Bran is used in breakfast cereals and animal feeds. Germ is used as a

18

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/hovis-soft-white-bread--medium-400g 19

One of the most common is E920, sometimes made from chicken feathers or human hair! However, Warburtons specify that theirs is synthetically produced and suitable for vegetarians. http://www.warburtons.co.uk/corporate/our-products/ingredients 20

http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Manufacturing/Roberts-bakery-to-build-new-10M-factory-at-Northwich ; http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Manufacturing/Baker-launches-multi-million-pound-facility ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brace%27s_Bakery 21

Tesco (2014) Food waste hotspots http://www.tescoplc.com/assets/files/cms/Resources/Food_waste/T_S_Hotspots_190514v3.pdf

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health food supplement, to make vegetable oil and as animal feed. Milling waste is also sometimes

spread on agricultural land as a fertiliser.22

Baking

Tesco estimate that 16% of bread that is produced is wasted at manufacturing stage before it even

reaches retail. The main sources of waste are likely to be overproduction, stoppages due to

malfunction or human error (leading to high losses as entire process is disrupted), and burnt,

misshapen or poor quality loaves. Percentage waste rates may be higher in smaller scale bakeries.

Retail

According to the Tesco estimates, between 1-4% of bread produced is wasted at retail stage.

Although this sounds relatively small, due to the volume of bread sold this nonetheless represents

one of the biggest single areas of food waste across their entire retail operation.23 An INCPEN study

in 2013 concluded that in terms of food retail waste bread was the 5th most significant product by

value and the 3rd most significant by weight. As a percentage of bread sales, 4.3% is wasted at retail

(this includes bread reduced to clear).24

Consumer

The biggest slice of bread waste occurs at consumer level. By weight, bread is the number 1

household food waste product (but not by value, since bread is cheap). In 2012 households disposed

of 460,000 tonnes of standard bread and 49,000 tonnes of speciality bread. The majority (55%) of

bread products were disposed of as a result of not being used in time, followed by 22% consisting of

bread ends and crusts left or cut off by consumers. It is estimated that 28% of bread purchased in

2012 was wasted.25

Market situation The UK bread market is worth £1.6bn annually, and sits within the context of the bakery market as a

whole (which also includes rolls, bakery snacks and breads of the world) and which is worth

£3.6bn.26

The market is dominated by large plant (industrial) bakers using the Chorleywood Bread Process,

making up 78% of the bread market by value and 80% by volume. Of this, 96% consists of just three

large firms:

Warburtons

Allied Bakeries (part of Associated British Foods): Producers of the Kingsmill brand

Premier Foods/Gores Group: Producers of Hovis brand27

22

http://www.flourmillers.eu/page/waste/ 23

Tesco (2015) Corporate responsibility 2014/15 half-year update http://library.the-group.net/tesco/client_upload/file/Half_year_report_2014_15.pdf 24

INCPEN (2013) Checking out food waste. 25

WRAP (2012) Household food and drink waste in the United Kingdom 2012 26

http://www.bakersfederation.org.uk/images/pdfs/media-and-resources/FS3%20-%20The%20British%20Bakery%20Market%2030-10-13-FINAL.pdf 27

Both Allied and Premier/Gores also operate their own flour milling operations

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In-store bakeries within supermarkets represent 17% of the market by volume and value, while

small-scale master and craft bakers are 5% of the market by value and 3% by volume, reflecting the

relatively higher price of their products. Artisanal and craft bread is one of the fastest growing

segments of the market, however.

In terms of retail mode, 87% of bread is sold through multiples, 6% through specialist bakeries and

the remainder through other retail and food service outlets.28 The bread supply chain to

supermarkets and convenience stores is highly unusual in that rather than being distributed though

their own regional distribution centres (like all other products) bread is delivered fresh daily by the

bakeries themselves. Each of the big 3 bakery companies has around 10 bakeries across the UK, as

well as a similar number of distribution centres responsible for getting bread to outlets. There is thus

a degree of regionalisation in the industrial bread supply chain.

Map of bakeries, mills and distribution centres for the three main UK bakeries

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=ziFN0y_G9hXQ.kFbrSJRICjQE&hl=en

The UK market contrasts strongly with many other European countries where craft bakeries still

dominate. On average across the EU the market share of industrial vs. craft bakers is 50/50, but in

Spain industrial bread is only 19% of the market, and in Italy only 15%.29 In Turkey and Greece only

1% of bread is produced industrially.30 Bread is also considerably cheaper in the UK than elsewhere:

28

Barling et al 2009 Traceability and ethical concerns in the UK wheat –bread chain: from food safety to provenance to transparency. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 29

http://www.bakersfederation.org.uk/the-bread-industry/industry-facts/european-bread-market.html 30

http://www.aibi.eu/wp-content/uploads/AIBI-Bread-Market-report-2012.pdf International Association of Plant Bakers

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in London bread sells at an average price of £1.12/kg compared to £3.08 in San Francisco, £3.43 in

Paris, £2.08 in Milan and £2.05 in Munich.

Artisan production

There are a large number of smallscale artisanal mills producing flour in the UK. See this page for a

list of many of them http://www.sourdough.co.uk/british-artisan-flour-mills-by-region/. Many of

them grind flour on special occasions for demonstration purposes.

International trade Due to the perishable nature of bakery products, international

trade in the sector is low. The vast majority of bread consumed in

the UK is manufactured domestically. For the bakery sector as a

whole, imports are estimated to satisfy on 6.4% of domestic

demand. What imports do arrive come mostly from the EU.31

Exports from the UK are also low, and growth is challenging given

the strong craft bakery sector in much of Europe. Warburtons

experimented with supply markets in the Czech Republic, Slovakia,

Hungary and Poland in 2011 but pulled out less than two years

later.

What if… Oxford produced its own bread? How much bread does Oxford consume?

Oxford’s resident population is 158,000.32 If it is assumed that Oxford consumes bread at the UK

average rate relative to its population size then (according to Defra Family Food data) residents of

the city purchase 4987 tonnes of bread every year in shops for home use. At 20.9p per 100g this

means that Oxford is spending £10.4 million every year on bread for home consumption.

A further 210 tonnes a year is consumed out of the home in the form of sandwiches.33

A further 41.8 tonnes a year is consumed out of the home in restaurants and catering

establishments

In total therefore each year Oxford purchases 5238 tonnes of bread (6.5m loaves).

Supplying wheat for 5238 tonnes of bread

It is expected that between final proofing of dough and finished (baked and cooled) product, there is

a 12% reduction in weight due to loss of moisture.34 Therefore 5238 tonnes of bread requires 5952

tonnes of dough.

31

Ibis World http://clients1.ibisworld.co.uk/reports/uk/industry/productsandmarkets.aspx?entid=580#IT 32

June 2014. Oxford City Council http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decC/Population_statistics_occw.htm 33

Calculated from Family Food data on sandwich consumption – I have calculated the bread component on the assumption that an average 2-slice sandwich weighs 200g of which 80g is bread and 120g filling (based on real sandwiches)

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Equating this to a typical set of ingredients for Chorleywood Bread Process results in the following

quantity requirements:

Flour 59.7% = 3553 tonnes

Yeast 1.2% = 71 tonnes

Salt 1.2% = 71 tonnes

Water 36.1% = 2149 tonnes (2.15m litres)

CBP improver 0.6% = 36 tonnes

Hard Fat 1.2% = 71 tonnes

Converting a weight of flour to a weight of wheat grain requires an assumption around the type of

flour being milled. Assuming for now that all of Oxford’s flour is white flour with an average

extraction rate of 72.5% (i.e. 27.5% of the grain, mostly bran and germ, is discarded or sent to other

uses) then 3553 tonnes of flour requires 4902 tonnes of grain, leaving 1349 tonnes of byproduct.

The 5-year average wheat yield in the UK is 7.6 tonnes / ha35 - so growing 4902 tonnes of grain

would require 645 hectares of arable land.

According to Defra in 2013 (most recent data) there were 42,822 hectares of wheat being grown in

Oxfordshire, out of a total cereal production area of 70,511 ha.36 The total farmed area in

Oxfordshire is 196,897 ha. Producing enough wheat in Oxfordshire to supply all of Oxford’s bread

would therefore require only 1.5% of Oxfordshire’s current wheat acreage.

In order to do this there would need to be appropriate haulage, storage, milling and bakery facilities

available.

Northstowe Assuming an anticipated population of 24,000, the figures for Northstowe are as follows:

796 tonnes of bread (995,000 800g loaves, with a value of £1.7m)

o 700 tonnes of dough

418 tonnes of white flour

303 tonnes of grain

o 40 hectares of wheat

In 2013 Cambridgeshire had 91,984 hectares of wheat production. Supplying Northstowe with bread

would require 0.0004% of Cambridgeshire’s wheat area.

Opportunities for redistributed manufacturing of bread Bread is an interesting example product for redistributed manufacturing. A large majority of bread

production is relatively centralised, large scale, and concentrated within a small number of

companies. The bread market has certainly changed hugely since the 1950s. Then, before the

invention of the Chorleywood Bread Process, there were 40 bakeries just in the eastern sector of

34

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/4140/one-pound-loaf-flour-weight-or-dough-weight; http://franksrecipes.net/modules/baking_science/index.php/formula.html 35

Agriculture in the UK 2015 36

Structure of the agricultural industry in England and the UK at June, 2013

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Oxford alone – there would have been a bakery every few streets. 37 Now there is just one small

artisanal baker left in that area serving the local population.

However, there nonetheless does still exist a localised bread manufacturing sector. In Oxford and

Oxfordshire as a whole there are a number of small-scale bakeries serving the local population,

which may or may not use flour from local wheat production. For example, in Oxfordshire Wessex

Mill makes flour from Oxfordshire farms, and supplies to Cornfield Bakery just over 20 miles away,

an independent craft baker selling from their own retail outlets, at farmers markets and to

wholesale. In businesses like these there is a real example of localised manufacturing that can be

studied. This type of bread manufacturing is nonetheless only a very small percentage of the total

market.

There are also degrees of localisation within other parts of the market as well. For example 17% of

the bread sector is composed of in-store bakeries, generally in supermarkets. These tend to use

dough prepared off-site at a central manufacturing plant which is then rapidly frozen and baked

locally. Thus, part of the manufacturing process has been localised, resulting in local employment as

well as allowing in-store bread to be fresher and crustier, and enticing customers with the smell of

baking. Some in store bakeries also bake from scratch.

Key questions include:

What are the critical differences between local and centralised bread manufacturing? E.g.

technologies, supply and value chains.

How do centralised and localised bread manufacturing perform relative to each other – what

are the key performance indicators that could be used to compare them?

How does the low protein content of British wheat affect the potential for localised

production? Most small-scale non-CBP bakers using British flour will want to add a small

percentage of higher protein imported flour or some added gluten in order to make bread

with their desired characteristics.

What are the health, taste and quality dimensions of this question? One of the reasons why

centralised bread manufacturing works in the UK is that people are happy to eat long-life

CBP bread which has very different taste, texture and health implications compared to fresh

BFP bread or artisanal breads such as sourdough. These are more difficult to produce

centrally because they have a short shelf-life and may not be fresh by the time they reach

the consumer. Bread of this kind also poses greater commercial risk to retailers as if it does

not sell it cannot be kept over to the next day.

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