Granary bread

[marchesarosa]

Does granary bread have the same fibre content as wholemeal bread.

I have often wondered. Recently I asked a chap in the Bakery at Morrisons and he said yes. I'm inclined not to believe him. What do you think?

[principled]

Marchesa
Interesting question, which sent me investigating. The attached doesn't fully answer your question but I learned a bit about bread and flour from reading it!
www.ukmills.com/pages/truth_about_flour.asp
P

[marchesarosa]

Thanks for that info, Principled. So, "granary" is mainly white flour according to your link. I would be surprised if Morrisons' shop-made granary rolls didn't have a bit of wholemeal flour in them, too, because the texture is quite good.

However, I have always chosen 100% wholemeal over granary bread because I had the suspicion the latter was not as fibre-packed even though it looks nice and is quite tasty.

Thanks again!

[speakertoanimals]

I found stuff that seems to indicate the defining characteristic of granary is the malted grains, hence the flour can be white/brown or wholemeal, depending on manufacturer. For a packaged loaf, I'd look at the label, but for a bakers loaf, you'd have to ask the baker.

Hmmm.... For various supermarkets, for pre-packaged, I've looked online, and then you do get the full listing. So Hovis granary only 1.3g of fibre per slice, whereas Burgen soya and linseed more at 2.4g. Mind you, Hovis wholemeal has only 1.7g per slice, whereas Allinson wholemeal has 3.3g! And Hovis wholemeal farmhouse has 3.4g.

Whereas you can get somie sunflower and pumpkin loaves with 3.9g per slice.............

It's confusing I will admit!

[marchesarosa]

Yes, speaker, I think there is a proprietary "granary" flour with malted grains which is the hallmark of "granary". So many appetising kinds of bread now available! I did not start eating wholemeal bread until I was turned twenty (about 40 years ago). Before that I always had white flecks on my finger nails. After starting to eat wholemeal they vanished forever! And, of course, no more constipation. Hurrah!

[helen]

when granary bread became fashionable in the eighties my dad wouldn't have it in the house. He called it war bread and no matter what, the privations of his childhood were not going to be reflected in his house in his dotage. My gran was the same. White bread and tinned food were the wonders of the modern world and to be celebrated.......I love grain bread but it was a cultural thing back in those days, no thought of health.

[speakertoanimals]

What isn't clear to me is whether soemthing being labelled wholemeal guarantes anything as regards fibre content, but just refers to the flour. Hence will tend to have more fibre than non-wholemeal from same source, but that is not the defining characteristic?

Food standards agency says:

Wholemeal - all the flour used as an ingredient in the preparation of the bread must be wholemeal. The term “wholemeal” is not defined in law, however it is generally accepted that wholemeal flour is the entire wheat grain, which contains the bran and the germ.
• Wheat germ – the bread must have an added processed wheat germ content of at least 10% calculated on the dry matter of the bread.

And that would seem to be it for wholemeal bread in the UK. Contains what you would get from processing the whole grain, but I assume exact fibre content variable, depending on exactly how much bran or germ you decide to add, since I understand stuff often added back in, rather than process being whole grain from start to finish with nowt taken out............................


Brown doesn't legally mean anything, and not defined in law, although probably not allowed to label as brown bread something made with what anyone else would class as white flour and nowt else!

[jonjel]

If you see bread being made in bulk by some of the large commercial concerns it will blow your mind.

It s all about unit costs, so if they don't legally have to add one or other ingredient they sure as hell won't.

As for brown bread being made with white flour I have no idea, but if it was cheaper to do that with a bit of brown colouring and flavouring I have little doubt it would be done

[marchesarosa]

www.rankhovis.co.uk/granary.html


Granary® is a Hovis Trademark apparently. They supply the flour to other bakeries as well as producing their own granary bread.

There is not a word about fibre content in this information! Seems Granary® is just a malted "brown" bread unrelated to wholemeal, so I was right to be suspicious. Back to 100% wholemeal for me.

[speakertoanimals]

Seems Granary® is just a malted "brown" bread unrelated to wholemeal, so I was right to be suspicious. Back to 100% wholemeal for me.

Except I think nowadays many people use the term granary to describe a whole variety of 'bread with various grains/seeds' not just that made from the Hovis flour. Which can have MORE fibre than some wholemeal breads.