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Better organic bread 
CCFRA is the lead participant in a 4-year project sponsored by Defra through the Sustainable Arable LINK Programme, Better Organic Bread: Integrating raw material and process requirements for organic bread production. A collaboration with three organic farmers, major UK organic millers and bakers, HGCA and Nafferton Ecological Farming Group at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the project is addressing current constraints in the UK organic wheat market for organic bread. Agronomy studies are underway - with field trials taking place on three sites in the UK over four years - focusing on ways to produce wheat with high protein quality, to compensate for the lower protein content of wheat grown in the UK compared with imported wheat. The functional performance for breadmaking is being studied at CCFRA. The project will help optimise breadmaking performance through milling process modification and changes in bread dough formulation and processing conditions. In particular, the knowledge generated will lead to improvements in the quality of organic bread, by establishing and optimising formulations and mixing conditions for organic white and wholemeal flour. Contact: Dr Richard Stanley |