The Chorley Wood Bread Process.

[simongt]

Reading a very informative book about the history & develpoment of high street shops, came across the title of this thread.
Apparently, in 1961, some bakers in Chorley Wood developed the above by adding more fat, extra 'ingredients' and using low grade British wheat flour were able to produce a white loaf which from ingredients to finished, packed end product could be done in less than four hours, much faster than the traditional methods.
This then gave us the soft, bouncy cheap white bread now so beloved of most of the bigger chains of shops and customers, thus the bread we now have.
Well whaddya know - !
I'm sticking to my local independent baker who does things proper - !

 

[Pat "5mph"]

When I firs came to the UK I was amazed that bread is so liked: it's all air lol!

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I'm sticking to my local independent baker who does things proper

I’m sticking to making my own. It’s done properly and I not only know what it contains, I know what it doesn’t contain!

P.S. If you’re interested in the story of bread, and its adulterated cousin made via the CWB process, I recommend a book called Bread Matters, by Andrew Whitley.

 

[Reynard]

I may be incorrect (and feel free *to* correct me), but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the Chorleywood Process was developed from post-WW2 experimentation, because the UK couldn't afford to import wheat with a higher protein content from across the Atlantic, and so had to make do with the softer lower-protein grain grown here in the UK.

Quite bluntly, the UK was near enough bankrupt, and so a certain amount of initiative was required. And in any case, for people raised on the stodgy wholemeal National Loaf, fluffy white bread, however it was made, would have been the mutt's nuts.

For high protein wheat, you need cold winters and long, dry summers, rather than the general all-round sogginess that we get here. In contrast, flour milled from British-grown wheat is perfect for cakes and biscuits.

Mind you, Chorleywood Process bread is still way better than anything you'd get served in the US...