A heady but pleasant whiff of freshly baked bread wafts enticingly from the clutch of units on an industrial estate in north London.
Behind closed doors, final production tests are underway on what Gail’s Bakery – an artisan sourdough specialist – considers to be one its most exciting and game-changing new products in its 27-year history.
Into the bowl of the large industrial mixer the chain’s development baker Roz Bado tips, by hand, precise pre-measured quantities of a strong white Canadian flour, malt, and the decades-old sourdough “starter” – the crucial “living” ingredients of flour, water and wild yeast which helps a sourdough loaf to rise and gives it more flavour.
But what makes this particular sourdough a first in the UK is the intriguing ingredient also being added to the dough mix. Bado calls this “bread porridge” – a brownish, flecked mush of fresh breadcrumbs from leftover loaves which have been blitzed into tiny pieces.
It is a tasty solution to the shocking daily waste of bread, with more than 24m slices thrown away in Britain every day.
On Thursday the first 100 loaves of”waste bread” – baked in the early hours – will go on sale in 10 selected branches of Gail’s Bakery, before being rolled out across the rest of its 43-strong chain in London and the south-east. Roughly one-third of each baked 750g loaf consists of leftover bread and the chain calculates that the 100 loaves being baked daily will save approximately 10kg of bread being wasted per day.
“We’re calling it Waste Bread which some people think might sound a bit odd but we think this is being honest and clear with our customers” says Roy Levy, Gail’s head baker and head of development. “It’s re-using leftover but edible bread from our own supply chain which means we know exactly what is in it and where it has come from.”
The original idea was Bado’s, following a discussion with her flatmate about food waste and how edible bread could be re-used in a new product.
“Here’s one I prepared earlier” she quips, cutting into a warm loaf straight from the oven, and pointing out its “tacky, textured crumb” sitting beneath a thick crust. “It’s taken me about nine months to perfect this recipe, with lots of trials, and I do think of it as my baby” she explains. “The beauty is that because every day’s leftovers are different, every loaf has its own slightly different taste.”
The chain will only use fresh surplus bread (any kind, not just sourdough) from its own shops and while it is impossible to predict how much there will be every day, Gail’s bakers make small batches to ensure minimum waste. Every night, its shops donate unused food to more than 40 local charities, but any leftover bread not sold or distributed in this way will now be re-used in the new bread.
For weeks Bado has been training the team of bakers at Gail’s wholesale business – The Bread Factory – and which (despite its name) specialises in hand-made, traditional artisan baking using French methods. Its popular and award-winning range includes baguettes (the biggest single seller), focaccia and numerous varieties of sourdough (including best-selling potato and rosemary) and are served in top UK restaurants as well as through its shops.
“This is most definitely not a trial but a full production launch,” Levy adds. “We want to see what customer reaction is but we hope it will be very positive.”
To entice consumers, the agreed retail price for Gail’s 750g loaf of ‘Waste Bread’ has been reduced from £4.20 to £3.70 for the launch on Thursday. It is a lot for a loaf of bread, but in line with the £3 the bakery charges for a standard 500g sourdough loaf.
As the UK battles to reduce its annual £20bn food waste bill – equivalent to more than £300 per UK citizen – bread remains one of the most wasted items at all stages in the supply chain.
According to official figures, about 10m tonnes of food is wasted annually in Britain, in homes and in the commercial sector. Bread is one of Britain’s most wasted foodstuffs, with an estimated 44% thrown away because people do not get around to using it in time and worry it is stale.
But in the fresh food supply chain there are different challenges because of strict health and safety rules about dates within which food can be used for human consumption.
There have been other successful innovations to use leftover bread that would otherwise go to waste, particularly in beer brewing.
Toast Ale, for example, was launched two years ago by Tristram Stuart, the founder of the food waste charity Feedback, who was inspired to use leftover bread to make beer by a Belgian brewer who follows the same process.
Marks & Spencer and Adnams, the Suffolk brewery, recently teamed up to use the crusted “ends” of M&S’s sliced sandwich loaves to create a range of “Used Our Loaf” beer. And in July Iceland launched Bread Board, a pale ale made using its surplus loaves.
