Bread is something that is taken for granted. Most homes have bread on their table because it’s cheap and it feeds a household easily. It’s a quick fix whether it’s for breakfast sandwiches or a late night grilled-cheese toastie. Restaurants serve sliced baguettes with a side of cold butter in little wicker baskets for a pre-dinner snack. We nibble on the edges mindlessly, whining about how “The butter’s too cold,” and not questioning where the leftover crust will go after we eat the soft, fluffy center of the bread.
The bakers at the E5 Bakehouse had to go beyond just thinking about leftover crust. They had to think of how they could incorporate other non-traditional food scraps and by-products of their bread into their conventional sourdough recipe.
Between the months of February to April 2017, the E5 collaborated with American chef Dan Barber to create a variety of recipes utilizing food waste for the WastED pop up in Selfridges. Various local farmers, food producers and acclaimed chefs came together to reimagine and reinvent new dishes out of food scraps (think nose to tail cooking) and various by-products.
It was a huge opportunity and an outlet to spread the message behind their brand — the importance of thinking about sustainability and food wastage, for the founders of the E5. Hence, they were more than happy to take part in the unique project and subsequently be inspired by other collaborators during the process.
Kate Hayter, the lead baker and liaison of the WastED project was in-charge of developing the recipes that would fit with the overall concept that the WastED chefs were looking for.
The overall development and experimentation process took approximately six months — which meant it wasn’t too intense given that they had a good amount of time to work with; something that is essential for bread.
Despite the length of time they had, adding new ingredients to bread is not something that works as easy as cooking.
“With bread, it’s super scientific. It’s based on formulas. We couldn’t add all sorts of byproducts because it changes the structure of the bread. A small amount can change how a loaf bakes, so we had to think about what we could add to the dough to not change it too much.”
To make the bread for the WastED project, Kate used old bread as well as bran because it was the byproduct of all the milling in the bakehouse. Although her only challenge with bran was to not let it make the dough too heavy, she recalls another experimental hurdle.
“One of our failed experiments came from trying to use spent grain — one of the main byproducts of breweries. The WastED chefs really wanted us to use it because it would have complemented other things that were on the pop-up’s menu. No matter how hard we tried, it would never work out. You’re left with paper thin bits that would get stuck in your teeth.”
Other products that the E5 contributed to the WastED pop-up included a cracker made with pea husks and buttermilk a completely different product to their usual bread-focused repertoire.
With a strong belief in sustainable food, the pop-up had now provided the E5 bakers with another way to branch out and explore the possibilities of creating new products with the use of other bread by-products. Every other day, the bakery’s leftover bread is distributed to charities around the area that happen to be hosting large dinners. However, with the inspiration attained from the WastED pop-up, Simone, one of the baristas at E5 started making a fermented bread drink called Kvass, that uses some of the leftover rye bread combined with a sourdough starter.
Despite being positive about holding future events with a similar concept to WastED, Kate had her doubts.
“I wouldn’t say no. But you have to think long term. You have to think about the outcomes, the end game. How do you stop something like this from becoming a gimmick?”
The E5 Bakehouse is primarily known for its philosophy on sustainability and mission to use exclusively UK wheat. Its wheat is sourced from local farms, and then produced on a stone mill in-house. The product is a more nutrient rich flour that goes into their renowned hand-crafted sourdough loaves. In addition, all the ingredients that go into the café food are obtained from the native area and bread delivery throughout the area is done using their Dutch delivery bicycle. All their packaging is biodegradable, and composting is second-nature to them. It is a belief that there is an importance in understanding every element of the bread-making process to ensure that the ingredients are not only good for our stomachs, but positive for the environment as well.
To them, sustainability is an important concept and they aim to spread the message around the community.
