Grain drain

(Yeah yeah, I always say I will restart that damn blog, but never get around to it somehow. Diversions exist, from people to the present. Sorry....)

Even as the corner grocery stores start stocking foods that are good for you, more people are becoming aware of the fact that bread can indeed be the stuff of life. Eaten as a staple in the West but seen mainly as breakfast fare or snack food (in the shape of sandwiches, stuffed ‘toasties’ or the more-often-than-not badly made ‘bread pakora’) in this country, bread is starting to be consumed in greater quantities as a replacement for rotis of various kinds or rice. And there, too, there has been a slow and steady revolution taking place over the years. Standard ‘white sliced’ is gradually yielding some of its supremacy – though not completely – to more exotic versions, with the number of grains growing with each avatar of the loaf. Healthy bread seems to be the formula, sometimes with fabulous products, and occasionally with not too pleasant consequences of a grain stuck in the teeth.

Most bread needs a base, which is still either white refined flour or whole wheat flour, the binding that holds the multi-grains together, as it were. As Kainaz Messman of Theobroma (known for its mega-chocolatey brownies that could indeed star in any menu for a divine banquet) says, the multi-grain bread the store sells (priced at Rs40 for a flattish oval loaf) contains “80 per cent different grains – nachni, bajra, jowar, ragi, a lot of sesame seeds, onion seeds, oat flour and more - and 20 per cent white flour, which is needed for the structure. However, even with the refined flour, it is still more nutritious than 100 per cent whole wheat with no white flour added.” Adding greater interest is the multi-grain cookie, an experience on my must-do list for my next visit to the small and divinely fragrant shop.

Zyros Zend of Yazdani Bakery and Restaurant believes that the consumer needs to have a sense of adventure that the bread he makes will stimulate. “The grains we put into our multi-grain bread are a big secret; I will tell you, but then I will have to kill you! The reason we do not want to tell people is that we want them to figure out what they are eating – it’s a matter of interest. We want them to get educated in the bread they are eating. They should know that it is genuinely good for the health and good to eat.” As a long-term customer, I myself know that it contains watermelon seeds, sunflower seeds, oats, bajra, jowar…at least nine different grains, each of which contributes to the general feeling of virtue when eaten. The Yazdani half-kilo flattened semi-spherical multi-grain loaf, its proportions honed through careful trial an error with customer feedback, can hold up to nine different grains, and is now priced at Rs50, having started at Rs30 five years ago.

Both bakeries aver that the multi-grain product is their most popular. Messman explains that “We have always had it, since the time we started the shop – it was just becoming very popular, the whole health wave happened, people became more conscious of the benefits of other grains besides wheat. More people have been moving away from traditional white.”

According to Zend, “Everyone was doing brown bread using burnt sugar. Then came whole wheat. We wanted to go one step ahead.” The Yazdani loaf has no preservatives. “And we sell the toast, too; it goes with Indian and western food – the crunchiness substitutes for wafers.” Zend supplies his product to major multi-star hotels and offices and to individuals and says with pride that the loaf has “also been approved by two dieticians of Bombay Hospital and Saifee Hospital. One slice of it is equal to three or four slices of white bread.”

These are not the only two havens of health – bread-ly speaking – in the city. Start at the top of the price chain and you find the most delicious multi-grain jumbo loaves (about Rs100 for a half loaf) at the Oberoi Deli, ideal for a hearty heap of salad greens and sharp cheese. At the Indigo Deli near the Gateway of India, a long oval of multi-grain goodness (Rs65) is punctuated by unexpected air pockets that catch fresh butter or homemade strawberry jam. Wander to Worli, to the charming Banyan Tree, where the strangely oily-on-the-outside multi-grainer (Rs65) is soft yet with a nice chew, perfect for a cream cheese and smoked salmon sandwich. And there are more – the Bread Shop at Kemps Corner, the bakery section at Hypercity, the baskets at the BBC and, of course, keeping up with the rest of the world, the fairly newly introduced multi-grain slices from a company well known for its packaged soft white bread.

With a choice like that available, virtue is, in itself, so easy to grab!