Jun 13 2008
Healthy bread without preservatives
Published by Foong at 9:38 am under Snacks, Western Food, Where to eat |
I am a bread addict. Not just any bread, I only eat wholemeal bread from certain outlets and no, it does not include Gardenia or any other supermarket mass production type of brands. I prefer to go for local bakeries which produces freshly baked bread daily.
Nowadays, we can never be too careful when it comes to purchasing foods that has shelf life as most bakeries tend to put in a lot of preservatives to make sure the bread does not become moldy too fast. This is not good. I do not want to be eating too much chemicals since I am eating bread every day for lunch or breakfast.
So, I found two bakeries that sells healthy, preservative-free bread. Penang Adventist Hospital bakery and Rainforest Bakery. I am sure everyone in Penang knows where Penang Adventist Hospital is so there is no need for further introduction. They are selling a variety of wholemeal, grains and sprouted gluten free bread.
Then, when I tire of the hospital bakery, I found this other bakery. Rainforest Bakery over at Chulia Street, right opposite the Regency Furniture shop.
They offer an assortment of different healthy bread (and some sinful pastries like their absolutely wonderful chocolate cake). Amongst their specialties are their baguette (they even have wholemeal baguette!), mix grain bread, six cereal loaf, rye bread, fruit loaf, English muffins, Malt Bread and more.
However, be warned that it is not cheap. Just like Adventist’s bakery, the bread here are from RM3 and above (for each loaf). For buns, it is from RM1.50 each onwards. I actually do not mind paying this higher price for their bread simply because their bread is made fresh daily and it is preservative free.
The best way to know whether it is preservative free or not is to leave the bread in room temperature for a couple of days. Their bread can last in moderate room temperature for three days or so. If it is particularly humid and hot, it can only last for two days before you see it sprouting mold!
I normally keep their bread in the freezer and take it out on the night before to thaw it. However, do not reheat their bread in the microwave. It will become hard and attain a cardboard consistency. Either you steam it or wrap it in a clean damp towel before reheating it in the microwave.
Another good thing about this bakery is that if you are ordering a few loaves of bread, you can call them up and ask them about delivery. They do deliver the bread around town area and yes, the delivery is free of charge.
Rainforest Bakery
300, Chulia Street
Tel: 04-2614641
Business hours: Mon – Saturday (11am – 7pm)
Rating: 8 / 10
Price: $$$
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
11 Responses to “Healthy bread without preservatives”
Courtesy of Jessie, The Hungry Mouse
Courtesy of April, The Hungry Engineer
Things that are good for you usually don’t taste nice. Bread with no perservatives too hard for my palate. I prefer my bread soft.
I have seen friends buy wholemeal bread from small bakeries because it is supposed to be free from the chemicals that commercial bakeries use but then they spread a quarter inch of magerine on it and another half inch of kaya which is loaded with perservatives.
Self defeating don’t you think.
engineer: I beg to differ in this case. The bread by Rainforest is actually one of the best, it tastes better than plain white bread. And yes, it is very soft too. It is the only kind of bread my fussy toddler would ever eat.
They also sell preservative-free kaya so if I do go for kaya, I’d get it from them. If not, I usually put preservative and sugar free jam or make my own egg sandwich. Or better still, put pure butter (which is also preservative free and actually better than margarine if taken in moderation because margarine contains chemicals while butter don’t)
I am a glutton and wallop everything…..hahaha.
Went you have to go, you gotta go….so don’t worry too much lah.
I am not a big bread eater, gimme my nasi lemak in the mornings and my one-ton mee in the afternoons and glutton lane in the evenings.
Obviously I do not eat to live. I live to eat.
Yes, it is indeed hard to get bread without preservative nowadays. I normally opt for the wholemeal bread in supermarket. As for kaya, my mum supplies it – home made version.
I usually get my wholemeal bread from The Bakery Moments, over here in KL. I do know Gardenia has lots of preservatives and I really don’t know how they can possibly promote their bread as healthy. But mostly people are just plain ignorant.
Oops! I realise we have similar name. So I shall use foongpc instead of foong to avoid confusion! : )
engineer: I am also very tam chiak lar. Only occasionally have to remember to be a bit health conscious, after all, got a small kid to jaga mah.
Mun: usually the ones sold at supermarkets are the ones full of preservatives. But then it is really unavoidable since most packaged foods are preserved.
Foongpc: For a moment there, i thought I had gone nyanyuk and wrote a comment I don’t remember! LOL. Gardenia bread sucks. If you leave it at room temperature for weeks also it won’t grow mold, but it will harden. This shows how ‘well preserved’ it is.
You people so worried about preservatives….go bake your own lor.
Can buy bread making machine about the size of a rice cooker.
You can also buy bread mix from super market.
Just mix the bread mix at night, put into the machine and let the yeast do it’s work overnight. Set the timer on the machine and bingo…..you wake up to the heavenly smell of freshly baked bread in the morning.
Some Mata Biru loves this but to me not worth the trouble. I rather walk down the street and eat nasi lemak or laksa or one-ton mee, washed down by a couple of cups of kopi.
I am also a great fan of Rainforest Bakery and have an article on it in my blog too… I normally go for the rye bread and the volkron which cost around RM5 and RM10 respectively. Still able to maintained its freshness when kept in freezer.
I find your blog very interesting and informative and have link it to mine.
engineer: aiyah…making own bread is healthy but no time lar…
ck lam: thanks! I will add you too.
[...] Finally, the Penang Adventist Bakery still do sell a variety of healthy wholemeal and sprouted bread suitable for diabetics and those watching their health. However, not all of it is as good as the bread at Rainforest Bakery. [...]