Sourdough baker looks to ancient grains for growth
Article written by Sam Butler
Specialist sourdough baker Go Yeast in Northern Ireland has developed a new range of white and wholemeal breads featuring heritage grains.
The company, which is based at Donaghadee in county Down, supplies its sourdough breads to delis and restaurants in Northern Ireland. They are also on sale at local farmers’ markets.
The new sourdough range, developed by experienced baker Ken McNaull, includes loaves baked using flours from ancient grains such as Egypt’s Emmer, Iranian Khorason and Einkorn grains from Turkey. They have been used to create new white, Italian herb and Emmer wholemeal sourdoughs.
Mr McNaull says: “I’ve been looking at heritage flours to give our sourdough different flavours and with increased nutritional values from higher protein and greater content of essential minerals. I was keen to source flours that are not over processed. The breads are all free from sugar and dairy, low in gluten and are vegan friendly.
Eikorn, for instance, is one of the earliest forms of cultivated wheat. Emmer was the first widely cultivated domestic wheat, produced initially in Egypt. Khorason, named after a region in Northern Iran, is produced from an ancient variety of Durum wheat and provides a wholemeal flour. Some people with intolerances to modern wheat varieties have found they can enjoy products made with Khorason flour.
Mr McNaull left a successful and lengthy career in accountancy to pursue a passion for bread-making especially sourdough. He now runs the artisan bakery with wife Anne.
“I’d always been keen on cooking and food and became fascinated by various types of artisan breads,” Ken says. “I jumped at an opportunity to take this longstanding interest a stage further by setting up a micro bakery in Donaghadee,” he adds.
“Naturally fermented sourdough breads are regarded as being healthier because they are more digestible than standard loaves and more nutritious. Lactic acids make the vitamins and minerals in the flour more available to the body. The acids slow down the rate at which glucose is released into the blood stream and lower the bread’s glycaemic index (GI), so it doesn’t cause undesirable spikes in insulin. They also render the gluten in flour more digestible and less likely to cause food intolerance.”
He studied sourdough techniques at the School of Artisan Food at Welbeck in Nottinghamshire.
He uses only stoneground, organic products from specialist suppliers such as Shipton Mills in Gloucestershire and Dunany Farm near Dundalk.
An enthusiastic supporter of the Real Bread Campaign and Real Bread Ireland, Ken now produces a range of sourdough, rye and malted products that he handcrafts and packages for distribution. He developed a unique breakfast bread coriander, fennel and orange zest.
