Category: projects completed

Bread is an important part of our daily nutrition. There is growing evidence that longer dough fermentation times result in tastier and healthier bread (‘slow or traditional breadmaking’) and this will improve our intestinal health. Consumers, though, are particularly overwhelmed by the information supplied by the media.

Together with scientists from Maastricht University and Pandriks Bake Off, Keep Food Simple conducts research into the most important factors in consumer response. This allows us to communicate better about the meaning of bread in food.

In today’ s methods of vegetable processing not all parts of the plant are being used, but some of these  contain considerable amounts of nutrients. There  is an interest in transforming these parts into healthy food products by the use of fermentation technology. Recent scientific developments have paved the way to steer simple processes towards new fermented food products with specific benefits to the consumer, such as fewer calories ,  specific  flavours  and  food  with a higher content of vitamins. Through the combination of different strains of microorganisms the efficiëncy of these processes can be improved (‘Mixed-Fermentation’). This project has been initiated by Keep Food Simple  and is being developed  by the Foundation together with scientists and students of Wageningen University and HAS Applied Sciences Den Bosch.

More about fermentation

Natural fermentation of agricultural produce is one of the oldest ways to preserve foods. In the last decades our knowledge of Food fermentation processes has grown tremendously and has shaped many new opportunities for the bio preservation of foods. This emerging technology has developed from spontaneous fermentation to controlled fermentation.
Fermentations can be performed with single strain starters or mixed cultures. The fermentation of mixtures of two or more agricultural raw materials also offers challenging opportunities.
Keep Food Simple iniated projects on fermentation of dough in bread making, fermentation of side streams of vegetable processing and fermentation of bitter tasting vegetables to remove bitter components.

Research suggests that longer processing and fermentation times lead to bread with a superior quality, a longer shelf-life, lower GI, less gluten, more soluble fibre and a greater availability of micro-nutrients and minerals (M.Gobetti et al, University of Bari; M.G.Gänzle, University of Alberta). In a number of bakeries authentic bread-making has been re-established. Keep Food Simple is actively supporting this development with science, technology and expertise.