1
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:06,200
Here in Britain we love our daily
bread, munching our way through

2
00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:08,560
12 million loaves every single day.

3
00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:12,200
Believe it or not, come August,
the green shoots in this field

4
00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:18,280
will provide enough wheat to
make 300,000 loaves of bread.

5
00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:23,680
From field to factory, it's
a nonstop processing line,

6
00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,960
but how do they do it?

7
00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:29,760
We've come to West Bromwich,
to one of the biggest

8
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,040
bakeries in the country,
to find out.

9
00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,480
'I'm Gregg Wallace and I've been
given exclusive access to

10
00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:42,840
'reveal the secrets behind
this epic production line.'

11
00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,240
Rolling it up like a cigar
and cutting it into four,

12
00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:50,320
and that's the professional secret?
That's the professional secret.

13
00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,560
'I'm going to follow the entire
process over 24 hours.'

14
00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:55,920
Wahey!

15
00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,360
'To show you the amazing technology
that goes into making

16
00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,560
'the perfect loaf every time.'

17
00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,600
That may be the most incredible
thing I've seen since I got here.

18
00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:10,560
'I'm Cherry Healy and I'm heading
into the nation's kitchens to

19
00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,200
'uncover the surprisingly
simple tricks

20
00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,520
'we can all use to
make our loaves last longer.'

21
00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,120
I keep my bread in the fridge.
Don't keep it in the fridge!

22
00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:24,200
'And I'll come face to face with
the mind-boggling machines...'

23
00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:25,960
I can feel it on my face.

24
00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:30,080
'..that are working around the
clock to provide enough flour to

25
00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:31,560
'bake for a nation.'

26
00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:33,360
That's insane.

27
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,800
Along the way,
historian Ruth Goodman will reveal

28
00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:40,120
the hidden killers that used to
lurk in our bread.

29
00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:43,920
Oh, my goodness! Look at that
fizz up. That ain't flour.

30
00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,920
This place just gets weirder
and weirder.

31
00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:52,000
You'll never look at a loaf of bread
the same way again.

32
00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,120
This is the incredible story
of the factories that feed Britain.

33
00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:14,280
Allied Bakeries in West Bromwich is
one of the largest

34
00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,360
bread makers in the country.

35
00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:21,000
Each week, this one factory produces
1.3 million muffins

36
00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:25,040
and up to 5 million rolls.

37
00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:29,560
At the heart of the factory is the
giant bread-production line, which

38
00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:36,160
bakes, bags and dispatches
1.5 million loaves every week.

39
00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:38,440
And tonight, I'm going

40
00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,560
to follow every stage of that
process by helping them

41
00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:46,560
bake the bestselling white and
wholemeal mixed loaf in Britain.

42
00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:48,440
But it's not about baking
one of them,

43
00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:55,120
it's about baking 140 of them
perfectly every single minute.

44
00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:58,720
Before I can get
anywhere near a mixer,

45
00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,680
we need to get our ingredients
together.

46
00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,000
Starting with the flour.

47
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,480
420 tonnes of it
stored in these giant silos,

48
00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,080
trucked in from mills
across the country.

49
00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,040
Every year, over two million
hectares of wheat

50
00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:21,240
are grown in the UK,
in a land area the size of Wales.

51
00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:27,400
Because of our climate, wheat can
only be planted once a year,

52
00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,640
so the annual harvest in August
has to provide enough wheat to

53
00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:33,480
feed the nation for the year ahead.

54
00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:40,360
It's kept in stores around Britain
and then trucked to mills like this -

55
00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:44,880
the Coronet Mill in Manchester -
and this is where your bread begins.

56
00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,120
Right, let's see what's inside
this truck. Ready?

57
00:03:55,240 --> 00:04:00,880
Around ten varieties of wheat are
grown for bread making in the UK.

58
00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,640
A mill will buy a selection of them
and mix them together.

59
00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:13,720
For manager Steve Britton, this is
the key to making the perfect flour.

60
00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,960
How much of this comes
through your mill every day?

61
00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:21,000
Well, we bring in up to
50 wheat vehicles a day,

62
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,640
about 6,000 tonnes a week.

63
00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:27,240
6,000 tonnes a week?! Mm-hm.

64
00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,600
The wheat could have been
sitting in storage for up to a year,

65
00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:38,800
so before a truckload is allowed
anywhere near the mill itself,

66
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,320
a probe sucks up a sample...

67
00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,080
and sends it to the on-site lab.

68
00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:48,760
The truck has to wait while they
test the quality of the wheat

69
00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:50,480
and check for any impurities.

70
00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:55,000
20 minutes later,
they get the green light,

71
00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,400
then the wheat is cleaned
before embarking on a violent journey

72
00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,360
through a six-mile-long
network of pipes.

73
00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,600
Which race it from silos to
machinery

74
00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:13,520
all over the ten-storey mill
at speeds of up to 60mph.

75
00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,280
This is where we will store
that clean wheat

76
00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:22,080
and it's basically filling up
these silos as we speak.

77
00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,360
I can hear it. So, it's all
going through these tubes?

78
00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:26,960
Well, open the door
and have a look.

79
00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:29,720
Oh, wow!

80
00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,120
Oh, my goodness.

81
00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,520
Coronet Mill combines various
types of wheat

82
00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:43,480
to make over 100 different kinds of
flour, each for a specific product,

83
00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:48,760
from doughnuts to pasties,
to bagels to cakes and bread.

84
00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,760
But to unlock the flour
inside a kernel of wheat,

85
00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,640
first you have to take
the whole thing apart.

86
00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:57,720
All wheat is basically the same.

87
00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,080
It's made up of three constituent
parts. It's got the bran layer

88
00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:04,880
on the outside,
it's got the white endosperm,

89
00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:07,600
and it's also got the germ.

90
00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:12,080
In a wholemeal bread, the flour
used has combined all these

91
00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,800
elements, as they use
the whole of the grain.

92
00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,440
But in a white flour,
it's just the endosperm -

93
00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,320
this white central part -
they're after.

94
00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:24,800
The wheat is soaked in water

95
00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:29,040
and left for up to 24 hours
to loosen the outer shell.

96
00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,240
Then it's ground through steel
rollers, which shear open the kernels

97
00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:36,720
and separate the bran
from the endosperm.

98
00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:41,200
So, this is after the first time
it's been ground?

99
00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,840
It is, so what I need to do now is
separate it into its constituent

100
00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:48,520
parts, so we need to separate
the bran from the endosperm.

101
00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:50,120
So, what we do is we sieve it.

102
00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:00,800
I can feel it on my face.

103
00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:07,200
That is insane.

104
00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:13,480
The Coronet Mill sifting floor
is a disconcerting

105
00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,880
maze of seven giant sieves
that work 24 hours a day,

106
00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:22,360
processing more than a tanker-load
of flour every hour.

107
00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,600
The crushed wheat kernels
pass through increasingly

108
00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,120
finer sieves, which remove more
and more of the course

109
00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,560
material, releasing a small
amount of flour each time.

110
00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:44,880
This course material is sent on to
yet more steel rollers to be

111
00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:50,840
re-ground and the process is repeated
again and again and again.

112
00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,320
Until eventually...

113
00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:56,920
flour. Flour. Really soft...

114
00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,360
It's really fine.
..and smooth flour.

115
00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:06,760
Our finished flour is now ready to be
trucked to the bakery.

116
00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:11,040
Flour dust is combustible
and, in a confined space, can create

117
00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:15,960
an exclusive environment where any
electrical spark could ignite it.

118
00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:20,000
So, the mill has to take great care
while they're loading.

119
00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,440
The truck has to be earthed to
prevent any static build-up,

120
00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:28,400
while powerful air ventilators
prevent the dust from escaping.

121
00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:33,480
How much flour is now going through
this funnel into this truck?

122
00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:36,680
This is a 28-tonne delivery now.

123
00:08:36,680 --> 00:08:41,400
And how many loaves of bread will
that produce? About 60,000 loaves.

124
00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:47,000
60,000 loaves of bread from this
one truck?! Yep.

125
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,520
And how many trucks of flour do you
send out of your mill every day?

126
00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:55,040
We're producing a tanker-load of
flour every hour.

127
00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:57,120
And is that 24 hours?

128
00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,760
Yes. That's a lot of toast. It is.

129
00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,520
That is now on its way to the
bakery in West Bromwich

130
00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:10,160
where, in just 24 hours,

131
00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:14,160
the contents of that truck
will become the bread on your table.

132
00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:26,120
The flour supply is
the lifeblood of this bakery.

133
00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,120
They rely on it arriving in vast
quantities every day

134
00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:30,840
for everything they make.

135
00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:34,480
And before I head in
to start baking,

136
00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,920
I need to offload that flour
Cherry has been milling

137
00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:42,240
and find out how exactly you
get 28 tonnes of white powder

138
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:43,680
out of a truck.

139
00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,480
That's the first challenge
for driver Tony Jarman.

140
00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:53,360
Can I help? You can, yeah.

141
00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:58,400
I don't want to appear stupid,
but flour is a light, dusty thing.

142
00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:01,120
How do you get it
out of an enormous vat?

143
00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:05,400
We pressurise the tank using a
land-based blower. You blow it out?

144
00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,640
Yeah, we pressurise the tank
and blow it out.

145
00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:10,320
I came here to see
the flour unloaded

146
00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:12,680
and now I feel like a fireman!

147
00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:25,960
This is where the nonstop process
of large-scale bread making begins.

148
00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:30,360
Wahey!

149
00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:32,320
It's trembling through my arm.

150
00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:37,360
It's incredible to think that
just 24 hours from now, this flour

151
00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:42,000
I'm pumping off this truck will be
a loaf on a supermarket shelf.

152
00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,280
Where is this going?
It's going into the silos above.

153
00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:51,640
This one bakery takes in close to
1,000 tonnes of flour a week.

154
00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:55,680
And they use white
and wholemeal flour

155
00:10:55,680 --> 00:10:57,680
for their Kingsmill 50/50 loaf.

156
00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:01,000
That's the loaf they're making now.

157
00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:05,400
In fact, every hour they're
making over 8,500 of them.

158
00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:07,440
And just like baking at home,

159
00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,160
the first step is
getting your ingredients together

160
00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:13,000
and here that's all being
done by computer,

161
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,520
under the watchful eye of
general manager John Jackson.

162
00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:19,360
This is the fun bit, right?

163
00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:21,840
This is the bit that we start
making the dough.

164
00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:26,040
So, what we have here
is the flour line

165
00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:29,080
coming right from the silos.

166
00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:30,960
There! There it is.

167
00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,800
And it's delivering the flour
at about two kilos a second

168
00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:38,720
into a holding bin here,

169
00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,040
ready to drop into the mixer
when the mixer calls for it.

170
00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,320
This hi-tech mixer can
automatically call on ingredients

171
00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:49,440
from all over the factory.

172
00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:53,800
Right now, flour's being delivered
directly from the silos outside,

173
00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:57,880
while the nearby ingredients
store room is also

174
00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,440
pumping in the other dry ingredients
we'll need to make our loaf.

175
00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,440
We've got kibble. Kibble?! Kibble.
What is kibble?

176
00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,840
Kibble is like wheat bran,
that gives you texture.

177
00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:13,480
Hang on a minute, Hang on a minute.
I make bread - flour, yeast, salt.

178
00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:15,400
We add it to give it
a bit of texture,

179
00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:17,800
particularly to our
wholemeal products.

180
00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,160
Tell me about soya.
That surprises me.

181
00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:24,200
Soya, we add soya, which
enriches the process

182
00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:28,080
and gives a brighter crumb. It makes
the bread whiter? Yes, it does.

183
00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:29,720
Is that right? That's right.

184
00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:33,480
I'm really excited,
I've never used one of these.

185
00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:35,560
That is immense!

186
00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:37,200
Ready?

187
00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,000
Despite all these ingredients,
there's one star player

188
00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,240
at the heart of bread making -
a living organism.

189
00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,680
Is that your yeast?
Yeah, that's our yeast.

190
00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:52,160
That is creamed,
fast-acting baker's yeast.

191
00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,920
The yeast that I use at home
is a solid.

192
00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,760
Yeah, we have it in liquid form so
that we can bring it in by tanker.

193
00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,880
How many tankers come in to supply
you with liquid yeast?

194
00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:07,600
About two a week.
Two full tankers a week, yeah.

195
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:10,480
I'm amazed you go through that much.
I had no idea.

196
00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:14,360
This is the secret ingredient.
Without this, no bread ever.

197
00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,880
That's right. How much do you
love this jar of liquid?

198
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,200
It's absolutely essential.

199
00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,440
But what exactly is yeast
and why is it so essential?

200
00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:29,520
To find out, I've come to the
Norfolk countryside to meet

201
00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:31,720
scientist Dr Ian Roberts.

202
00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,680
So, why am I out in
the middle of a forest?

203
00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:36,800
This is a really good
place to find yeast.

204
00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,960
It's a microscopic fungus related
to mushrooms and toadstools,

205
00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:44,120
and it's a living thing
and this is a living environment.

206
00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:45,880
Where is the yeast?

207
00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:50,320
It's everywhere, it's all around us
on leaves, branches, soil -

208
00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:53,280
the bark of oak trees is a
particularly good place to find it,

209
00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:55,120
and indeed it's on us,
on our skin.

210
00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:58,160
You're not kidding me, are you?
No, it's everywhere.

211
00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:05,120
Yeasts are some of the most
successful organisms on earth.

212
00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:09,360
These ancient fungi have been
with us for millions of years.

213
00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:11,080
They live all around us,

214
00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:13,680
from the air we breathe to
the bark of this tree.

215
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,880
In fact, they're so good at
adapting to different

216
00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:21,560
environments that scientists
like Ian are researching ways to

217
00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:23,080
harness their potential.

218
00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,000
At the Institute of Food
Research in Norwich,

219
00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:32,720
they have an extraordinary
collection of 4,000 different

220
00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,800
varieties of these intriguing
little critters.

221
00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,320
So, here's a sample
from an Antarctic glacier.

222
00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:44,800
Why would you be interested in
yeast off a glacier?

223
00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,560
Because we think it's got
UV protective properties

224
00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:52,240
and it's a potential source of
chemicals that can be
used in sunscreen, for example.

225
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,840
So, these microscopic organisms have
some impressive hidden talents.

226
00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:02,480
But what about the yeast
we eat every day?

227
00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:05,720
The stuff that makes our bread rise?

228
00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,400
Well, Ian's got some of that
in his collection, as well.

229
00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:13,360
You have a little tube like this
and inside the tube...

230
00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,560
you have that,
containing the baker's yeast.

231
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,440
So, I could actually make some
bread with this one?

232
00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:22,760
You could, but you'd need an awful
lot more of it.

233
00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:24,280
Let me get this absolutely right,

234
00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,240
there is no mass-produced bread
without mass-produced yeasts?

235
00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:32,160
Yes, there's factories around
the world that produce
tons and tons of it.

236
00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:34,080
So, how do you make tons

237
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,520
and tons of the stuff when each
organism is microscopic?

238
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,120
I've come to the Lallemand factory
in Suffolk -

239
00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,160
one of the largest yeast producers
in the country - to find out.

240
00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,200
There are six massive fermenters
which are cultivating

241
00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:56,160
yeast 24 hours a day.

242
00:15:56,160 --> 00:16:00,120
Martin Perling is
operations director.

243
00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,040
How much yeast in one of those?

244
00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:04,920
In each one of those tanks,
by the time we finish growing

245
00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:07,920
the yeast, there'll be 30,000
kilograms of yeast,

246
00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:12,400
enough to ultimately bake
1.2 million loaves of bread.

247
00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:13,920
And how much did you start with?

248
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,920
We start with 0.1 gram
from a test tube.

249
00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:20,320
Hang on, how long did that take?
That'll take us four days.

250
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:22,240
HE LAUGHS
That's not possible!

251
00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,480
The wonders of living organisms
are that they replicate

252
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,600
themselves by doubling their numbers
every three hours,

253
00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:33,240
in the case of yeast, and if
you do the mathematics,

254
00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:37,600
over the four days that we have the
yeast in those fermenters,

255
00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:41,320
they will increase by
35 million times.

256
00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:43,560
Mate, that is the maddest thing.

257
00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:55,000
This is quite an exclusive little
yeast club this, isn't it?

258
00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,560
Absolutely. That's a very good
way of summing it up.

259
00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,800
I guess, to the man in the street
it's a health spa,

260
00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:05,480
because our primary requirement
is to keep our yeast healthy,

261
00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:11,600
happy and growing as rapidly
and as pure a state as possible.

262
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,240
One way they keep the yeast happy
is by feeding them

263
00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:21,040
vast amounts of sugar through this
complex network of pipes.

264
00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,280
As they grow and multiply,
the yeast cells

265
00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:29,680
get through 42 tonnes of sugar
syrup, known as molasses,

266
00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:31,040
in just 16 hours.

267
00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:38,720
Once the yeast has multiplied
enough to fill the tanks,

268
00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:43,000
it's dehydrated and then compressed
into bricks ready for delivery.

269
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:47,120
That's a beautiful thing. It is.
It's like a marble finish.

270
00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:49,080
That's a really beautiful thing.

271
00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:53,360
And there's all the big
organisms in there. A living thing.

272
00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,600
We also produce a dried
yeast for home baking.

273
00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,520
These organisms are
so amazingly resilient,

274
00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:06,160
they can even survive being
completely dried out.

275
00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:11,000
That is dry and stable and in this
form the yeast will keep for

276
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:16,640
two years, whereas in that form, it
has a shelf life of about 30 days.

277
00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:20,800
This has got to be one of the most
adaptable organisms the human

278
00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:22,920
race has ever found.

279
00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,440
It is, and man has learnt to adapt
it to his requirements.

280
00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:33,880
Now, that truck is about to leave,
and that has got enough

281
00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:38,880
yeast on it to makeover 600,000
loaves of bread. 600,000!

282
00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,240
But that's not even a fifth
of the bread

283
00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:45,680
that we consume in Great Britain
every day.

284
00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:46,720
Gobsmacking!

285
00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:56,640
Back at the West Brom bakery,

286
00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,560
their yeast has now been
pumped into storage tanks.

287
00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:09,040
And then, just three minutes after
the flour delivery,

288
00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:11,680
it's all combined in the mixer.

289
00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,720
We're almost ready to start
making bread,

290
00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:18,280
but first I need to add one final
group of ingredients

291
00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:19,800
known as conditioners.

292
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:21,680
Show me what to do.

293
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:24,440
Grab yourself one of these,
take the lid off,

294
00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:25,880
put the lid on the side.

295
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:30,280
A mix of vitamin C and various
enzymes and emulsifiers which,

296
00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:33,520
along with the high-speed mixer,
allow them

297
00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:38,040
to bake bread at a speed
impossible in your kitchen at home.

298
00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:40,680
At home now, I've added the yeast
to the flour,

299
00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:46,000
I've now got clingfilm over the bowl
and I'm leaving it to rise.

300
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,160
If we were to use the old method,

301
00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:52,320
we would have bowls of dough
all round here, waiting.

302
00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,640
We use something called the
Chorleywood bread making process,

303
00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:58,120
that was developed in the
early 1960s.

304
00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:03,200
At the heart of this Chorleywood
process is a special mixer,

305
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:07,040
which uses controlled pressure
and immense energy to precisely

306
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,880
manage the size of the air
bubbles in the dough.

307
00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:15,720
Which means every loaf is
practically identical.

308
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:22,240
It also means that a process that
would take you 25 minutes of mixing

309
00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,960
and kneading at home can all be done
here in a fraction of the time.

310
00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:31,080
So, how long does it take to mix the
whole thing up? Just three minutes.

311
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:34,600
You're kidding me!
Well, the actual mixing itself
is just three minutes long.

312
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:36,720
Can I get in there
and have a look? Yeah.

313
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,520
Every stage of the process has to be
precisely monitored,

314
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,480
including the temperature
of the dough ball, to ensure

315
00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,960
the yeast has the perfect
environment to grow.

316
00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:52,080
And we're looking for 28 degrees
plus or minus one.

317
00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,520
Too hot and the dough would
rise too quickly.

318
00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:01,560
Too cold and they'd end up with
a dense, flat loaf.

319
00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:05,040
Now it looks like a bread dough.
That's it, yeah.

320
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,200
How many of these do you do a day?
20 an hour. 20 an hour?

321
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,400
And you get about 350 loaves
to a mix.

322
00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:23,320
Is this the dough I've made?
Yeah, this is the dough you've made.

323
00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,080
And we've cut it into the right
weight pieces

324
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,800
and this dough piece now won't stop
moving for the next

325
00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,520
three and a half hours till
we actually drop it in a bag.

326
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,600
I can't be the only person
in Britain

327
00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:39,600
that finds this very
therapeutic,

328
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,920
watching enormous dough balls just
floating away, off into the horizon.

329
00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:57,640
Right, what we do next, Gregg,
we put it through a rounder

330
00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:59,240
and shape it into a dough piece

331
00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,000
and once we've got it
into the right shape,

332
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,360
we need to let it relax so
that we can then mould it

333
00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:08,080
and shape it before we put it
in the tin.

334
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,640
How long has it got to relax?
About 30 seconds.

335
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,080
Is that why you made
the conveyor belt so long?

336
00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,160
That's exactly right, yeah.
It's like...

337
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:20,080
like all the energy and heat that
goes into a piece of beef,

338
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,440
it's like bringing that out the oven
and letting that rest.

339
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,600
Exactly the same. Same process?
Yeah, it's the same process.

340
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,920
I'm getting quite attached
to this dough ball.

341
00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,280
After they've
relaxed for 30 seconds,

342
00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:35,200
the dough balls are almost ready
to be left to prove.

343
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:42,920
But first they go through one
surprising extra step.

344
00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:43,960
Oh!

345
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,960
You've rolled it up like a pancake!
Yeah, we roll it up like a pancake.

346
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:49,840
Why would you do that?

347
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,040
It's all about developing
the structure of the dough,

348
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,760
and we cut it in four and turn
the grain through 90 degrees to

349
00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:00,280
give the slice of bread a stronger
texture, allowing you

350
00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,320
to butter it without ripping it
all into holes.

351
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:11,680
Is that it? Is that my
four separate bits?

352
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:15,160
That's the four separate pieces that
have actually moulded together

353
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,680
in the proving and baking process
inside the tin.

354
00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:19,800
I wouldn't notice this,
would I, on a sliced loaf?

355
00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:21,280
No, because on a sliced loaf,

356
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:24,640
the slices will actually cut through
that and you'll not see that.

357
00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:28,240
Mate, this is nothing like making
bread at home, let me tell you.

358
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:29,280
Nothing like it.

359
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,080
What would happen
if we didn't roll it up,

360
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:43,320
didn't cut it into four and just put
the dough into a baking tin?

361
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,760
It would look exactly the same,
a square loaf, however,

362
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,760
it would be more susceptible to
ripping if you actually buttered it.

363
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:51,800
I'll show you.

364
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,240
This is the loaf we made earlier

365
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,480
and with four pieces here,
as you can see.

366
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,000
And this is one that we haven't,

367
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:03,880
that we made specially
for you today,

368
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,080
so you could actually see
the difference.

369
00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,040
And that's the standard 50/50?

370
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:11,200
That is. We would make 40,000 of
these every day

371
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,280
and we don't make any of those.

372
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,200
And you reckon it will
spread better? I do.

373
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:22,080
Do you want to bet on it?
Spread betting? Spread betting, yes.

374
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,000
# He likes bread and butter... #

375
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:29,440
It does spread ridiculously well!
It does! Right, swap them over.

376
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:33,360
# ..He likes toast and jam... #

377
00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:35,760
It's tearing.
It's tearing here, yes.

378
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:37,880
It's...
GREGG LAUGHS

379
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:39,440
That's mad!

380
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:43,480
# Well, I like bread and butter

381
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:45,520
# I like toast and jam... #

382
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,040
That's nuts! Look at that!

383
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:54,680
Everything depends on you
rolling it up like a cigar

384
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,160
and cutting it into four,
and that's the professional secret.

385
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,840
And that's the professional secret.

386
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,200
This four-piecing method was
developed in the 1960s

387
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:07,720
and by the late '70s, most bakeries
were using it to improve

388
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,080
the texture
and structure of their bread.

389
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:15,720
And while I'm getting my head around
the subtle art of four-piecing...

390
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:18,360
historian Ruth Goodman
has been looking at why

391
00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:21,120
we've always been in love
with the white loaf.

392
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,840
For centuries, bread has been
really important to us -

393
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:29,600
not only in Britain's diet,
but in our culture.

394
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,480
Hiya, Ruth. How are you? Hello.

395
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:37,120
So, I've come to meet Colin Lomax
who's worked for Hovis for 37 years

396
00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:40,960
and has a lifetime's experience
of making bread by hand.

397
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:43,640
I always think about using
that part of my hand

398
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:47,240
and pushing it against the table.
You'll get some friction.

399
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,600
He's going to show me how our love
affair with bread has risen

400
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:54,080
through the centuries, starting
off with the medieval loaf.

401
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,120
It didn't look anything like
the modern white loaf, did it?

402
00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:02,280
No, that's so true.

403
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:05,720
Let's just have a look at some
rye bread and rye is what

404
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:10,240
really the poor people had to eat
when wheat was too expensive to buy.

405
00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:14,560
This is indeed the sort of texture I
would expect from a medieval bread.

406
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,360
It's quite dense.
It's not very springy, is it? No.

407
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:20,720
If you've got to live on bread
and water...

408
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:22,520
Which they did of course,
didn't they?

409
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,120
Which they did, then this
is about as good as it gets,

410
00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:29,640
but, boy, you have to chew it.
THEY LAUGH

411
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:33,800
Workers' bread was generally made
from whatever was growing locally -

412
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:38,440
rye, barley and oats - which were
sometimes mixed with wheat.

413
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,800
This produced loaves in
various shades of brown.

414
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:48,120
If you were wealthy, you could treat
yourself to a loaf of white bread.

415
00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:50,680
But preindustrial
white bread was quite

416
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,640
different from the sandwich loaves
which we know today.

417
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:55,720
You properly can't see it
from there,

418
00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:00,640
but there are still flecks of
bran particles in there.

419
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:02,640
But it made good bread.

420
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:07,440
Good for the gentry, maybe,
but not for the bakers.

421
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:11,960
The conditions in bakeries
were terrible.

422
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,120
Most of the bakers had
respiratory diseases...

423
00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:18,200
As they were in amongst the dust
all the time. That's right.

424
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,080
They worked terribly long hours

425
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:25,360
and it really was kind
of backbreaking work.

426
00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:28,720
Oh!

427
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:30,680
After 25 minutes in the oven,

428
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:34,080
it's time to check on our
preindustrial white loaf.

429
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:36,200
Look! All of our efforts -
fantastic!

430
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,040
Bread was so fundamental to
society that it became

431
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,720
a symbol for social division.

432
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,120
When they were baked on the oven
bottom

433
00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:49,840
and you get this kind of dust, they
used to slice the bottom off

434
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:51,120
and that was oven bottom,

435
00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:55,800
and the top bit was upper crust,
so the so-called rich people

436
00:27:55,800 --> 00:28:01,320
had the upper crust bit and
the other people had the bottom.

437
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:04,640
Well, now, that
does look like white bread.

438
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,600
It's sort of creamy white,
rather than white white.

439
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,480
Try a little piece of it.

440
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:12,520
And it should almost
melt in your mouth,

441
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,840
it shouldn't be as chewy
and as dense. It's much softer.

442
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,360
And you can see yourself eating
that with a nice meal.

443
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:22,800
For the upper classes,
white bread was

444
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:26,400
the height of refinement in
every sense of the word.

445
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,840
It wasn't until after the
Industrial Revolution that it came

446
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,480
within reach of the ordinary worker.

447
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:35,120
In the mid-19th century,

448
00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:39,320
cheap wheat was imported from the
prairies of North America and

449
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:44,200
it was milled through steel rollers,
creating a much finer product.

450
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:46,480
Can we have a little
look at what white bread had

451
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:51,200
become by the end of the Victorian
period? Just cut through that.

452
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,240
Oh, my goodness!
A lovely, bright white loaf.

453
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,960
Let's go and have a look
at that old white.

454
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,920
And I think this is very
white in comparison to that.

455
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:06,320
Essentially, put one hand on there,
one hand on there

456
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,920
and you can really feel
the difference. Oh, my goodness!

457
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:10,760
That's a huge difference.

458
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,720
One sinks right in,
the other one scarcely at all.

459
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,240
And our love affair with white bread
just goes on and on.

460
00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:21,960
Throughout history
and through the checkouts,

461
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,280
the white loaf remains
the nation's favourite.

462
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:39,600
My loaf is only seven minutes old,
but already it's been mixed,

463
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:44,280
the dough balls have been cut into
the critically important four pieces

464
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,480
and now it's just a short conveyor
belt ride to the prover.

465
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:58,840
At home, I'd put a little
bit of oil in the bowl

466
00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,720
and I'd try and find somewhere dry
and warm like an airing cupboard.

467
00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:04,960
That is just a giant
airing cupboard, right?

468
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:07,960
It's a giant airing cupboard. How
much bread have you got in there?

469
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,120
About 7,000 loaves at any one time.

470
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,560
And what do you want? You want it to
double in size in about an hour?

471
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,520
At least double in size
in about an hour, yes.

472
00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:20,120
I could do that after a good lunch.

473
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,880
'Whether you're baking tens of
thousands of loaves in a factory,

474
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:26,800
'or a single loaf in your kitchen
at home,

475
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:28,960
'at this point the science
is the same.

476
00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:32,680
'The prove is all about giving
the live yeast

477
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:34,920
'time to feed off the starch.

478
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:38,800
'As it does, it produces
bubbles of carbon dioxide, which is

479
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:42,200
'what will give our loaf
its structure.'

480
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,000
Ooh, that's quite heavy, mate.

481
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:51,800
So there...

482
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:54,880
That's the dough we've made straight
from the mixer and four-pieced.

483
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:56,960
And there is the proven dough -

484
00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,360
more than double, I'd say almost
triple the size. That's right.

485
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,320
'But it's not enough just to
create the bubbles.

486
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:05,760
'The key is holding them in place,

487
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,200
'and that's where the elastic
stretchy gluten comes in.'

488
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:14,360
So the yeast is producing gas,
the gluten is holding it all in.

489
00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,720
In, like, a big net, and when
all that process has finished

490
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,320
it creates, like,
a soft, springy texture.

491
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,280
So the yeast is, like,
eating the sugar

492
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:25,080
and then it's breaking wind
on an enormous scale.

493
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,440
And then the gluten's trapping
it all. That's right.

494
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,640
That's the scientific way of
describing it, yes.

495
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:31,320
I'm right, aren't I?
You're right.

496
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,040
We have to put a lid on the bread,
or the tin. Why?

497
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,920
Well, when it goes in the oven,
which is the next stage after here,

498
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,800
the yeast does a little bit of
a jump as it does its final prove.

499
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,240
And the lid stops it going too big.

500
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:48,920
And, it also helps us to create

501
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,520
that nice square loaf
to go in your toaster.

502
00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:54,920
'They've thought of everything.

503
00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:01,560
'And now, one hour and 24 minutes
after the flour first arrived,

504
00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:03,480
'it's time to start baking.'

505
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,080
I'm guessing, by the heat,

506
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,840
that this is the oven and they're
finally going to get baked.

507
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:18,400
How many loaves of bread would you
have in the oven at any one time?

508
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,600
About 3,500 at any one time.

509
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:25,280
How does it travel through
an oven for 20 minutes?

510
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:29,320
The oven's huge, and it's got
a travelling chain or a deck that

511
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:33,680
actually moves forward slowly all
the time, taking the tins with it.

512
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:38,560
'The loaves are baked
at 230 degrees,

513
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:42,280
'just like you would at home. But
that's about the only similarity.

514
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:44,920
'The internal volume of this oven
is about 1,000 times

515
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,520
'that of your home oven.

516
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:49,520
'The loaves move through
continuously.

517
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:53,120
'They have to, to avoid holding up
the rest of the production
line behind them.

518
00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:57,040
'It also means
they avoid any hot spots,

519
00:32:57,040 --> 00:32:58,960
'which could give an uneven bake.'

520
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,200
I can't believe the bread
still doesn't get to sit still.

521
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:05,360
Never sits still. We never stop.

522
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:10,360
'From the moment the ingredients
were combined in the mixer,

523
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:13,240
'the yeast has been feeding
frantically

524
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:15,880
'and creating those all-important
gas bubbles.

525
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,840
'But now, its time is up.'

526
00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:21,240
The actual heat of the oven
then kills the yeast,

527
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:22,920
and the yeast stops working.

528
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:25,480
And the heat of the metal round
the outside

529
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,280
is actually forming
the crust, it's scalding it.

530
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:32,360
Yeah. It creates a sort of
caramelised surface,
and you get the crust.

531
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:33,760
'After 20 minutes in the oven,

532
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:36,240
'the lid comes off, and my
perfect loaf is revealed.'

533
00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:52,000
'But before it can be sliced
and bagged, it has to take a ride

534
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,480
'through one of the most bizarre
rooms I've ever seen.'

535
00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:59,360
MUSIC: Fanfare For The Common Man
by Aaron Copland

536
00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:12,360
This place just gets weirder
and weirder.

537
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,880
I'm guessing by the temperature
this is some kind of fridge.

538
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:17,280
Yeah, this is our cooler.

539
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:20,560
And this is the one bit
of the process we can't speed up.

540
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:22,320
Why do we need to cool it down?

541
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,120
We need to get the bread below
30 degrees

542
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,280
so that we can slice
it effectively,

543
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:32,320
and put it in the bag
without creating condensation.

544
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:36,040
Because if we had condensation,
we might encourage mould growth.

545
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,280
Are they going up in a spiral?

546
00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:41,040
So on this side
we've got the loaves going up,

547
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,520
they go across,
and they come down this spiral.

548
00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:45,480
How many loaves of bread in here,
mate?

549
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:49,720
Well, over the two hours,
just over 16,000 at its maximum.

550
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:53,280
It's really difficult for me
to imagine

551
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:56,320
Mrs Jones from Kincaid Road, Peckham

552
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:58,520
unwrapping that loaf of bread
tomorrow.

553
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:02,280
I've been in the food business
for a long, long time.

554
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:05,520
And this may be the
most extraordinary sight

555
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:08,440
I've ever witnessed.

556
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:12,720
'I'm starting to appreciate just
how much work goes into every loaf

557
00:35:12,720 --> 00:35:14,160
'they make here.

558
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:17,600
'But a lot of that work
is going to go to waste.

559
00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:21,920
'Cherry's knocking on doors in
Birmingham, the food waste capital

560
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,960
'of England, to find out why so much
of our bread ends up in the bin.'

561
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:32,520
Every year in the UK, we throw
away over seven million tonnes

562
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:37,600
of food, including an astonishing
amount of bread and bakery products.

563
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:46,640
24 million slices of bread
are thrown away every day.

564
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,800
It seems that we're so used
to buying bread whenever and wherever

565
00:35:54,800 --> 00:36:00,040
we want, that we're quick to throw it
away in favour of the freshest loaf.

566
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,720
And that means for every
three loaves of bread you buy,

567
00:36:07,720 --> 00:36:10,120
you might as well chuck one
straight in the bin.

568
00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:18,400
'I'm meeting up with Emma Marsh from
the Love Food Hate Waste campaign,

569
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:23,720
'to help me find out why
we waste so much bread.'

570
00:36:23,720 --> 00:36:26,240
The key thing is that actually
we all like to have

571
00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:29,720
bread in the house. We just don't
want to run out of bread.

572
00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:31,480
And it's really about habit.

573
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,400
'So, I've arranged to pop into some
local houses

574
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:36,440
'to check out their bread habits.'

575
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,360
Gosh, you've got loads.

576
00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:41,880
You've got brown sliced,

577
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,840
you've got wholemeal sliced,

578
00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,480
you've got white rolls...

579
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:51,920
and then one really
mouldy pitta bread.

580
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,360
Wow. This is a lot of bread.

581
00:36:55,320 --> 00:37:00,320
There's some crusts, and there's
one bit here that's stale.

582
00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:03,040
There's one, two, three, four, five,

583
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:07,280
six, seven, eight loaves in here.

584
00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:10,960
How many people are in your house?
Four. So that's two loaves each.

585
00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:14,840
Reckon you've got...
Two loaves per person per day.

586
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:18,840
These two like bread.
Do you like bread? Yeah?

587
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,200
And what does your little sister
like?

588
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,440
She likes small, small, small
sandwiches.

589
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:27,400
She likes tiny sandwiches? That tiny.

590
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:28,560
THEY LAUGH

591
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,880
With stale bread you just need to
think about it very,
very differently.

592
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:34,560
So toasting with it is great,
especially if you like

593
00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:37,920
really crispy toast, because
it makes it absolutely perfect.

594
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:40,840
Or you can turn it into breadcrumbs,
or you can actually get

595
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:42,960
the really hard bit,
run it under the tap

596
00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,600
and put it in the oven, so if you've
got something else in there,

597
00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:50,880
and it makes it completely palatable
again. You absolutely can rescue it.

598
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:54,840
What you can't rescue
is the pitta bread.
That is absolutely a no-go now.

599
00:37:57,240 --> 00:38:01,760
'Moulds are quick to grow on bread
kept in a warm, moist place.

600
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:05,080
'Spreading through the whole loaf,
some can be deadly.

601
00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:09,920
'So, rather than risk it, mouldy
bread should go straight in the bin.

602
00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:17,960
'16% of all the bread
we throw away is entire loaves.

603
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:22,240
'That's over £90 million
worth a year, totally wasted.'

604
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:26,600
Please may we see your bread?

605
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:28,120
Right...

606
00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:30,440
Does any go to waste?

607
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:33,400
The crusts top and bottom I don't
eat. Why not? I don't know,

608
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,840
I just don't eat the crusts.
I think the birds'll eat them.

609
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:39,080
A lot of us don't eat the crusts,

610
00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:42,480
but actually the same amount of
effort, time,

611
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:44,840
energy, resources
go into getting those crusts. Yeah.

612
00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:48,320
So, actually, it will save money
if we can make the most of those
bread ends.

613
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:50,120
Especially for things
like breadcrumbs.

614
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,280
Because you can just whizz them
up and then use them

615
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:57,000
on things like macaroni cheese...
Anything like that. Don't always
have to let them go to waste.

616
00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:01,600
'With the Abbott family, there
are more surprises.'

617
00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:03,600
Holy moly!

618
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:05,840
It's like a bread graveyard.

619
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:09,000
Three-quarters of a loaf
of wholemeal.

620
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:12,000
Four still-edible pains au
chocolat.

621
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:13,880
Oh - wraps, I love a wrap.

622
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:17,280
You like variety in this house, don't
you? Everyone likes different things.

623
00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:19,880
Hiding at the back...more crumpets.

624
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:23,080
I think we are nearing
the end of the collection.

625
00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:29,040
17 varieties of bakery
and bread goods. Wow.

626
00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:32,120
I think for me it's about
making it a bit more visible,

627
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:36,360
because actually that just stops it
going and hiding right at the back.

628
00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:41,920
# Da-da-da... #

629
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:46,520
You've got your basic
wholemeal sliced... Yeah.

630
00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:51,520
And some 50-50... Yeah. That's for
my son, he's quite fussy.

631
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:53,920
And one fresh bagel.

632
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:57,920
What I'd really like to ask is, do
you ever waste any? Oh, we do.

633
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:02,960
Because quite often it's not used up
before it's out of the sell-by date.

634
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:06,800
Has it gone stale, or is it mouldy
or are you just going by the date?

635
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,920
Er, I'll tend to look at it and
think, oh, no, that's a bit stale.

636
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:14,000
OK. So the key thing you could do
there is actually freeze that bread.

637
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:16,760
You can take it out in the morning,
make a sandwich,

638
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:19,280
and then you put it into your
lunchbox and by the time you've

639
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:23,120
got to work and you're ready
for lunch, it's just defrosted.
Oh, brilliant.

640
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:25,080
While we're here I just have to
ask something,

641
00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:29,680
cos I'm noticing that no-one
keeps their bread in the fridge.

642
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:33,600
I keep my bread in the fridge,
because the fridge keep things fresh.

643
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:37,680
Don't keep it in the fridge!
Why not?

644
00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:41,440
You are one of the 9% in this
country that keep their bread in
the fridge.

645
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:43,640
It makes it go stale
so much quicker.

646
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:48,160
'The cooler temperatures cause
the starch in the bread to harden,

647
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:52,560
'making it stale six times faster
than at room temperature.

648
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:56,600
'So it turns out that
I waste bread unnecessarily, too.'

649
00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:00,720
We very much do what my mum did. She
had a bread bin, I have a bread bin.

650
00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:05,880
My mum kept bread in the fridge, I
keep bread in the fridge. Absolutely.

651
00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:11,440
It seems, when it comes to bread,
we are creatures of habit.

652
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:14,160
But if we just change one thing,
whether it be how much

653
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:18,080
we buy or reviving it with water,
or giving it a home in a bread bin,

654
00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:22,960
it IS possible to love our loaves,
and enjoy every last crumb.

655
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,800
'Right now the loaf I'm making's
got nothing to do

656
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:37,840
'but chill out
for a couple of hours.

657
00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:42,520
'So I'm going exploring, to see how

658
00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:46,160
'they make one of the nation's
other bakery favourites.

659
00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:49,720
'Ooh, we love our muffins in the UK.

660
00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:55,040
'We get through over 146 million
of the things every year.'

661
00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:57,840
That is maybe the best thing
I've ever seen!

662
00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:01,680
'And almost half of those
are made in this one factory.

663
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:06,760
'Joanna Turner
is in charge of making sure

664
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:08,320
'they're all up to scratch.'

665
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:12,120
That's lovely.

666
00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,920
Everybody should have one of them
at the end of their gardens!

667
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:16,240
A life-size one.

668
00:42:16,240 --> 00:42:19,080
Why do they come down that...
slide like that?

669
00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:22,480
What it does, it slows
the process of them coming down.

670
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:26,040
If they came down on one big chute,
it'd be too fast.

671
00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:29,920
'After they're baked, the muffins
come out of the cooler upstairs

672
00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:32,560
'and are dropped down
to this packing line.

673
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:38,640
'As they drop, these spirals also
divide the muffins into two rows,

674
00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:42,640
'to give Joanna a better look
at them as they go past.'

675
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:44,520
They all look exactly
the same to me,

676
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:46,480
how would you know
the difference between...

677
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:48,200
Right, let me have a look.

678
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:52,200
We've got that one, near perfect...

679
00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:54,160
That one...

680
00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:57,320
is small and dumpy.
So it ain't really any good.

681
00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:59,560
As someone who considers HIMSELF
as small and dumpy,

682
00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:01,440
I think that's a bit mean.

683
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:03,800
How many muffins go in through here?

684
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:06,720
Roughly 18,000 pieces an hour.

685
00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:08,480
18,000 an hour? Yeah.

686
00:43:08,480 --> 00:43:12,120
And roughly about 1.3 million
a week.

687
00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:14,520
We are eating a lot of eggs
Benedict, aren't we? We are.

688
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:21,240
It's bouncing...

689
00:43:21,240 --> 00:43:23,360
Yeah, it's like a pinball machine.

690
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:25,000
Why is it doing that?

691
00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:29,400
It's evenly dispersing them
so the same amount goes both sides.

692
00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:33,960
If I was going to be a bakery
product, I'd want to be a muffin!

693
00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:36,440
It's like a day out
at Epsom Derby(!)

694
00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:42,920
And they're under
starter's orders...

695
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:44,560
And they're off!

696
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:46,680
HE LAUGHS

697
00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:49,760
That is just brilliant.

698
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:52,000
Do you know the muffin man(?) I do.

699
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:55,160
# Oh, yes, we know the muffin man

700
00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:58,920
# The muffin man, the muffin man

701
00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:01,120
# Yes, we know the muffin man

702
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:04,440
# We know the little man
from Drury Lane. #

703
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:10,080
'While Joanne's busy making muffins
to feed the nation,

704
00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:13,720
'I've come back to check on
how my loaf's getting on.

705
00:44:13,720 --> 00:44:17,120
'It's spent two hours lazily
circling the cooling tower...

706
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:25,320
'..and now it's on the way
to meet Lee Smith, the man whose job
it is to bag 'em and tag 'em.

707
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:29,400
I've been watching these loaves of
bread since they were flour. Yeah.

708
00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:32,040
This is the final stage,
right? Yeah.

709
00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:35,440
What'll happen next is it'll
travel through a slicing machine,

710
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:39,440
it'll be sliced into different
slices, whether you want medium
or whether you want thick.

711
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:41,440
Medium you have 20 slices,

712
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,040
on a thick you have 18.

713
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:45,840
I like thick. You like thick?

714
00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:49,520
You're on the right side, this is
thick. You've got 18 slices on here.

715
00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:54,320
'Thick sliced is the most popular
type of bread everywhere in the UK.

716
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:56,960
'Except the northeast of England,
where, for some reason,

717
00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,240
'they prefer their slices
a little thinner.'

718
00:45:00,720 --> 00:45:04,480
Next up, the sliced loaf goes into
an unbelievable invention.

719
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:10,600
Aah! Ha-ha!

720
00:45:10,600 --> 00:45:12,920
The high-speed bagging machine -

721
00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:16,880
literally, the best thing
since sliced bread.

722
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:19,840
As the scoop's moving forward,
it's blowing air into the bag.

723
00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:22,520
The scoop will raise up,
it'll open it up,

724
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:25,560
and it'll actually drag
the bag onto the loaf of bread.

725
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:31,400
So, from what I understand
about that, the bread is falling,

726
00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:35,080
the loaf of bread sliced is falling
from one conveyor to another?

727
00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:37,600
It is, yeah.
And in that time,

728
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:41,680
an arm is blowing up a plastic bag
and pulling it over it.

729
00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:44,640
That's right, yeah.
Get out the way. Yeah, have a look.

730
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:50,560
Go and get a cup of tea, I'm going
to watch this for a while.

731
00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:00,320
All right. OK, now what?
Is this the end of the journey?

732
00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:02,880
No, no, it's got a bit further
to go yet.

733
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:06,600
It's got to be metal detected for
contamination... Metal detected?!

734
00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:09,720
How can metal get in there? There's
all kinds of machinery on the plant.

735
00:46:09,720 --> 00:46:12,760
If you asked 100 people on
the street

736
00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:16,680
something that they would
least expect to find in a bakery,

737
00:46:16,680 --> 00:46:20,360
I reckon top answer would
be metal detector!

738
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:23,160
Can I test it? Yeah, course you can,
carry on, yeah.

739
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:26,040
'To make sure the metal detector
is working properly,

740
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:28,280
'they regularly feed through
a fake loaf

741
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:30,040
'with tiny pieces of metal in it.'

742
00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:33,680
Ah! Ha-ha!

743
00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:39,480
'The plastic bags on the loaves
do more than just protect them.

744
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,960
'They also tell you exactly what
the ingredients are in your bread -

745
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:45,800
'something we now
all take for granted.'

746
00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:49,520
In days gone by, not only could
we not be sure what was in it,

747
00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:52,480
we couldn't even be sure
it was safe to eat.

748
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:57,880
The Victorians were no strangers
to food scandals.

749
00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:01,640
With few food safety controls,
buying your loaf from the baker

750
00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:04,720
could get you rather more
than you'd bargained for.

751
00:47:07,360 --> 00:47:10,440
Back then, there could be almost
anything in the bread,

752
00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:12,560
including an awful lot of things

753
00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:15,880
that you wouldn't want
to be putting in your mouth.

754
00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:19,200
Unlike today, three quarters
of all food on sale

755
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:21,840
had been tampered within some way.

756
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:25,240
Bread was perhaps the most
adulterated of all,

757
00:47:25,240 --> 00:47:28,760
with suspect ingredients
like ash, sand, chalk,

758
00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:33,640
plaster of Paris, alum and sawdust
used to bulk of the bread out.

759
00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:37,840
Things that could
lead to malnutrition

760
00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:40,440
and, in some cases,
chronic diarrhoea,

761
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:42,760
which could be fatal for children.

762
00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:47,360
Thankfully, today we have
professional food inspectors,

763
00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:49,800
like Duncan Campbell,
looking out for us.

764
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:52,600
We've got a whole load
of adulterated loaves here.

765
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:54,240
What exactly is in them?

766
00:47:54,240 --> 00:47:57,360
You do read a lot about the use of
ground-up bones.

767
00:47:57,360 --> 00:47:59,760
Chalk was another thing,
and also alum

768
00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:03,120
was quite a common adulterate
in bread in Victorian times.

769
00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:06,680
And what exactly is alum?
Alum is a salt.

770
00:48:06,680 --> 00:48:10,320
It has got aluminium in it, so it's
potassium aluminium sulphate.

771
00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:13,560
As well as whitening the bread,
it allows you to get more water in,

772
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:15,520
so for a given amount of
flour you put in

773
00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:17,400
you get a bigger weight
of bread out.

774
00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:20,680
So a baker down the street produces
something that looks nicer

775
00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:24,160
and is cheap, which means he gets
all the business and everybody else

776
00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:27,440
is in danger of losing their business
unless they also cheat.

777
00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:30,320
Yes, so they go and get their
supply of alum or chalk

778
00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:32,720
to make their loaves as white
as the baker down the road.

779
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:38,360
These whitening additives
could significantly reduce

780
00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:40,440
the nutritional value of your loaf.

781
00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:46,160
There were no professional inspectors
to ensure food standards,

782
00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:50,680
so Victorian women had to carry
out their investigations at home.

783
00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:55,240
Advice in women's magazines
helped to transform housewives

784
00:48:55,240 --> 00:48:57,800
into an army of amateur chemists.

785
00:48:59,720 --> 00:49:03,680
So, there's a test here, which is
to take an loaf which is a day

786
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:07,320
old and pierce it with a knife
that's made very hot,

787
00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:09,480
and it's saying if
there's alum present,

788
00:49:09,480 --> 00:49:12,640
little particles of it
will stick to the blade,

789
00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:16,640
and it will also indicate its
presence by a peculiar smell.

790
00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:17,960
OK, ready? Yeah.

791
00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:21,160
Oh, well plunged.

792
00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:25,360
Anything adhering?
Well, it's certainly stuck to it.

793
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:27,120
Any peculiar smell?

794
00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:30,480
I think so.

795
00:49:30,480 --> 00:49:33,000
It is bready, but there's something
else there, as well.

796
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,240
There's an under note of something
slightly acrid, I think, yes.

797
00:49:36,240 --> 00:49:40,640
In her quest to outwit the food
cheats, the Victorian homemaker

798
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:43,720
was advised to keep
some rather dangerous products

799
00:49:43,720 --> 00:49:45,280
in the kitchen cupboard.

800
00:49:46,560 --> 00:49:49,520
I have noticed that we've got
a great big bottle.

801
00:49:49,520 --> 00:49:52,720
A small bottle of hydrochloric acid.
Hydrochloric acid.

802
00:49:52,720 --> 00:49:55,800
Chemicals you simply
wouldn't be able to buy
in the high street today.

803
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:02,280
Hydrochloric acid could cause
severe burns, or even blindness.

804
00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:07,800
Here we are, going to all this
bother, and yet Victorian housewives

805
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:11,280
were sort of recommended
to try out these tests at home.

806
00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:14,920
Just to do it in the kitchen
alongside the chopping board.

807
00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:17,320
Would you like some glasses
to go over your glasses?

808
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:19,880
Oh, yes, I think I need to be
double glazed for this.

809
00:50:19,880 --> 00:50:24,240
'In this test, if your flour
froths like mad when you add acid,

810
00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:26,400
'it must contain chalk.'

811
00:50:27,440 --> 00:50:29,960
In goes the hydrochloric acid.

812
00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:32,320
Oh, my goodness,
look at that fizz up.

813
00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:36,640
Flour with chalk.
That ain't flour.

814
00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:39,280
You'd spot that fairly easy,
wouldn't you?

815
00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:43,320
If you happened to have hydrochloric
acid sitting on your kitchen shelf.

816
00:50:43,320 --> 00:50:44,680
Yes.

817
00:50:44,680 --> 00:50:48,840
With Victorian ladies having to be
this vigilant in the kitchen,

818
00:50:48,840 --> 00:50:50,800
something had to change.

819
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:54,280
The catalyst was scientist
Arthur Hill Hassal,

820
00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:58,920
who set out to prove that chicory
was contaminating his coffee

821
00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:02,600
and went on to test
2,000 other foods.

822
00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:07,960
He was one of the first people
to apply the compound microscope

823
00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:12,840
to food adulteration, publishing
his findings in The Lancet

824
00:51:12,840 --> 00:51:15,760
and that, together with
the escalating scandals

825
00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:19,200
around food adulteration
at the time, led to the first Act

826
00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:22,680
to prevent adulteration of food
and drink - the 1860 Act.

827
00:51:23,880 --> 00:51:26,440
As a result of this Act
and many other laws

828
00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:28,880
and codes of practice
that followed it,

829
00:51:28,880 --> 00:51:32,520
food safety became a matter
of public regulation -

830
00:51:32,520 --> 00:51:36,160
a benefit that we all
still rely on today.

831
00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:39,040
Human nature hasn't changed
in thousands of years,

832
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:41,080
so today we're using mass
spectrometry,

833
00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:44,200
we're using techniques
involving DNA to fight food fraud

834
00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:46,560
in just the same way
as the Victorian era.

835
00:51:47,920 --> 00:51:50,280
And with modern-day
mass production of food,

836
00:51:50,280 --> 00:51:53,160
it has become even more critical
to ensure that

837
00:51:53,160 --> 00:51:56,000
what's written on the bag
is what's inside it.

838
00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:09,240
The final stage for everything
made here at the bakery

839
00:52:09,240 --> 00:52:12,920
is the 62,000 square foot
despatch hall -

840
00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:14,800
an area almost the size

841
00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:18,000
of West Bromwich Albion's
home pitch across the road.

842
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:27,240
Exactly 3½ hours after
the flour first left the silo,

843
00:52:27,240 --> 00:52:29,320
my loaf is ready to hit the road.

844
00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:34,320
And it's despatch manager
Matt Stevens' job

845
00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:37,080
to get that done
as quickly as possible.

846
00:52:37,080 --> 00:52:39,800
I baked a loaf today. I've been
hard at it in the bakery.

847
00:52:39,800 --> 00:52:42,880
When are the customers going
to be able to actually
get their hands on it?

848
00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:45,560
Tomorrow morning, no matter
where in the country you are.

849
00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:47,920
Is that right?
That's right. That's not bad, mate.

850
00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:51,040
Our busiest time of day for
vehicle movement

851
00:52:51,040 --> 00:52:52,880
is about three o'clock
in the morning.

852
00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:55,680
So it can get to the stores by nine?
Correct. Is that right? Yes.

853
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:58,920
I know this cos I used
to be a greengrocer
delivering to restaurants.

854
00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:01,240
We would start at about one,
two o'clock in the morning

855
00:53:01,240 --> 00:53:04,400
so we could get deliveries
to their door at nine -
exactly the same for you.

856
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:08,160
That's right, every store
likes to have their bread
as early as possible.

857
00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:11,560
So, does that mean this space might
fill up and then empty again?

858
00:53:11,560 --> 00:53:13,560
It does. We started picking
this morning,

859
00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:16,600
and we pick the customer orders
until about two o'clock tonight.

860
00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:19,760
By five o'clock in the morning, all
those orders will have disappeared

861
00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:21,720
and the floor will be
virtually empty.

862
00:53:21,720 --> 00:53:24,320
So, while the rest
of the nation sleeps,

863
00:53:24,320 --> 00:53:26,360
this place is
a massive hive of activity?

864
00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:28,640
Absolutely.
It's at its busiest at night-time.

865
00:53:30,080 --> 00:53:33,280
You guys are vampires.
Some of you must never see daylight.

866
00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:38,000
The despatch hall is responsible
for delivering every product

867
00:53:38,000 --> 00:53:39,920
made at the West Brom bakery,

868
00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:43,680
but they also handle products
from Allied's nine other bakeries,

869
00:53:43,680 --> 00:53:47,120
which means this place
never, ever stops.

870
00:53:48,960 --> 00:53:52,600
How many loaves like mine are going
through your despatch everyday?

871
00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:55,920
On our busiest day it could be
up to a million loaves.

872
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:59,000
That includes bread,
muffins, rolls...

873
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:02,520
Which one causes you
the most headaches? Probably rolls.

874
00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:05,120
In the winter, demand
can be about three million a week,

875
00:54:05,120 --> 00:54:08,320
but in the summer, if the sun
comes out on a Thursday afternoon,

876
00:54:08,320 --> 00:54:10,760
you know that forecast could go up
to five million,

877
00:54:10,760 --> 00:54:12,600
especially as it gets
towards the weekend.

878
00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:15,200
You know full well that people are
watching the forecast,

879
00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:18,640
barbecues on the go, and we're
going to be in for a torrid time
for the next 48 hours.

880
00:54:18,640 --> 00:54:21,040
So the rest of the nation
loves its picnics,

881
00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:22,920
loves its barbecues, apart from you,

882
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:25,240
you hate them.
Exactly, we love the rain.

883
00:54:25,240 --> 00:54:26,640
HE LAUGHS

884
00:54:28,040 --> 00:54:31,320
Supermarkets only place their orders
the day before,

885
00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:34,320
so the process of despatching
a million items a day

886
00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:35,720
is an incredible feat.

887
00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:41,280
It takes some heavy lifting,
some careful planning

888
00:54:41,280 --> 00:54:44,280
and, it turns out,
a fair amount of hard graft.

889
00:54:45,680 --> 00:54:49,040
We've got about 30,000 baskets
to pick by hand today

890
00:54:49,040 --> 00:54:51,320
before two o'clock in the morning.
You ready?

891
00:54:51,320 --> 00:54:53,240
Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on,

892
00:54:53,240 --> 00:54:55,720
so I understand
and don't mess it up -

893
00:54:55,720 --> 00:54:59,880
these brown baskets here,
we have to fulfil 30,000 of them?

894
00:54:59,880 --> 00:55:03,040
Correct, yes.
We have to lift them all by hand?

895
00:55:03,040 --> 00:55:05,400
The vast majority will
be picked individually, yes.

896
00:55:06,880 --> 00:55:09,960
Like most large bakeries,
the despatch hall uses

897
00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:13,400
a bit of hi-tech kit to help
keep the humans in check.

898
00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:15,720
ELECTRONIC VOICE

899
00:55:17,760 --> 00:55:21,840
The pick by voice system is a simple
voice-activated computer

900
00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:24,400
which collates all
the supermarkets' orders

901
00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:28,480
and tells the packers exactly
what needs to go where.

902
00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:31,040
Well, when I say simple...

903
00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:33,120
ELECTRONIC VOICE:
Take three two of six.

904
00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:36,160
Take three two of six?
What does that mean?!

905
00:55:36,160 --> 00:55:41,160
That means take 32 of six units.
How's your maths?

906
00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:43,240
Er, not great.

907
00:55:43,240 --> 00:55:46,960
Right, so I need 32 lots of sixes.
How many's 32 sixes?

908
00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:49,800
192. How do you know that?
I just worked it out.

909
00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:53,760
192, and how many have I got
in each tray? 24.

910
00:55:53,760 --> 00:55:57,640
Do you enjoy a muffin?
I love a muffin, yeah. Good to know.

911
00:56:00,920 --> 00:56:02,560
Whoa, five, six...

912
00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:05,440
Yeah! Right,
I've completed that one.

913
00:56:05,440 --> 00:56:07,680
So drop that in the bottom
of the first stack,

914
00:56:07,680 --> 00:56:10,960
so we're starting a new stack.
Oh, my gun's fallen off!

915
00:56:10,960 --> 00:56:14,880
Right, that's my first
supermarket done. Brilliant.

916
00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:18,840
Good, that's the first one.
Got thousands to do, let's get going.

917
00:56:18,840 --> 00:56:21,080
Next, go to stack two.
Right, that's what I want.

918
00:56:21,080 --> 00:56:23,560
Scan product. So I scan that.

919
00:56:23,560 --> 00:56:25,400
Take two of five muffins.

920
00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:28,120
Two of five - that's 10, that's 10.

921
00:56:28,120 --> 00:56:29,640
Next, take 375-35.

922
00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:32,160
My maths is terrible. Er, 200.

923
00:56:32,160 --> 00:56:34,600
Go to store 375. Yes!

924
00:56:34,600 --> 00:56:37,040
Next... Go to bay... ..35.

925
00:56:37,040 --> 00:56:40,800
Locate muffins. Five of these -
that's ten. That's easy.

926
00:56:42,280 --> 00:56:46,080
This despatch hall
is working 24 hours a day.

927
00:56:46,080 --> 00:56:50,880
But it's not until the wee hours
when we're tucked up in bed

928
00:56:50,880 --> 00:56:53,400
that things really get manic.

929
00:56:53,400 --> 00:56:56,720
Every night, bakeries
like this all over the UK

930
00:56:56,720 --> 00:57:00,560
are frantically loading bread
that's just hours old,

931
00:57:00,560 --> 00:57:02,640
ready for us
to buy the next morning.

932
00:57:04,840 --> 00:57:08,200
Over 60 trucks will leave
this one bakery tonight.

933
00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:13,600
And the loaf I made could end up
as far away as Ireland,

934
00:57:13,600 --> 00:57:17,200
or it might just end up
at the supermarket round the corner.

935
00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:27,400
It's impossible to comprehend
baking bread on this scale

936
00:57:27,400 --> 00:57:32,560
until you see every single loaf
of bread come whizzing past you.

937
00:57:32,560 --> 00:57:37,200
I stupidly believed it was going to
be a simple process. It's not.

938
00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:41,400
It's a highly complicated process,
because it's such a fast process.

939
00:57:42,720 --> 00:57:45,080
It has to be if they are going
to supply

940
00:57:45,080 --> 00:57:48,560
the whole nation
with thousands upon thousands

941
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:50,800
of identical loaves of bread.

942
00:57:59,640 --> 00:58:01,680
'Next time,
I'll be taking you inside

943
00:58:01,680 --> 00:58:04,720
'one of the world's
largest chocolate factories...'

944
00:58:04,720 --> 00:58:06,240
Whoa!

945
00:58:06,240 --> 00:58:08,120
'..to find out how they produce

946
00:58:08,120 --> 00:58:11,440
'over 7 million bars of chocolate
in just 24 hours.'

947
00:58:11,440 --> 00:58:13,480
Oh, my word.

948
00:58:13,480 --> 00:58:16,040
'I'll meet the people who work
on the production line...'

949
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:18,080
That is just chocolate heaven!

950
00:58:18,080 --> 00:58:19,600
'..and Cherry gets hands-on

951
00:58:19,600 --> 00:58:22,520
'to reveal just how our favourite
chocolates are made.'

952
00:58:22,520 --> 00:58:25,320
You can't get a fresher
Easter egg than that.

953
00:58:25,320 --> 00:58:29,680
We've only got another
8,999,999 to go, then.