The Chorleywoodbread process is a process of making dough in bread production. The process was developed in 1961 by the British Baking Industries Research Association based at Chorleywood in Hertfordshire, and by 2009 was used to make 80% of the United Kingdom's bread. Compared to the older bulk fermentation process, the CBP is able to use lower-protein wheat, and produces bread in a shorter time. Some protein is lost during traditional bulk fermentation of bread; this does not occur to the same degree in mechanically developed doughs, allowing CBP to use lower-protein wheat. This feature had an important impact in the United Kingdom where, at the time, few domestic wheat varieties were of sufficient quality to make high-quality bread; the CBP permitted a much greater proportion of lower-protein domestic wheat to be used in the grist.
Details
Bread had for millennia been made from wheat flour by manually kneading a dough with a raising agent, typically yeast, leaving it to ferment, then baking. In 1862 a radically new and much cheaper industrial-scale process was developed by John Dauglish, using water with dissolved carbon dioxide instead of yeast, with no need for an eight-hour fermentation. Dauglish's method, used by the Aerated Bread Company that he set up, dominated commercial bread baking for a century until the Chorleywood process was developed. The Chorleywood bread process allows the use of lower-protein wheats and reduces processing time, the system being able to produce a loaf of bread from flour to sliced and packaged form in about three and a half hours. This is achieved through the addition of Vitamin C, fat, yeast, and intense mechanical working by high-speed mixers, not feasible in a small-scale kitchen. Flour, water, yeast, salt, fat, and, where used, minor ingredients common to many bread-making techniques such as Vitamin C, emulsifiers and enzymes are mechanically mixed for about three minutes. The high-shear mixing generates high temperatures in the dough, which is cooled in some advanced mixers using a cooling jacket. Chilled water or ice may also be used to counteract the temperature rise during high-speed mixing. Air pressure in the mixer headspace can be controlled to keep gas bubbles at the desired size and number. Typical operating regimes are pressure followed by vacuum, and atmospheric followed by vacuum. The pressure control during mixing affects the fineness of crumb texture in the finished bread. In typical high-volume bread-production, the dough is cut into individual pieces and allowed to "recover" for 5–8 minutes. Each piece of dough is then shaped, placed in a baking tin and moved to the humidity- and temperature-controlled proofing chamber, where it sits for about 45–50 minutes. It is then baked for 17–25 minutes at 450 °F. After baking, the loaves are removed from the baking tin and then go to the cooler, where, about two hours later, they are made ready for despatch, sliced and packaged if required. In UK-standard bread, the dough piece is "cross-panned" at the moulding stage; this involves cutting the dough piece into four and turning each piece by 90° before placing it in the baking tin. Cross-panned bread appears to have a finer and whiter crumb texture than the elliptical shape of the crumb bubble structure resulting from a different orientation, and it is easier to slice.
Adoption
CBP is used in over 80 percent of factory-produced bread in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and India. Many smaller bakers also use the CBP to mix their dough which they then process by hand. Many "speciality", "crusty", and organic breads are produced this way.
Modern use
Since the introduction of the process, many UK domestic wheat varieties have been improved. Flour suitable for traditional high-quality pan bread can now be sourced in the United Kingdom. Before the development of the CBP, UK bread was reliant on imported wheat, particularly from North America.
