NUTRITION
Bread sector has its finger on diet pulse
Scientists are trying to revive the fortunes of the bread industry — with peas, Jen Skerritt
At a laboratory in downtown Winnipeg in Canada, scientists are trying to revive the fortunes of the bread industry — with peas. "The biggest challenge is the flavour," because pea bread tends to taste too much like peas, says Yulia Borsuk, a technical specialist in baking technology at the Canadian International Grains Institute lab. With more people looking for healthier alternatives to carbohydrate-rich foods made from wheat, Canadian researchers are working with Warburtons, the UK’s largest bakery brand. They are developing dough from pea flour that produces bread that looks and tastes almost like any other loaf but has more protein and less of the carbohydrates and gluten many consumers are trying to avoid. Substituting pulses — a group of high-protein, low-fat dried seeds that are part of the legume family — for wheat could help revive stagnant sales in a global baked-goods market valued at more than $400bn. Some shoppers are swapping carbohydrate-and sugar-laden goodies such a...
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