BTN: Daily bread

NATHAN BAZLEY:

We eat it for breakfast, lunch and sometimes even dinner. Australians munch through a lot of bread. And there are so many different types to choose from. So what's the difference? Tash went to a bread factory to find out.

NATASHA THIELE:

Take a look inside most Aussie lunch boxes and you'll find a familiar friend. But what is it? Bread! And it's a big part of our everyday lives, because it's easy to prepare and you can eat it with anything. Australians have been making and enjoying bread for many decades. In fact, an average family goes through about two loaves of bread a week, that's more than 100 loaves a year! And it's been around for a long time. Egyptians have been eating bread for thousands of years. Since then, it's been vital to human survival because these slices contain some of the vital energy and nutrients our body needs for the day. And that energy starts its life, here. It's a crop which we grow in Australia called 'wheat'. It's packed with carbohydrates, which our body burns to provide us with energy. Wheat grains are crushed and turned into white or wholemeal flour, which can then be used to make bread. Making bread can be as simple as mixing together flour, water, salt, sugar and something called 'yeast'. Yeast is a living organism which helps bread rise when it's cooked. And this is what happens when you add it to warm water and sugar. Within minutes, you can see it start to bubble. That's the yeast growing and as it does, it releases bubbles of carbon dioxide. That simple bread recipe is basically the same one used at small bakeries or much larger commercial bread factories like this one. Both places make bread just like you would at home, but on a massive scale. They use big industrial mixers to combine the ingredients. Once the loaves are cooked, they go along conveyor belts where they're sliced and packed. Then it's onto the crates, ready for the supermarket shelves. That's where you'll find lots of different types of bread like white, multigrain and wholemeal. But with Australians eating so much bread, making sure we're eating the healthiest type is important. And there's a lot of advice floating around about which type we should be aiming for. One of the products you might have heard people recommend is wholegrain bread. Grains like wheat have three main parts in each tiny kernel. The white flour used to make most bread only comes from the middle bit called the 'endosperm'. But the other two parts of the grain, the bran and the germ, contain lots of the nutrients like fibre, iron and protein. So that's why many nutritionists recommend wholegrain breads, because they give you the goodness from the whole grain. Some people also recommend eating flat breads and wraps, rather than slices of bread. The reason for this is some flat breads can contain less bread per serving, so they have less energy in them and are therefore less likely to make you put on weight, if you're not active. It can also mean that you can fill up on more of the nutritious fillings inside. But if your wrap is filled with something unhealthy, it's going to defeat the purpose. Of course, the best way to know exactly how healthy your bread is, is to try making it from scratch at home!