Sustainable Bread – Tips from bread sommelier Benjamin Profanter

According to South Tyrolean bread sommelier Benjamin Profanter, bread should not be a mere accompaniment to food, but rather a “taste accent”. He supplies the My Arbor hotel and the OLM Nature Escape aparthotel in South Tyrol with his natural bakery and has a lot to say about sustainability, ancient grains and the “inner values” of bread. Just like our other partners, some of whom bake their own bread for their guests.

Bread between cultural heritage and world market

A while back, I bought a loaf of bread at the kiosk late at night – whole grain toast out of the bag. Sometimes you just have to take what’s there. But I was surprised when I studied the label: “Made in Saudi Arabia.” Is the desert country now a wheat grower? An exporter of bread?

According to World Grain and Agflow, Saudi Arabia produces the most wheat on Saudi Arabian farms “abroad” and imports wheat from five continents (Russia is number one). There are only small wheat farms in the country itself.

Of course, it didn’t say where the wheat in my toast came from exactly. Grains, sweeteners, spices, delivery, storage, plastic packaging… I was holding a real global market product in my hand, costing a little over 4 Euros – at the bottom of the ecological scale! Needless to say, I didn’t buy it again.

Industrially produced baked goods, often made overseas using cheap raw materials from distant places, have little to do with sustainable food.” – Benjamin Profanter

How sustainable is bread?

As you just learned, bread is not automatically sustainable, even though it has been one of the most important (regional!) staple foods in many parts of the world throughout the ages of humanity. The history of bread goes back to the earliest times (about 14,000 years ago).

But bread is not only a staple food, it is also a cultural asset. Pretzels and dark rye bread in Germany, baguettes in France, ciabatta in Italy, flatbread in Turkey, roti in India. No matter where you go on vacation, you should always try the local bread ??

Bread has the best conditions to be sustainable. However, you should pay attention to the following:

• Raw materials should be sourced locally.
• Ideally, the raw materials come from organic farming.
• It is made by hand (supporting the bakery trade, culture).

Some bakers also work with traditional millers.

The importance of ancient grains

The trend of using ancient grains in baked goods is one we have already seen in several sustainable hotel kitchens (e.g. with Chef Giuseppe Schimmenti of the ADLER Spa Resort SICILIA, who uses ancient grains from Sicily in his pasta recipes).

As bread sommelier Benjamin Profanter tells me, ancient grains also play an important role for him:

“Ancient and heritage grains are less demanding to grow and do not require artificial fertilizers and herbicides. That’s why they’re ideal for organic farming. Ancient grains are not only more sustainable for nature and the environment, but also for people as they have additional nutritional benefits over modern, highly bred varieties. Personally, I prefer and always recommend breads made from ancient grains, as they also offer more in terms of taste.”

• Insert: Nutritional physiology refers to the “ratio of nutrient content to caloric value of a food” – in simple terms, how many nutrients are in the calories..

Good to know! 4 Questions for Bread Sommelier Benjamin Profanter

GP: Hi Benjamin! Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions! Let’s start with the question our readers are probably asking themselves right now: What exactly does a bread sommelier do?

Benjamin: A bread sommelier, like any other sommelier, is an ambassador for his trade. In my case, I am a bread ambassador, communicating the history, culture and value of good bread to consumers. It’s about making people aware of what makes good bread and how to recognize its quality. I am particularly interested in sensory perception, food pairing and the language of bread. It is similar to wine, where in the past people only knew the difference between red and white wine, but now wine sommeliers have built a lifestyle and made wine the quality product we know it to be today. Good wine is celebrated, and good bread has more than earned it too.

GP: Can you give us and our readers some tips on what makes a bread good?

Benjamin: First of all, the production method is relevant: was the bread made by hand? Were pre-doughs or sourdoughs used? Did the dough have enough time to rise and ferment? Were local or organic ingredients used? Only when the inner values are right is bread not only a delight, but also healthy and digestible.

What kind of bread goes with what kind of cold cuts?

GP:How do you choose the right bread for a spread or a meal?

Benjamin: It is important to me that bread is not just a filler, but also a flavorful accent. White bread and jam may taste good, but they are far from being a culinary delight. Only bread with character can turn a snack into a real treat. Personally, I love heavy breads with lots of crusts, and I like to combine contrasts. A prime example is sweet fruit bread with savory cheese.

GP:What kind of bread do you bake for the accommodations My Arbor* and OLM Nature Escape*?

Benjamin: A colorful mix of different types of bread and rolls, all with one thing in common: they are 100% organic, vegan and made with traditional craftsmanship. Our added value is the use of natural sourdoughs such as “Lievito Madre”, natural yeast, the purchase of regional raw materials and the pursuit of the common good in harmony with people, animals and nature.

Tip: If you are on vacation in South Tyrol, you can visit the Naturbackstube Profanter in Brixen.

Sustainable accommodations that make their own bread

While some hotels and accommodations purchase their bread from local bakeries, there are also many sustainable accommodations that bake their own bread. For them, offering exclusive homemade bread with your daily breakfast buffet or dinner is part of excellent service.

“”We bake our own bread with organic ancient wheat from East Tyrol,” reports the Naturhotel Outside. The hiking hotel in Matrei, in the mountains of the Hohe Tauern National Park, focuses on gourmet cuisine using regional ingredients, and its restaurant has been awarded three Falstaff forks.

At Gut Guntrams near Vienna (whose Café Veranda also won a Falstaff award), bread is baked in-house every Friday. Demeter-quality emmer, spelt, rye and wheat are milled on site at Gut Guntrams.

Organic bread from the Herrmannsdorfer Landwerkst?tten

Gut Sonnenhausen has a sister company, Herrmannsdorfer Landwerkst?tten in Glonn (near Munich), from which it purchases organic food and meat from organic livestock. They also bake their own bread, including a special “Sonnenhausener Laib” – especially for guests of the accommodation.

The STURM in Mellrichstadt also bakes its own bread. The family-run hotel is located in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Rh?n, a region where various methods are being tested to reconcile the needs of man and nature. A good example of this is the bread from organic farming and the regional organic bakery, which the STURM offers in addition to its own baked bread.

At the Lifestylehotel SAND in Timmendorfer Strand on the Baltic Sea, an “enthusiastic breakfast chef” will provide you with homemade bread and rolls. In addition, you can order freshly prepared egg dishes at the hotel’s front cooking station.

Preparing food according to guests’ preferences is very important to the Hotel Bella Vista Zermatt. Not only has host Fabienne Anthamatten removed tropical fruits from the breakfast buffet, she also pays close attention to zero waste and local ingredients. Bread and rolls are mostly baked in-house.

The Relais del Maro* in Borgomaro, Liguria, with its Albergo Diffuso, or “scattered hotel,” has even helped keep the village bakery open. The distribution of the hotel among several vacant residential and commercial buildings owned by the family has saved the picturesque village from decay. In addition to the “0 km bakery”, the Relais del Maro also bakes its own bread.

Our hotels’ natural bakers

Breakfast with views of Neuschwanstein Castle and sustainable baked goods.

The partners who don’t bake their own bread buy it locally. Where they buy it is very important. As you probably know, as a consumer you can choose whether you want to support a cheap bakery chain or the local (organic) bakery with your money.

Sustainable hotels also pay close attention to their suppliers. We asked them where they get the bread for their guests:

• APIPURA hotel rinner* (on the Ritten in South Tyrol): “We get our organic bread from the natural bakery Messner, which has its own small mill and is increasingly processing local grains. By the way, at breakfast you will find many varieties of organic honey from the hotel’s own beekeeping.
• Green Spirit Hotels Paris (Hotel Malar, Amelié and Pavillon, all in the 7th arrondissement): “We offer fresh bread and pastries every day from a traditional Parisian artisan bakery on our street, as well as gluten-free bread.”
• Biohotel Grafenast (Pill, Tyrol, above the Inn Valley): “We offer bread with organic certification from the Austrian family-owned wholesaler Haubis.”
• Naturresort Gerbehof (Friedrichshafen, Germany): “Our baker is from the region and uses mainly Demeter grain from the region (especially organic spelt). Our baker also delivers his bread by electric car”.
• Birkenhof* Spa & Wellness Resort (Upper Palatinate Lake District): “Our bread is baked locally by B?ckerei Kutzer“.
• Hotel Das Rübezahl (Füssen in Allg?u, near Neuschwanstein Castle): “Our bread comes from the Gschwill bakery, which bakes its bread using only organic products and traditional craftsmanship”

Info: Mentioning the bakeries is a service and neither we nor the accommodations mentioned receive any benefit.

Good bread is worth it

The point is that not all bread is the same – and not all bread is necessarily sustainable. If you want sustainable bread, you should think about the ingredients and the production process. Since most people eat a lot of bread (in Germany, for example, the average annual per capita consumption is 75 kilograms), it is definitely worth it.

A lot depends on bread – farming (remember that organic farming does not use pesticides and thus contributes to soil health and groundwater protection), craftsmanship and, ultimately, flavor.

Finally, we recommend our blog article on jams and marmalades. The perfect zero waste spread for your bread. According to bread sommelier Benjamin Profanter, a sweet spread works best with a hearty, dark bread with a thick crust.