Bakery
Breads, plain white or wholemeal (No • propionate preservatives or mould inhibitors 280–283 propionic acid, sodium, calcium or potassium propionate • vinegar • sulphites or dough conditioners 220–228 • sorbate preservatives 200-203 • antioxidants 310-321 in oil, sometimes unlisted • seeds except poppy seeds • no corn, no honey, no raisins or other fruit or flavours • no cultured whey powder, cultured wheat, cultured dextrose, cultured or fermented milk products which is a method of using propionate or sorbate preservatives without saying so • no olive or other non-failsafe oils - canola, soy, sunflower, safflower are safe)
Product warning: synthetic antioxidants in bread
Reader report: Aldi wholemeal, multigrain, white sandwich and white toast bread from their basic range ie the 1.09 for white bread and 1.79 range for the wholemeal and multigrain all contain the antioxidants 319 and 320. I have found that the Coles Smart buy bread and Woolworths Homebrand does not contain these antioxidants, have changed over and so far no problems. Many Aldi products are using these antioxidants now so be aware. – thanks to Glenda
Breads from Hot Bread shops: Bakers Delight, Banjo’s or Brumby’s
- plain breads
- bread with poppy-seeds (no other seeds such as sesame, nigella and sunflower)
- Brumby’s white iced finger buns – order plain fondant icing, no coconut or topping. Let us know if you are having trouble getting iced finger buns without the coconut or spice-wash, which are failsafe This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Woolworths baked instore bread with the following ingredients is failsafe (always read the label): wheat flour, water, yeast, iodised salt, soy flour, wheat gluten, sugar, vegetable oil (antioxidant (306 from soy)), vegetable emulsifiers 471,481,472E, malted wheat flour, vitamins (thiamine, folate) – thanks to Kath
Coles have been very responsive to requests for preservative free bread and have even taken out the vinegar (sals and amines). They advise that "none of the oils used in the bread products in Coles store bakeries contain antioxidants. None of our breads contain additives or preservatives except for topped products such as cheese and bacon rolls."
Coles Rustic Baguette - it's hard to believe that supermarket bread can be this good. This artisan-quality product won Best in Show in Sydney. Ingredients: flour, water, iodised salt, yeast, malted wheat,enzymes (hemicellulase, amylase), antioxidant 300 (vitamin C), and vitamins (thiamine, folic acid).
Reader review: "this is the best bread in Australia" – thanks to Jean Pierre
Reader comment: We started buying this bread just recently after reading about it on your website and then was shocked to learn it came from Ireland half cooked then frozen and sent by boat to Australia, where it is further cooked and sold and labelled as freshly cooked each day – Pam (but at least EU food labelling is better than ours, no 5% loophole – Howard) http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article/8494587/bread-scandal
Bakers Delight plain sweet finger buns are failsafe; white iced finger Buns - order them specially without coconut and ‘spicewash’ flavour which contains salicylates; traditional croissants (contain dairy) are failsafe – thanks to Debbie,
Warning we do not recommend other products in these stores unless you check ingredients:
'Since Bakers Delight bread is additive-free, naively though we also thought this would have been so with some other products. I am particularly disappointed with the use of the 6 Southampton study colours in their products which are aimed toward children. Specifically the product we were caught out by was the Custard Scroll which has both 102 and 110 in it.' – thanks to Megan (the custard scroll now uses natural colours 160a and 150d which are failsafe but contains coconut and preservative 220 which are not failsafe; the caramel scroll uses natural colour 150c but contains preservative 202 and cinnamon flavor) Bakers Delight has a useful website with all ingredients listed: www.bakersdelight.com.au
Breads from local bakeries: there are numerous small bakeries which pride themselves on being preservative-free but do not necessarily understand what failsafe involves. Ask to read the premix label and the label on their vegetable oil containers too. If using Laucke’s premixes they will be preservative free and do not use vegetable oil so no need to worry about nasty antioxidants e.g. The Bakery in Strathalbyn, SA:
Reader report: Pestkas use the Laucke flour mix, so the plain breads are failsafe. -Thanks to Helen
Bread, gluten free: see the Gluten Free foods section
Bread mixes: numerous brands e.g. Laucke’s, (no preservatives, no flavours) read labels, if veg oil is present check with manufacturers for unlisted antioxidants. See also bread, gluten free
Cakes and croissants from permitted ingredients e.g. Woolworths Bakery Croissant Mini are failsafe: Wheat Flour, Water, Butter (milk fat, water, milk solids, colour (160A), Yeast Wheat, Gluten, Sugar, Soy Flour, Emulsifiers (472E, 481), Mineral Salt (170), Food Acid (270,260,300), Firming Agent (616), Enzyme, Vitamin (Thiamine)
Product report: "I'm so used to baked goods not being failsafe that I thought it was amazing to see this one" – thanks to Larissa
Finger buns, Brumby’s and Bakers Delight plain white iced, no flavours such as spice wash
Flatbreads, wraps, bagels, pita, naan or tortillas made from permitted ingredients e.g.
- Mountain Bread Light Wraps (flour, filtered water, salt) http://www.mountainbread.com.au/cgi-bin/index.pl?menu_id=245 ‘Mountain bread is much cheaper online’, thanks to Val
- Certified Organic GF wraps
- Vitastic Family Pita lite (wholemeal wheat flour, water, yeast, iodised salt, vitamins)
- Vitastic Sorj wraps (wheat, water, salt)
- Pocket Pita lite (wholemal wheat flour, water, yeast, salt)
- Coles Naan bread (wheat flour, cream (milk), baking powder, sugar, canola oil, salt.
- Tortillas Warning most tortillas contain preservative 282, thanks to Vanessa. See our easy recipe using 4 cups flour, 4 tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder in Recipes.
Crumpets and muffins, None (make your own muffins, see Failsafe Cookbook)
See biscuits etc under Pantry
update February 2018