Give us this day our daily healthy bread

KOCHI: Scared about artificial preservatives and colours in your food? Introducing the sourdough bread - a bread made out of the natural fermentation process that takes up to five days to make a loaf of bread.
An artisan way of creating bread is introduced by the Kunju's Country Oven at Kakkanad, which was founded by entrepreneur baker K K Kunju in 1931.

Originally from Kanjirappally in Kottayam, Kunju got his training from the British Bakers in Sri Lanka. The Kochi Unit of Kunju's Country Oven started four years ago, in a building designed and constructed by Laurie Baker, the late British-born Indian architect.

Kunju's Country Oven is now famous for its jam rolls in pineapple and strawberry flavours. The shop is managed by K K Jayan, a man with a great passion for baking.Jayan holds a masters and doctorate in communication and was employed at Bharat Petroleum Refinery at Kochi for two decades. He voluntarily took retirement from Cochin University as a PR Officer to follow his passion for baking.

Having travelled to over 40 countries, he studied the different baking systems before coming up with the idea for the sourdough bread in his bakery. Currently, the bakery is all set on making healthy bread.
"The process of making sourdough bread is different than making regular bread. The entire process is manual and requires manpower through every step," says Jayan. Regular bread is made using store-bought yeast which reacts with gluten and makes the dough rise. Sourdough bread, on the other hand, is made with a 'starter'.

The starter is made from a simple combination of flour and water and letting it sit for several days. The dough will begin to ferment naturally. On an average, this process takes about five days but the process can take longer depending on the condition of the kitchen.

Sourdough bread has also been medically proven to regulate blood sugar levels which helps ward off diabetes and there is no presence of oil, fat or sugar.Flavours such as walnut and raisins, fruit and nut are also made available.

"We have altered the contents and methods of preparing our bread in accordance to the suggestions given by Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, the gastroenterologist at Sunrise Hospital, Kakkanad, and Dr Vinod Thomas, the cardiologist at Renai Hospital, Palarivattom," explains Jayan.