Knead to know

Bread, you say? On the style pages? For the carb usually receives bad press, chastised for causing weight gain and blamed for our inability to shift inches, with the Atkins, paleo and gluten-free diets adding to a chorus of criticism. But now the humble loaf is enjoying a renaissance, supported by findings published in the British Journal of Nutrition recommending we eat three slices of whole-grain bread every day. Indeed, higher whole-grain intake has been linked to lower body weight, body mass index and cholesterol levels.

"Gluten is today's pantomime villain and really doesn't deserve the flak it gets," says nutritional therapist Ian Marber. "Whole-grain bread is a useful source of fibre that's easily packaged as well as being affordable."

Eric Kayser, a fourth-generation bread maker who opened his first Maison Kayser bakery in France in 1996, agrees. "Look at me!" he says.

"I eat bread every day and I weigh 70 kilos! If you eat a whole loaf of bread for one meal, sure, you should feel heavy. But the bloating effects are not true for all of us. Breads that are made with spelt or buckwheat flours are very healthy because they are full of vitamins and trace elements."

"Bakers are masters of alchemy," Kayser continues. "Their passions transform water, levain, salt and flour into something very special."

Standing behind a worktop in Whole Foods, Kensington, in west London, Kayser is kneading dough prepared at 6am that day; a vivid green, it turns out to be a matcha tea loaf.

In his recently published cookbook The Larousse Book of Bread (Phaidon, £24.95), Kayser writes, "I wanted to reproduce a child's picture-book image of the traditional bakery. We were resolved to banish people's vision of dreary supermarket shelves with their limp plastic-wrapped baguettes."

There are now more than 100 Maison Kayser bakeries, with branches in Paris, New York, Hong Kong and Russia, and the book is a delicious dictionary of recipes and step-by-step tips that aims to teach us all the art and joy of bread-making.

As he talks, his hands perfect yet another twisted sourdough baguette with ease. "Also, bread and natural yeast is good for the digestive process."

Health benefits aside, bread is more exciting these days. As bakers experiment with different flours, recipes have become more innovative: Kayser's sourdough sesame buns contain squid ink; the matcha tea loaf has chunks of candied orange peel; pistachio paste turns another loaf green. (His turmeric loaf is an Instagram-worthy shade of sunset yellow.)

Bread has risen once more and taken on a whole new (colourful) lease of life. Which is just as well. Next Saturday sees the start of Real Bread Week in the UK, a campaign supporting local bakeries and championing the novice baker to don an apron and do some baking at home.

Even the act of baking can be good for us. "I miss the hands-on contact with dough," says Kayser of bread's therapeutic charms. "I often feel the urge to return to a bakery and start kneading."

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