They're processed foods, but not ultra-processed. Generally that means advanced factory processes and chemicals that are only used in industrial settings. Factory made bread is likely to be ultra-processed, however.

Can you provide an example of a factory process that is only performed in a factory (and not in the kitchen + grocery store, e.g. flour is preprocessed wheat)? bonus points if this process applies to bread making.

Compare the Chorleywood process to the way you would make bread at home https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process

If I'm reading this right, literally the only difference between this process and the one used in a home kitchen is "intense mechanical working by high-speed mixers, not feasible in a small-scale kitchen".

Otherwise the raw materials are the same:

> Flour, water, yeast, salt, fat, and, where used, minor ingredients common to many bread-making techniques such as Vitamin C, emulsifiers and enzymes are mechanically mixed for about three minutes.

In what way does this represent "processed" food in any material sense?

If anything, this sounds like a perfect example of the kind of fear mongering associated with the "processed food" label...

> Otherwise the raw materials are the same

Edit: I misread, sorry

> one uses dissolved co2 and low protein wheat and the other high protein wheat. One also goes through a fermentation process while the other does not. Salt content also varies

You've misread the Wikipedia page.

What you're describing is Dauglish's process that preceded CBP. Here's the key bit from the introduction:

> In 1862 a radically new and much cheaper industrial-scale process was developed by John Dauglish, using water with dissolved carbon dioxide instead of yeast, with no need for an eight-hour fermentation. Dauglish's method, used by the Aerated Bread Company that he set up, dominated commercial bread baking for a century until the Chorleywood process was developed.

Notice that last part of the sentence.

CBP, as described in the Wikipedia article, "is achieved through the addition of Vitamin C, fat, yeast, and intense mechanical working by high-speed mixers".

In particular, no CO2 is used with CBP. Bread is proofed by "[placing the dough] in a baking tin and [moving it] to the humidity- and temperature-controlled proofing chamber, where it sits for about 45–50 minutes", with the process aided through the use of dough conditioners like ascorbic acid.

My bad, thanks for the info

Not bread but... instant coffee, refined sugar.

Instant coffee is simply coffee that is freeze-dried. That is the only step added above and beyond normal coffee-brewing. It is likely one of the least processed foods one can buy.

Ok instant granulated coffee.

> Why is bread not considered ulta-processed?

Even traditional bread is certainly highly processed, undergoing mechanical (milling), biochemical (fermentation), and thermal (baking) processing. It doesn't quite meet the definition of ultra-processed though as all these technologies are readily available to unsophisticated producers.

I think ultra-processed is some sort of proxy for hyperpalatable here.

Indeed, there's a definition but this just adds the the starting comment's point that "ultra-processed" barely means anything in relation to how healthy something is to eat (and at what quantities).

Wouldn't most supermarket bread flour by itself meet the definition of ultra-processed, because it is bleached and enriched with micronutrients in a way that almost no consumer can do in the kitchen?

> because it is bleached and enriched with micronutrients in a way that almost no consumer can do in the kitchen?

What gave you that idea?

Bleached flour and various additives (such as ascorbic acid) are routinely used in home kitchens:

https://thebreadguide.com/using-ascorbic-acid-when-baking/

What, exactly, do you think goes into making a loaf of mass-produced bread?

The bleaching is what makes the flour, and by extension the bread made from it, ultra-processed, even if the bread is baked in a home setting. You misread.

Yes, I 100% did misread! My bad!

if you buy (from a bakery, probably not from the grocery store) or make bread made from minimally processed to processed flour, water, salt and yeast it would probably be considered minimally processed or processed. When I make homemade bread, those are literally all the ingredients. It has a very different texture, chewiness, and taste from something storebought. They're basically different things. And it doesn't last more than a day or two after cutting it open.

If you buy bread made from bleached white flour, sugar (in pretty much any white bread you buy from the supermarket), bread conditioners, preservatives, etc, it's probably considered ultraprocessed. It can also sit in your pantry for weeks.

Bread could be classified as either processed or ultra-processed depending on ingredients and manufacturing techniques.

Ultra-processed bread would probably be made to have a longer shelf life and likely have more additives and preservatives.

Bread can be ultra-processed. It can also be made with ground wheat grains that don't remove the germ or get bleached.