Grainswest - Winter 2026

Winter 2026 grainswest.com 29 use Canadian wheat (though not necessarily CWRS). But with more than 80 markets around the world importing CWRS, Canadian grain also adds pep to flour blends globally. “It’s often considered a top-up. In Canada, millers are blending with other Canadian wheat classes to make that all-purpose flour, while international countries might blend with wheat from the Black Sea region, which might be a hard red winter wheat with lower protein content,” said Elaine Sopiwnyk, vice-president of technical services at Cereals Canada. “We refer to CWRS as an improver wheat because when you have it as part of a wheat blend, you’re really improving that overall quality of the flour.” Because Canadian farmers produce so much CWRS for white and whole grain breads and other baked goods, fluctuations in white bread trends won’t necessarily create fluctuation in demand domestically or in international markets. Breads such as shokupan, brioche and ciabatta can all benefit from the use of CWRS flour. As consumers the world over continue to eat their daily bread, in whatever form, Canadian wheat farmers will profit. As for white bread’s perceived boringness, sometimes a straightforward classic is exactly what the market, and people’s tables, need. When it comes to pricing, availability and the ability to please a crowd, there’s no beating a really good piece of white bread, preferably made with Canadian flour and particularly when paired with a pat of butter and a smear of jam. “White bread will always be in the market as a base. It’s an entry base as far as price is concerned, but also as far as general population preference is concerned,” said Fazzina. “Those needs will not disappear anytime soon.” INTERNATIONAL TASTES Edmonton’s simply named Italian Bakery opened in 1960 with the intention of selling pagnotta, a large, white Italian loaf prized for its hard and crusty exterior and light and airy insides. The bakery has expanded significantly over the years. It now produces more typically North American sandwich breads, hamburger and hotdog buns for grocery stores and other wholesale customers such as Rogers Place. Storefront sales of traditional Italian breads tie the business to its roots. The Italian Bakery exclusively sources Canadian flour made from wheat grown in Saskatchewan and milled in Alberta. The business’s bakers favour white flour for its classic Italian products. This satisfies tradition as well as the need for a high-starch base with good protein to create the desired texture. “Our older customers, they all want the hardest pagnotta they can have,” said the bakery’s Chantal Chinni. “‘Give me the burnt one,’ they’ll say. They love that hard crust so they can dip it in their soups and stews.” Asian-headquartered bakery chains such as Tous Les Jours and Paris Baguette have set up shop inWestern Canada in recent years. One of the most prolific Asian style bakeshops in Alberta is Calgary-basedWow Bakery, with locations throughout the city and central Alberta. Having noticed a growing interest among Calgarians in Korean culture and curiosity about unique flavours, entrepreneur Andrew Kimdeveloped the concept around Asian baked goods, which include deliciously spongy andmildly sweet milk-and-butter loaves. Wow bakers constantly tweak their flour blends, using Canadian flour as often as possible and employs various strengths to complement Asian bread-making methods, which often include making a cooked flour roux. The result is a sandwich-ready white bread flavourful enough to eat on its own. “I can literally sit down, open a bag and eat the whole loaf without any supplementary jams,” said Kim. “It’s because of the way we make it. It’s a shift to realizing white bread can actually taste great on its own.”