Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have put the big bakeries on notice, by selling their breads for as little as $1.
Knowing they can't match the supermarkets on price, the competition has instead moved to developing a better white bread, with promises it's actually better for you.
It’s the age old battle - trying to get the kids to eat nutritional bread when all they want is white.
More stories from Today TonightA walk down any supermarket aisle reveals an overwhelming array of different breads - from soya and linseed, to chia, ones filled with vitamins, others with extra fibre. There are up to 170 different types developed by nutritionists and scientists, and yet despite it all, 85 per cent of bread sold in Australia is white.
Today white bread has been transformed and manufacturers Tip Top believe they've pulled off what many thought would never happen - a new, healthy white bread called The One.
According to executive baker Wade Ashley “The One has slightly higher fibre than standard wholemeal bread, and it’s lower in GI than wholemeal bread. It’s a wonderful taste, and tastes exactly like standard white bread. It doesn’t taste like wholemeal bread.”
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Tip Top are not the first to focus on the popular white bread market. Other manufacturers have put out high fibre bread, and Brumby's PureBake Range includes a white bread with no artificial colourings or preservatives.
The One has one of the highest fibre contents of all white, wholemeal and mixed grain breads on the market, at 7.1 grams, but its salt content is 400 grams.
A similar bread, Wonder White High Fibre, has less fibre at six grams, but slightly more salt at 420mg.
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Another Tip Top bread Sunblest has a low fibre count at 1.8 grams, but it is much better in terms of salt, at just 274 mg.
Looking at grained bread Helga's Mixed Grain has less fibre than the new white bread at four grams, and more salt at 500 milligrams. Burgen's Wholegrain and Oats surprisingly has slightly less fibre than The One at 6.4 grams, but also has the least amount of salt at just 232 milligrams.
Nutritionist Zoe Bingley Pullin is sceptical about the latest white bread to hit the shelves.
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“In my eyes, adding fibre into a food doesn’t make it more nutritious,” Pullin said.
“I think what we need to talk about is what is the quality of the fibre that they’re adding. Having the four grains you’re not just getting fibre content, you’re also getting B vitamins and other nutrients that we require in our diet. So we need to look at what is the type of fibre, and is it really that much better than multigrain bread?”
Tip Top's The One will hit supermarket shelves on Monday - just in time for back to school lunches.
Bread ingredients and nutritional information
This reporter is on Twitter at @LauraSparkes7
