Traditionally the stuff of life, bread has suffered a bit of a setback of late.

With the low-carb Atkins diet all the rage and abstaining from wheat the most recent dietary fad, the best thing since sliced bread has become, for many, no bread at all.

But Ingrid Greenfield doesn't think this has to be the case. She set up Artisan Bread in Whitstable in Kent just over two years ago.

The first licensed biodynamic bakery in the UK, it produces wheat-based and wheat-free breads that have the likes of Martine McCutcheon and golfer Lee Trevino swearing by them.

Ingrid's belief is that in the case of wheat or rye allergies, it's the way these cereals are baked that might cause the problems rather than the grains themselves.

In her opinion, it's high-speed, mass production methods that are mainly responsible for the fact that today's bread has become quite so indigestible.

An extremely complex subject, it's enough to say that a process that used to take eight hours has been condensed into two, which means many of the enzymes necessary for digestion don't have time to develop.

Ingrid also doesn't use modern industrial yeast, a product that has been developed to speed the bread-making process, for similar reasons.

Instead, all ingredients used by Ingrid have been grown organically or biodynamically, which is kind of superorganic, and the dough is fermented using wild yeasts and airborne acid-producing bacteria or through a technique known as baking ferment, which involves using a dough of wheat or maize flour, pea flour and honey.

All flour is freshly ground in-house on a stone mill and the bread is enriched with natural minerals and vitamins from organic seaweeds and, in some breads, sprouted grains.

The result is an extremely munchworthy loaf that is not only more digestible, packed with goodness and protected by a thin crust, it also keeps fresher for much longer than industrial breads.

Artisan breads are available at Sunny Foods, Beaconsfield Road, Brighton (01273 507879), and is delivered on Tuesdays and sell quickly.

The bread on offer not only includes rye and wheat but also one made with spelt. Known as farro in Italy and dinkle in Germany, it's an ancient and distant cousin to modern wheat and is one of the oldest of cultivated grains.

Naturally high in fibre and protein, another important benefit is that some gluten-sensitive people have been able to include spelt-based foods in their diets.

A particularly delicious option is the seven grain and seed loaf, which includes wheat flour, rye grains, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.

Not that opting for more healthy bread options comes in cheap with an 800g loaf going for between £2.49 and £3.19.

But, as a lot of the reason we're apparently becoming so intolerant to wheat is because of the sheer amount of it we consume (nine million loaves a day as nation), the price should help you to resist scoffing quite so much of it as you otherwise might.