6 ms·

To give American grocery store sliced white bread some texture, just toast it! Still, essentially American bread is just bread, that is, made almost entirely j

by graycat 10y ago

To give American grocery store sliced white bread some texture, just toast it! Still, essentially American bread is just bread, that is, made almost entirely just from flour, water, yeast, and salt. Maybe the main difference is that with machines the dough is kneaded a lot and, then, permitted to rise (have the yeast grow) a lot. Commonly can also get wheat bread that has some whole wheat flour and typically is not quite so soft on the inside. One reason for white flour instead of whole wheat flour is that white flour keeps and whole wheat flour, with the wheat germ and its oil, will go rancid. IIRC early on, white flour was considered a luxury item because it was easier and cheaper just to grind whole wheat. Recently there are claims that whole wheat is better nutritionally, e.g., has more fiber, whatever the heck that is, is less of a shock to blood sugar, and has some nutrients missing from white flour.

maxerickson 10y ago
Typically it has a significant amount of sugar (like, considerably more sugar than salt, 1 gram or more per slice). Also lots of dough conditioners which are added for various reasons. I know I've eaten commercial bread with enough lactylate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactylate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactylate) in it to give me some pretty awful gastrointestinal symptoms. My test wasn't blinded, but the effect was dramatic enough. At the moment I don't recall if it was Sodium stearoyl lactylate or Calcium stearoyl lactylate. Fiber is simple, it's any carbohydrate that humans can't digest.
- vonmoltke 10y ago
  > Typically it has a significant amount of sugar (like, considerably more sugar than salt, 1 gram or more per slice). Contrary to graycat's ingredient list, sugar is a key ingredient of nearly every leavened bread recipe. About 40g/loaf is the typical amount (about three tablespoons). I would be very surprised if you could find a bread recipe that doesn't have about that much sugar, unless it is specifically trying to work around sugar.
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    I make bread with 10 grams or less of sugar all the time (usually pizza crust where I'm headed towards 0 grams being the standard). Also, there are breads in the stores I shop that don't list sugar (or the various substitutes for sucrose) as an ingredient.
    - vonmoltke 10y ago
      > I make bread with 10 grams or less of sugar all the time (usually pizza crust where I'm headed towards 0 grams being the standard). Pizza crust is a different recipe from the breads being discussed here. Sugar is not as necessary for the baking process as it is for soft bread. > Also, there are breads in the stores I shop that don't list sugar (or the various substitutes for sucrose) as an ingredient. I would like to see the brands. I have never seen a soft bread that did not contain sugar.
      - maxerickson 10y ago
        Pizza crust is a "leavened bread", full stop. Also, the point stands that I make bread with minimal or no sugar in it. I just don't make it all that often. As far as the bread in the stores, it's usually in the bakery section. I think Walmart's sourdough doesn't have much sugar in it, but they stock it in the bread aisle. Brand is Sam's choice. (does soft sourdough bread count in the soft bread category we are now discussing?).
  - aaronblohowiak 10y ago
    French bread by law does not have sugar. You don't add sugar to sourdough either.
  - graycat 10y ago
    I wrote > made almost entirely just from flour, water, yeast, and salt. So my "almost entirely" was my qualification or safety valve! I didn't know just how much sugar, dough conditioner, etc. I did know that the French bread I've had in the US claims loudly that ALL it has is "flour, water, yeast, and salt" so concluded that US white bread doesn't actually need a lot more. This list of 4 for French bread is also elsewhere in this thread. So, thanks for the corrections on sugar, etc.!
DrScump 10y ago
made almost entirely just from flour, water, yeast, and salt Read the entire ingredients list; you may be surprised. Even the "flour" is generally made from just the endosperm. Only if it says "whole wheat/grain" do they use the whole seed.
- graycat 10y ago
  Thanks. Right. The wheat bread I eat I believe has some whole wheat flour in it.
greendestiny_re 10y ago
Carbs are like Lego blocks. The singular blocks are called "sugars" and include things such as fructose (fruit sugar) and blood sugar. When fructose or glucose enter the digestive system, they are readily processed and enter the bloodstream as glucose. Here, cells take up as much glucose as they can, which can turn into a problem if decades-long oversaturation continues unabated. The only way cells can block glucose from entering is by becoming resistant to a key that unlocks the entryway, insulin. Thus, diabetes develops. In any case, carbs can become extremely long chains, forming things such as chitin, the sturdy outer carapace of insects. If you ever failed to squash a cockroach, now you know why. A type of these complex sugars aka polysaccharids is called "fiber". Again, this includes things such as cellulose, which you can see if you tear apart a piece of paper, or lignine, which are the strands seen when you break a branch off of a tree. We can't fully digest this fiber, but there are herbivores and especially ruminants who can. For example, cows have a special digestive system consisting of several stomachs, where they chew some plants, digest them, chew them again, digest some more and so on. Now for why that's important for humans. In our digestive system, the dietary fiber becomes partially digested, turning into a soft gel that travels down our 30-foot digestive tract and helps push things along. To date, the entirety of our medicine hasn't created a medication that cleans the digestive system with same efficiency as dietary fiber. Cats and dogs have a relatively simple digestive tract; they can live off of turned salami but we can't. Also, dietary fiber swells up, giving you a feeling of fullness and slowing down the rate of absorption of sugars. You see, now the digestion actually has to work to extract food, which reduces the onslaught of sugar into the bloodstream. The problem is that dietary fiber makes the food harder to cook, chew and digest. And boy, do food companies hate that. Dietary fiber reduces the throughput of customers. Why would a fast food company want you to eat a hamburger for 30 minutes? They want you chewing that badboy in 2 minutes, out the door and then back right away, since food without dietary fiber does not satiate. Do you see the situation? Source: dietary writer
- AndyNemmity 10y ago
  That was enjoyable to read, do you have a link to other articles you've posted, like a blog or something?
jimmaswell 10y ago
Wheat/whole grain bread always tasted like mud to me, with an unappealing rough distracting texture. Never really got how there was enough demand for it to be produced even 1/3 as much as white wonderbread-type bread, which has always seemed perfect to me.
- graycat 10y ago
  Whole wheat flour is somewhat bitter. Children are especially sensitive to bitter flavors and, thus, don't like wheat bread, coffee, etc. But, grown up, wheat bread, along with dark breads from Central Europe, etc. can no longer seem too bitter and can have some desirable texture and flavors. So, can get some liver wurst on rye bread with brown mustard or some such!
aaronblohowiak 10y ago
Most American bread is made using https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process which produces the blandness that we know and hate
- maxerickson 10y ago
  It's made in a very industrial way, but it seems it is not made using that process.
  - aaronblohowiak 10y ago
    whoops! You're totally right. I had heard of the name of the USA process before and when looking it up, that was the top result in google.. i should have more closely read it to confirm, but you are totally right. the usa uses a different industrial process cause our wheat is more protein-rich.

by graycat 10y ago

maxerickson 10y ago

Typically it has a significant amount of sugar (like, considerably more sugar than salt, 1 gram or more per slice). Also lots of dough conditioners which are added for various reasons. I know I've eaten commercial bread with enough lactylate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactylate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactylate) in it to give me some pretty awful gastrointestinal symptoms. My test wasn't blinded, but the effect was dramatic enough. At the moment I don't recall if it was Sodium stearoyl lactylate or Calcium stearoyl lactylate. Fiber is simple, it's any carbohydrate that humans can't digest.

vonmoltke 10y ago
> Typically it has a significant amount of sugar (like, considerably more sugar than salt, 1 gram or more per slice). Contrary to graycat's ingredient list, sugar is a key ingredient of nearly every leavened bread recipe. About 40g/loaf is the typical amount (about three tablespoons). I would be very surprised if you could find a bread recipe that doesn't have about that much sugar, unless it is specifically trying to work around sugar.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  I make bread with 10 grams or less of sugar all the time (usually pizza crust where I'm headed towards 0 grams being the standard). Also, there are breads in the stores I shop that don't list sugar (or the various substitutes for sucrose) as an ingredient.
  - vonmoltke 10y ago
    > I make bread with 10 grams or less of sugar all the time (usually pizza crust where I'm headed towards 0 grams being the standard). Pizza crust is a different recipe from the breads being discussed here. Sugar is not as necessary for the baking process as it is for soft bread. > Also, there are breads in the stores I shop that don't list sugar (or the various substitutes for sucrose) as an ingredient. I would like to see the brands. I have never seen a soft bread that did not contain sugar.
    - maxerickson 10y ago
      Pizza crust is a "leavened bread", full stop. Also, the point stands that I make bread with minimal or no sugar in it. I just don't make it all that often. As far as the bread in the stores, it's usually in the bakery section. I think Walmart's sourdough doesn't have much sugar in it, but they stock it in the bread aisle. Brand is Sam's choice. (does soft sourdough bread count in the soft bread category we are now discussing?).
- aaronblohowiak 10y ago
  French bread by law does not have sugar. You don't add sugar to sourdough either.
- graycat 10y ago
  I wrote > made almost entirely just from flour, water, yeast, and salt. So my "almost entirely" was my qualification or safety valve! I didn't know just how much sugar, dough conditioner, etc. I did know that the French bread I've had in the US claims loudly that ALL it has is "flour, water, yeast, and salt" so concluded that US white bread doesn't actually need a lot more. This list of 4 for French bread is also elsewhere in this thread. So, thanks for the corrections on sugar, etc.!

DrScump 10y ago

made almost entirely just from flour, water, yeast, and salt Read the entire ingredients list; you may be surprised. Even the "flour" is generally made from just the endosperm. Only if it says "whole wheat/grain" do they use the whole seed.

graycat 10y ago
Thanks. Right. The wheat bread I eat I believe has some whole wheat flour in it.

greendestiny_re 10y ago

Carbs are like Lego blocks. The singular blocks are called "sugars" and include things such as fructose (fruit sugar) and blood sugar. When fructose or glucose enter the digestive system, they are readily processed and enter the bloodstream as glucose. Here, cells take up as much glucose as they can, which can turn into a problem if decades-long oversaturation continues unabated. The only way cells can block glucose from entering is by becoming resistant to a key that unlocks the entryway, insulin. Thus, diabetes develops. In any case, carbs can become extremely long chains, forming things such as chitin, the sturdy outer carapace of insects. If you ever failed to squash a cockroach, now you know why. A type of these complex sugars aka polysaccharids is called "fiber". Again, this includes things such as cellulose, which you can see if you tear apart a piece of paper, or lignine, which are the strands seen when you break a branch off of a tree. We can't fully digest this fiber, but there are herbivores and especially ruminants who can. For example, cows have a special digestive system consisting of several stomachs, where they chew some plants, digest them, chew them again, digest some more and so on. Now for why that's important for humans. In our digestive system, the dietary fiber becomes partially digested, turning into a soft gel that travels down our 30-foot digestive tract and helps push things along. To date, the entirety of our medicine hasn't created a medication that cleans the digestive system with same efficiency as dietary fiber. Cats and dogs have a relatively simple digestive tract; they can live off of turned salami but we can't. Also, dietary fiber swells up, giving you a feeling of fullness and slowing down the rate of absorption of sugars. You see, now the digestion actually has to work to extract food, which reduces the onslaught of sugar into the bloodstream. The problem is that dietary fiber makes the food harder to cook, chew and digest. And boy, do food companies hate that. Dietary fiber reduces the throughput of customers. Why would a fast food company want you to eat a hamburger for 30 minutes? They want you chewing that badboy in 2 minutes, out the door and then back right away, since food without dietary fiber does not satiate. Do you see the situation? Source: dietary writer

AndyNemmity 10y ago
That was enjoyable to read, do you have a link to other articles you've posted, like a blog or something?

jimmaswell 10y ago

Wheat/whole grain bread always tasted like mud to me, with an unappealing rough distracting texture. Never really got how there was enough demand for it to be produced even 1/3 as much as white wonderbread-type bread, which has always seemed perfect to me.

graycat 10y ago
Whole wheat flour is somewhat bitter. Children are especially sensitive to bitter flavors and, thus, don't like wheat bread, coffee, etc. But, grown up, wheat bread, along with dark breads from Central Europe, etc. can no longer seem too bitter and can have some desirable texture and flavors. So, can get some liver wurst on rye bread with brown mustard or some such!

aaronblohowiak 10y ago

Most American bread is made using https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process which produces the blandness that we know and hate

maxerickson 10y ago
It's made in a very industrial way, but it seems it is not made using that process.
- aaronblohowiak 10y ago
  whoops! You're totally right. I had heard of the name of the USA process before and when looking it up, that was the top result in google.. i should have more closely read it to confirm, but you are totally right. the usa uses a different industrial process cause our wheat is more protein-rich.