3 ms·
There is nothing wrong with most additives. Even so-called 'artisanal' bakers add 'bread improvers', which contain things like 'ascorbic acid' (ooohh scary! exc
by roel_v 7y ago
There is nothing wrong with most additives. Even so-called 'artisanal' bakers add 'bread improvers', which contain things like 'ascorbic acid' (ooohh scary! except that its common name is... vitamin C), enzymes or some fast sugars that are entirely converted to alcohol and CO2 by the yeast (i.e. they're just used as yeast feed, no extra sweetness to the final product).
My mother used to work with a woman who later opened a bakery with her husband and they were well known in the surrounding area for their great bread and bread rolls (this was in Belgium - similar style of bread as in France, baguettes not quite as good but often very close; just saying this wasn't some American sogginess). When I got into making bread at home, I asked him about his special trick to make great bread. The first one was 'experience', i.e. practicing the procedure dozens of times until its perfectly repeatable. And the second was 'a pinch out of my special jar' which he bought from a generic wholesale baking supplies vendor, and which contained the things I mentioned above.
I always add a crushed vitamin C tablet to bread I make; it really helps with the gluten development and the quality of the rise. But most online bread making communities are full of idiots who recoil in horror at such sacrilege - they're all like "if I wanted bread full of chemical additives, I'd buy it in the store" rollseyes. But if you suggest they add a squeeze of lemon juice they they're all cool with it, they just complain about they don't want the slight lemon taste to their bread. Sigh.
Don't get me started on nitrate as a preservative in sausage making and the idiocy 'biological sausage makers' spew about that...
- NikolaeVarius 7y agoStart renaming things MSG = Kombu Salt Nitrates = Celery Juice (though this is already done) HFCS = Artisnal Corn Sugar
- perl4ever 7y ago"some American sogginess" The equation of American bread with Wonder Bread is really tired and offensive. Maybe you should spin some tale about how American flour is so, so, different that making bread with flour, salt, yeast and water is so different than in Europe and it comes out completely inedible to those of refined palate.
- roel_v 7y agoEh, I don't think using "American bread" as an expression for bad bread is all that horrible, just like "being on Italian time" (or Brazilian or whatever) or for people who are habitually late or "going Dutch" for splitting a bill is all that bad - even when I do know Italians and Brazilians who are always on time, and Dutch people who will pay for their table. Then again, it's 2020, so I guess I should change colloquialisms like this.
- wideasleep1 7y agoIn defense of America, our San Francisco Sourdough is only soggy when used to sop up the chowder.
- asveikau 7y agoMy complaint about bread here in the states (I am American) is not that it's soggy so much as Americans have very high tolerance for stale bread, which means stores will often leave stale bread to fill the shelves completely, and I guess less "artisanal" brands will make their bread much less appealing when fresh because the market tolerates bland, hard textured, flavorless goods. This varies a lot with the store and in what town you buy the bread. I didn't have this complaint as much in the Northeast as I did out west. But out west, you can find the good stuff if you are more selective and pay more.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoThere's a whole aisle in my American grocery filled with wonder bread and its equivalent. I grew up on it. I've been ruined by learning about bakeries and good crusty loaves with texture and flavor. Won't eat anything else now. So I don't know about 'tired', its a real thing.
- akhosravian 7y agoIf you won’t, I’ll jump in. There’s evidence that it would be a positive choice to drop nitrates from ones diet entirely, but any cured meat product that claims to be nitrate free is either unrecognizable as what the label says or preying on consumer ignorance. Generally it is the second option, and celery salt is the smoking gun. Here’s an article on the subject: https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/food/celery-juice-viable-alternative-nitrites-cured-meats https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/food/celery-juice-viable-a... Im comfortable saying any deli meat or bacon marketed “no added nitrates” is either over priced or subpar quality and , in most cases, being hawked by charlatans who thrive on their customers being low information.
- roel_v 7y agoGreat link, thanks for that.