5 ms·

Few appreciate what has gone wrong with regular store bought bread. Regular store bought bread is created with the Chorleywood process, whereby substandard whea

Few appreciate what has gone wrong with regular store bought bread. Regular store bought bread is created with the Chorleywood process, whereby substandard wheat and carbon dioxide can be mashed together to make some dough that can be baked into something that resembles bread. These loaves of bread-style-wheat things are not made with just the basic ingredients needed for bread. There are the E numbers for preservatives and whatever else is 'needed'. Often the additives are added to the flour rather than the dough and therefore do not have to be listed. Stuff derived from human hair can get in there as an 'E number'. Often people self-diagnose themselves as having gluten or other allergies when there could be problems with the additives rather than the core product of what bread is supposed to be. Chucking out store bought bread and joining the sourdough club is a popular reaction to the industrial nonsense that poses as 'bread'. However, there are economic factors at play here. Sourdough keeps and it can be sold at a premium. Actual fresh bread made with yeast and zero additives does not keep and cannot be sold at a premium. It is also less trendy and not on the radar of the hipster crowd. However, if one is sorting out one's bread properly then a bread machine and the ingredients for bread making is a shrewd investment. It takes five minutes to load the machine with 500g of flour, 360 ml of water, 25g of some type of fat, a teaspoon of yeast, a teaspoon and a half of sugar (to make the yeast do its thing) and a teaspoon and a quarter of salt. You can then press the start button to have the freshest bread you could wish for in four hours. Or you can set the timer so it is ready in the morning or when you are back from work. By taking this approach you have the benefits of pure, fresh bread with none of the downsides of lengthy preparation times. You don't need an app to manage your sourdough. It is also energy efficient as a bread machine is a small rather than large appliance. The Panasonic machines are best as you have recipes based on that machine plus you can get spare parts and the beginners manual uses metric rather than obscure 'cup sizes'. With home-machine, properly bakes bread you don't need to be chewing on some sourdough rusk that is essentially stale, you can fire up the machine and keep the fresh loaves coming every 2-3 days. You can mix and match the flours to keep your bread varied. You can also focus on what you eat your bread with rather than try to forever by adding ingredients to the bread such as tomatoes, olives, nuts etc. If you can maintain the routine then you never need join the sourdough club, you can cut your own way with the innovative 'yeast' ingredient used properly rather than thrown out.

wiredfool 7y ago
Your rant would be better if you didn't misunderstand the need for sugar.
- Theodores 7y ago
  Look, in my opinion the rejection of store bought bread made with the Chorleywood process to go for sourdough or anything else trendy is not entirely rational, there is much to recommend bread baked the conventional way with a machine. It means you ain't spending your time scheduling your life around some silly baking affectation but you get your bread. That is a fair comment that needs a few words to understand. I appreciate that to those that can only write one liners this could appear as a 'rant'. But it is not. However, I do now have a reason to rant, to rant about those that write things such as your comment without explaining in full why the need is there for sugar in bread.
  - wiredfool 7y ago
    You don't need sugar, You need carbohydrates, which are supplied in the flour. 4 ingredients are required, Flour, Water, Yeast and Salt. (though, in a pinch, you can do without salt, but it works as something of a regulator to the speed of the yeast and it affects the texture of the dough. (And you can do it without the yeast. but then it's sourdough. (Water and flour though, I'm pretty sure those are really required))) Fat isn't required either, but in some doughs, it can help with the workability or flavor. Try this: Mix yeast and a batch sized quantity of water. Nothing really happens, but the yeast (depending on the type you've added) will dissolve or break apart. Add some flour, about what you'd add in sugar. Mix it so that the flour is not in clumps. If the water temperature is reasonable, the yeast will start to break down the carbohydrate in the flour into sugar, consume it, and start bubbling. Then add it to bread, as the yeast has been proofed. Some yeasts don't require the proofing step (SAF red for one). It's perfectly fine to add to the dry ingredients. I like that stuff, super reliable and easy to use but despite being french, I've never seen it outside the states. Some yeasts are better for sweet breads (like panettone, cinnamon rolls, or others). Some yeasts come in little sachets just suck and are hard to work with, like the stuff I had in the cupboard pre-pandemic.

wiredfool 7y ago

Your rant would be better if you didn't misunderstand the need for sugar.

Theodores 7y ago
Look, in my opinion the rejection of store bought bread made with the Chorleywood process to go for sourdough or anything else trendy is not entirely rational, there is much to recommend bread baked the conventional way with a machine. It means you ain't spending your time scheduling your life around some silly baking affectation but you get your bread. That is a fair comment that needs a few words to understand. I appreciate that to those that can only write one liners this could appear as a 'rant'. But it is not. However, I do now have a reason to rant, to rant about those that write things such as your comment without explaining in full why the need is there for sugar in bread.
- wiredfool 7y ago
  You don't need sugar, You need carbohydrates, which are supplied in the flour. 4 ingredients are required, Flour, Water, Yeast and Salt. (though, in a pinch, you can do without salt, but it works as something of a regulator to the speed of the yeast and it affects the texture of the dough. (And you can do it without the yeast. but then it's sourdough. (Water and flour though, I'm pretty sure those are really required))) Fat isn't required either, but in some doughs, it can help with the workability or flavor. Try this: Mix yeast and a batch sized quantity of water. Nothing really happens, but the yeast (depending on the type you've added) will dissolve or break apart. Add some flour, about what you'd add in sugar. Mix it so that the flour is not in clumps. If the water temperature is reasonable, the yeast will start to break down the carbohydrate in the flour into sugar, consume it, and start bubbling. Then add it to bread, as the yeast has been proofed. Some yeasts don't require the proofing step (SAF red for one). It's perfectly fine to add to the dry ingredients. I like that stuff, super reliable and easy to use but despite being french, I've never seen it outside the states. Some yeasts are better for sweet breads (like panettone, cinnamon rolls, or others). Some yeasts come in little sachets just suck and are hard to work with, like the stuff I had in the cupboard pre-pandemic.