5 ms·

As a German the cultural differences around bread are really interesting. Already the cartoon picture of the half loaf of bread is so fundamentally different to

by ascar 5y ago

As a German the cultural differences around bread are really interesting. Already the cartoon picture of the half loaf of bread is so fundamentally different to what I am expecting it to look like. Also people in the comments saying they rarely not finish a loaf of bread. This [1] is how it looks like here and when bought at a bakery it's usually so big that we buy it in quarters and even that lasts a couple of days. It also tastes very different from what the rest of the world considers bread. It's much stronger in flavor. [1] https://www.sonachgefuehl.de/rustikales-bauernbrot/ https://www.sonachgefuehl.de/rustikales-bauernbrot/

timeon 5y ago
I'm not German but from CEE but I also do not consider 'sandwich bread' as 'bread' or at least not as default option for 'bread'.
theobeers 5y ago
Keep in mind, this service appears to be focused on India, where the kind of loaf bread pictured is also not the most traditional. (When I lived in Afghanistan and would occasionally buy loaves of sandwich bread at groceries catering to expats, my Indian colleagues referred to it as "double roti"—a term I found delightful. I wonder how common that usage is in India these days.)
- fho 5y ago
  Indian cuisine also has a pretty wide selection of different "breads" (dough patties? DeepL does not even know a word for "Teigfladen" (de)). Naan and Roti are probably the most known, but there are several others including very fatty ones. (somebody from India please chime in, I don't know the names :-) ) (Not from India but had an Indian roommate once and attended his wedding in India thereafter (obviously :-))
  - webmobdev 5y ago
    - 20 different types of roti to try out if you thought all Indian breads are the same: https://www.innfinity.in/food/types-of-roti/ https://www.innfinity.in/food/types-of-roti/ - 15 Best Indian Bread Recipes: https://food.ndtv.com/lists/10-best-indian-bread-recipes-1469515 https://food.ndtv.com/lists/10-best-indian-bread-recipes-146...
- sundarurfriend 5y ago
  > this service appears to be focused on India, where the kind of loaf bread pictured is also not the most traditional. While that's technically true, when we use the word "bread" we generally mean this (Western?) kind of bread. For the Indian kinds of bread we normally use roti. In everyday contexts, if someone says bread, it almost always refers to the kind of bread pictured there.
  - Symbiote 5y ago
    I don't think it's fair to accuse all the West of preferring this type of bread. It's British or American, depending how much sugar was added.
    - FredPret 5y ago
      My favourite bread is Wonder Bread, fight me
CaptArmchair 5y ago
That's a sourdough bread, right? Now, there's a rabbit hole to dive into. It uses a different type of levain / yeast culture compared to bread based on dried yeast. Long story short, sourdough was / is how bread was made throughout history. Fermentation takes a very long time due to the nature of the levain. At some point, bakers noticed how the leftovers from brewers yeasts drastically shorten fermentation. That and industrialization led to modern day bread you find in the supermarket. Jon from Proof Bread on YT does a much better job at explaining. [1] Another great watch is Michael Pollan's "Cooked" series. In the 3rd episode, he explores bread, it's history and makes the case about modern industrialization affecting the quality and the nutritional value of modern bread. [2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0p0p0zqVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0p0p0zqVE [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epMAq5WYJk4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epMAq5WYJk4
- ascar 5y ago
  > That's a sourdough bread, right? Yes, the one I linked is made out of sourdough, which is a sign of quality here. Though, we do also have the same style of bread without sourdough.
  - mirker 5y ago
    There is “artisan” bread, made by hand, which is the round kind. Then there is “sandwich bread”, which is the rectangular kind. Ingredients: Artisan bread is usually just flour, water, salt, yeast (sourdough is just flour and water, too). Sandwich bread can include milk or other fats to make it softer and is more of a “cake”. In industrial settings, there are a lot of preservatives included in the sandwich bread. Mixing: Artisan bread is mixed by hand. Sandwich bread is mixed in a mixer. The former thus has less worked gluten. Shaping: Artisan bread is made into a ball (similar to “spinning” pizza dough). Sandwich bread is poured into a tin and requires no shaping. Bake: Artisan bread is baked at high heat, around 500F, in steam. Sandwich bread is baked in a specific tin at lower heat, like a cake. As you can see, the sandwich bread is easily scalable and, being essentially a cake, is preferred by many. A loaf of sandwich bread is around $1-$2 where an artisan bread is like 4x more. Also, there are flours, like rye, which have to be made with sandwich-type methods. These flours don’t have enough gluten to hold shape on their own.
RajT88 5y ago
Differences in expectations around baked goods found its way into the episode of the 90's show, "The Tick" in "The Tick vs. Europe" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0723382/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0723382/ I've seen it as a throwaway gag in a few movies too - also usually with French speaking characters for some reason - observing how terrible baked goods (or sometimes bread specifically) are in the US.
electroly 5y ago
I wonder if this is an example of emojis taking over public consciousness. The bread picture on this site is clearly the bread emoji, even though this is a picture and it could have been any bread shape.
djur 5y ago
You don't have anything like French pain de mie in Germany?
- vidarh 5y ago
  Yes, they, do. A wide variety of it.
vidarh 5y ago
Having eaten bread many places in Germany over the years, I certainly is aware of the shape of bread you show, but I've also had plenty of loaves of bread similar to the image in the linked site in Germany.
- ascar 5y ago
  Well, we Germans are known for our baked goods and at a bakery you will find a wide variety including French croissants, baguette or Italian ciabatta. But at least in Bavaria "bread" is the one I linked and you refer to everything else by name. Whole grain bread usually comes in that form and of course toast. It's just not what comes to my mind especially in the context of a loaf.
chubot 5y ago
FWIW in the US this is called "artisan bread", as opposed to supermarket bread. You can get it in bakeries in every major city, and at farmer's markets, but not most supermarkets, especially not outside the city. It's really popular in San Francisco for example. I found this out because I brought some bread from back to the suburbs to my parents, and they thought it was awesome, and had never had it before ... ! I haven't lived in the suburbs for ~20 years so I forgot that the availability of food is different.
- djrogers 5y ago
  > but not most supermarkets, especially not outside the city. Not sure what part of the country you live in, but this kind of bread is available at even the smallest out-of-the-way grocery store anywhere in California, and on most of the west coast that I've been to. I know because my family is hooked on it...
  - chubot 5y ago
    It's probably more available in California, but I'd also say that there's a lot of bread of that shape that isn't "artisan bread". If it's baked by a local, skilled person (an artiasan!) and delivered early in the morning, I'd call that artisan bread. But I think a lot of supermarket bread is basically baked in a big facility mostly by machines. I don't know the details but I think they have to make the ingredients more homogeneous for this to work. And if it's not delivered the same day, they will need to put preservatives in it. IMO the difference is like night and day. My dad is the kind of person who swears by everything Costco, but even he likes the fresh artisan bread.
InCityDreams 5y ago
My friends and I once (as in, one day...) went stealng bread from doorsteps in Germany, until we tasted one that was so ...different... to what we considered to be 'bread', we never did it again. Black bread? 'Different', meaning 'absolutely disgusting' to [our] tastes, at that time.
- ascar 5y ago
  Our tastebuds have to learn to appreciate new tastes. So if you grew up on a very sugary taste palate, having dark bread for the first time will be tough. If you were unlucky enough to pick one with added caraway I'm not surprised at all. That has some strong and somewhat bitter taste and serves you right for stealing it xD
kmeisthax 5y ago
sva_ 5y ago
That's a really low hydration level for a sourdough imho.
rSi 5y ago
As an Austrian I can fully agree. we buy bread in full, halves or quarters and I eat it for a week without toasting. bread that is getting too dry to eat can be toasted or cut up in cubes to be used as croutons in soups and salads or used as a base for dumplings.

by ascar 5y ago

timeon 5y ago

I'm not German but from CEE but I also do not consider 'sandwich bread' as 'bread' or at least not as default option for 'bread'.

theobeers 5y ago

Keep in mind, this service appears to be focused on India, where the kind of loaf bread pictured is also not the most traditional. (When I lived in Afghanistan and would occasionally buy loaves of sandwich bread at groceries catering to expats, my Indian colleagues referred to it as "double roti"—a term I found delightful. I wonder how common that usage is in India these days.)

fho 5y ago
Indian cuisine also has a pretty wide selection of different "breads" (dough patties? DeepL does not even know a word for "Teigfladen" (de)). Naan and Roti are probably the most known, but there are several others including very fatty ones. (somebody from India please chime in, I don't know the names :-) ) (Not from India but had an Indian roommate once and attended his wedding in India thereafter (obviously :-))
- webmobdev 5y ago
  - 20 different types of roti to try out if you thought all Indian breads are the same: https://www.innfinity.in/food/types-of-roti/ https://www.innfinity.in/food/types-of-roti/ - 15 Best Indian Bread Recipes: https://food.ndtv.com/lists/10-best-indian-bread-recipes-1469515 https://food.ndtv.com/lists/10-best-indian-bread-recipes-146...
sundarurfriend 5y ago
> this service appears to be focused on India, where the kind of loaf bread pictured is also not the most traditional. While that's technically true, when we use the word "bread" we generally mean this (Western?) kind of bread. For the Indian kinds of bread we normally use roti. In everyday contexts, if someone says bread, it almost always refers to the kind of bread pictured there.
- Symbiote 5y ago
  I don't think it's fair to accuse all the West of preferring this type of bread. It's British or American, depending how much sugar was added.
  - FredPret 5y ago
    My favourite bread is Wonder Bread, fight me

CaptArmchair 5y ago

That's a sourdough bread, right? Now, there's a rabbit hole to dive into. It uses a different type of levain / yeast culture compared to bread based on dried yeast. Long story short, sourdough was / is how bread was made throughout history. Fermentation takes a very long time due to the nature of the levain. At some point, bakers noticed how the leftovers from brewers yeasts drastically shorten fermentation. That and industrialization led to modern day bread you find in the supermarket. Jon from Proof Bread on YT does a much better job at explaining. [1] Another great watch is Michael Pollan's "Cooked" series. In the 3rd episode, he explores bread, it's history and makes the case about modern industrialization affecting the quality and the nutritional value of modern bread. [2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0p0p0zqVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0p0p0zqVE [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epMAq5WYJk4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epMAq5WYJk4

ascar 5y ago
> That's a sourdough bread, right? Yes, the one I linked is made out of sourdough, which is a sign of quality here. Though, we do also have the same style of bread without sourdough.
- mirker 5y ago
  There is “artisan” bread, made by hand, which is the round kind. Then there is “sandwich bread”, which is the rectangular kind. Ingredients: Artisan bread is usually just flour, water, salt, yeast (sourdough is just flour and water, too). Sandwich bread can include milk or other fats to make it softer and is more of a “cake”. In industrial settings, there are a lot of preservatives included in the sandwich bread. Mixing: Artisan bread is mixed by hand. Sandwich bread is mixed in a mixer. The former thus has less worked gluten. Shaping: Artisan bread is made into a ball (similar to “spinning” pizza dough). Sandwich bread is poured into a tin and requires no shaping. Bake: Artisan bread is baked at high heat, around 500F, in steam. Sandwich bread is baked in a specific tin at lower heat, like a cake. As you can see, the sandwich bread is easily scalable and, being essentially a cake, is preferred by many. A loaf of sandwich bread is around $1-$2 where an artisan bread is like 4x more. Also, there are flours, like rye, which have to be made with sandwich-type methods. These flours don’t have enough gluten to hold shape on their own.

RajT88 5y ago

Differences in expectations around baked goods found its way into the episode of the 90's show, "The Tick" in "The Tick vs. Europe" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0723382/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0723382/ I've seen it as a throwaway gag in a few movies too - also usually with French speaking characters for some reason - observing how terrible baked goods (or sometimes bread specifically) are in the US.

electroly 5y ago

I wonder if this is an example of emojis taking over public consciousness. The bread picture on this site is clearly the bread emoji, even though this is a picture and it could have been any bread shape.

djur 5y ago

You don't have anything like French pain de mie in Germany?

vidarh 5y ago
Yes, they, do. A wide variety of it.

vidarh 5y ago

Having eaten bread many places in Germany over the years, I certainly is aware of the shape of bread you show, but I've also had plenty of loaves of bread similar to the image in the linked site in Germany.

ascar 5y ago
Well, we Germans are known for our baked goods and at a bakery you will find a wide variety including French croissants, baguette or Italian ciabatta. But at least in Bavaria "bread" is the one I linked and you refer to everything else by name. Whole grain bread usually comes in that form and of course toast. It's just not what comes to my mind especially in the context of a loaf.

chubot 5y ago

FWIW in the US this is called "artisan bread", as opposed to supermarket bread. You can get it in bakeries in every major city, and at farmer's markets, but not most supermarkets, especially not outside the city. It's really popular in San Francisco for example. I found this out because I brought some bread from back to the suburbs to my parents, and they thought it was awesome, and had never had it before ... ! I haven't lived in the suburbs for ~20 years so I forgot that the availability of food is different.

djrogers 5y ago
> but not most supermarkets, especially not outside the city. Not sure what part of the country you live in, but this kind of bread is available at even the smallest out-of-the-way grocery store anywhere in California, and on most of the west coast that I've been to. I know because my family is hooked on it...
- chubot 5y ago
  It's probably more available in California, but I'd also say that there's a lot of bread of that shape that isn't "artisan bread". If it's baked by a local, skilled person (an artiasan!) and delivered early in the morning, I'd call that artisan bread. But I think a lot of supermarket bread is basically baked in a big facility mostly by machines. I don't know the details but I think they have to make the ingredients more homogeneous for this to work. And if it's not delivered the same day, they will need to put preservatives in it. IMO the difference is like night and day. My dad is the kind of person who swears by everything Costco, but even he likes the fresh artisan bread.

InCityDreams 5y ago

My friends and I once (as in, one day...) went stealng bread from doorsteps in Germany, until we tasted one that was so ...different... to what we considered to be 'bread', we never did it again. Black bread? 'Different', meaning 'absolutely disgusting' to [our] tastes, at that time.

ascar 5y ago
Our tastebuds have to learn to appreciate new tastes. So if you grew up on a very sugary taste palate, having dark bread for the first time will be tough. If you were unlucky enough to pick one with added caraway I'm not surprised at all. That has some strong and somewhat bitter taste and serves you right for stealing it xD

kmeisthax 5y ago

sva_ 5y ago

That's a really low hydration level for a sourdough imho.

rSi 5y ago

As an Austrian I can fully agree. we buy bread in full, halves or quarters and I eat it for a week without toasting. bread that is getting too dry to eat can be toasted or cut up in cubes to be used as croutons in soups and salads or used as a base for dumplings.