10 ms·

I'm not sure what the situation in many parts of the US is, but is not freshly baked bread, the kind with unsurprising ingredients and that goes stale when you'

I'm not sure what the situation in many parts of the US is, but is not freshly baked bread, the kind with unsurprising ingredients and that goes stale when you'd expect it, not an option? The stuff made to sit on the supermarket's shelf for long times has such an odd consistency and flavor, very spongy and very tangy and sweet, you can't spread anything on it without toasting it first. I wouldn't take it as the standard for bread.

sometimeshuman 4y ago
"that goes stale when you'd expect it". Super dumb question, but would fresh baked bread placed in the freezer last a few weeks ? I don't buy fresh baked out of concern most of it will get thrown away.
- WaitWaitWha 4y ago
  Fresh (& commercial ultra-processed) baked bread can be frozen. You will lose the crunch of the crust, but freezing will prolong the shelf life. Additionally, you can buy sourdough, which tend to have longer shelf life then yeast breads.
- hallidave 4y ago
  I only eat homemade bread. I slice unused bread and put in the freezer after a day or two. Thaw it out with a toaster. It will easily keep a few weeks.
- analog31 4y ago
  Yes. My family bakes our own bread, and we freeze it all the time. Also, rolls seem to take less skill and attention than loaves, and are super convenient to freeze.
vlod 4y ago
Agreed. I just can't eat the bread in stores (for me to too sweet) and I'm a big bread person. It's remarkable easy to bake your own bread (as many tried in during the pandemic). Yeah, it takes time, but it's a good way to reduce your carbs intake. i.e. if you don't bake it, you can't eat it.
- GloriousKoji 4y ago
  Counterpoint to the carb reduction is fresh baked bread is so delicious and scaling bread recipes is easy so you end up eating twice as much bread compared to store bought.
  - idopmstuff 4y ago
    Yeah, my wife bakes bread and it's usually just her and I. Can't leave that bread overnight, so I end up eating half a loaf of bread instead of the two slices of store bought bread that I usually have each day.
    - vlod 4y ago
      The freezer is you're savior! :) Each bread I bake is cut in half (even before I taste it) and put in the freezer for next soup time.
    - Oxidation 4y ago
      > Can't leave that bread overnight Is that a climate thing? In my (temperate) experience, bread lasts for several days, even in summer.
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maxerickson 4y ago
There's a national brand that makes fresh artisan style bread and then most even slightly upscale grocers will have a couple types in their inside bakery.
dmoy 4y ago
Freshly baked bread can be hard to obtain in many parts of the US. For me if I wanted fresh baked bread every day and not make it myself, I'd be looking at like 40-60 minutes of extra time per day if I drive there every day. The closest grocery store to me is 1.5 miles away up an extremely steep hill. Shit, fresh vegetables can be hard to obtain in many parts of the US. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert We've got ~20 million people who don't live near a grocery store with fresh food at all.
- 2Gkashmiri 4y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tub6eEdmjzs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tub6eEdmjzs heh... we have over fresh bakery shops IN EVERY STREET so you are no more than 10 house lengths away from one. It has no yeast, around 3% is salt but is made fresh and goes bad in hours so it is consumed HOT. I wonder if stuff like our centuries old tech can be replicated in more "modern" nations?
  - pixl97 4y ago
    The problem in the US is housing density and dependence on cars. In the average US city a street may have an order of magnitude fewer people than a moderately dense city.
    - gnz11 4y ago
      Zoning laws generally exclude businesses from opening in residential neighborhoods. So no neighborhood bakery, butcher, produce, pub, etc within walking distances. Change the zoning laws, change the car dependencies.
      - sqeaky 4y ago
        This is also a major shift in culture and is likely to have unexpected side effects. Maybe those side effects are good, or bad, I don't know but zoning is a big deal and complex to the point of having emergent properties that should be considered.
88913527 4y ago
The time ROI of using a bread-making machine and the 3 or so ingredients placed in it could be positive when compared to the trip to the grocery store.
WaitWaitWha 4y ago
You can buy fresh products at a reasonable cost in the USA, just have to make the effort to look. Talking about processed bread, here is an example from Sam's Club [0] for sourdough boules, at $6 for four (about 1kg total). The ingredient list contains nothing ultra-processed. [0]: Soudough boules at Sam's Club https://www.samsclub.com/p/members-mark-sourdough-boules-4-ct/PL980416810 https://www.samsclub.com/p/members-mark-sourdough-boules-4-c...
- incone123 4y ago
  What's a reasonable cost depends on your means. And I can get an (ultra processed) 800g sliced wholemeal loaf for less than 2 USD. There are other cheaper ones too.
- cptskippy 4y ago
  > just have to make the effort to look. That is the problem, people aren't going to take the effort to look.
orangepurple 4y ago
If you want to understand what the average American consumes the answer is whatever is on the shelf of their local Walmart (they sell groceries). The average American may assemble food from time to time but generally does not cook. That said, there are hundreds of millions of people in that country, so this is obviously a generalization, and should be treated as such. That said Lidl is making aggressive inroads into the country and that MIGHT have an impact long term. They have legitimate and affordable fresh bread. https://www.walmart.com/tp/bread https://www.walmart.com/tp/bread This is Walmart's store brand (as cheap as possible): https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Wheat-Sandwich-Bread-Loaf-20-oz/10315699 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Wheat-Sandwich-Bread-... Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Whole Wheat Flour, Sugar, Yeast, Contains 2% or less of the following: Soybean Oil, Wheat Bran, Salt, Vital Wheat Gluten, Molasses, Calcium Propionate (Preservative) Vinegar, Dough Conditioners (Monoglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Ascorbic Acid, Calcium Sulfate, Enzymes), Potassium Iodate, Monocalcium Phosphate
- beepbooptheory 4y ago
  I totally believe it, but it is just so wild to me that it has gotten to the point where we can somewhat confidently say that most Americans just do not cook at all. I just don't even understand how that works, even if you have enough income, how do you have enough space to like store all the trash for the week? Don't you just get tired of restraunt food at some point?
  - orangepurple 4y ago
    In the US in many places trash disposal is a flat rate included in your utility bill, rolled up into your rent, or you have a common dumpster area you can throw trash into for free. This isn't Switzerland where you have to pay two bucks for a LICENSED small plastic trash bag. Here you can generate as much residential trash as you want for the same price or for free if you drive the trash to the county dump yourself. You have to call the county to schedule a pickup of huge trash like for appliances if your new appliance delivery people won't take your old stuff. In most cities there are usually many options for restaurants nearby and Uber Eats for anything further out. For everyone else there's McDonalds and friends: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/content/ranking-top-50-fast-food-chains-america https://www.qsrmagazine.com/content/ranking-top-50-fast-food...
stronglikedan 4y ago
There's bakeries with fresh baked bread all over the place in m y area, but most people would rather just get their bread with the rest of their groceries from the grocery store, where of course they're going to add preservatives. For those that want fresh baked, it's available, just not as convenient.
frandroid 4y ago
Supermarket bread is the norm, good bread is the exception. I live in downtown Toronto and I have to go out of my way to find good bread, and unprocessed whole grain bread is particularly difficult to procure.
jrsj 4y ago
In many places it’s either not an option or not one that you’re going to find almost anywhere most people shop. As far as I know in my city the only place to find real bread is Whole Foods (where the inventory is limited and inconsistent) or the one independent bakery that happens to sell sliced bread. And it’s a Japanese bakery, so I would guess almost nobody would even think to look there. Almost every other bakery is selling bullshit like cupcakes. It also costs $5+ a loaf when you can get the cheap stuff for $1-$2, so a lot of people just wouldn’t spend the money anyways because they don’t know or care about the difference.

sometimeshuman 4y ago

"that goes stale when you'd expect it". Super dumb question, but would fresh baked bread placed in the freezer last a few weeks ? I don't buy fresh baked out of concern most of it will get thrown away.

WaitWaitWha 4y ago
Fresh (& commercial ultra-processed) baked bread can be frozen. You will lose the crunch of the crust, but freezing will prolong the shelf life. Additionally, you can buy sourdough, which tend to have longer shelf life then yeast breads.
hallidave 4y ago
I only eat homemade bread. I slice unused bread and put in the freezer after a day or two. Thaw it out with a toaster. It will easily keep a few weeks.
analog31 4y ago
Yes. My family bakes our own bread, and we freeze it all the time. Also, rolls seem to take less skill and attention than loaves, and are super convenient to freeze.

vlod 4y ago

Agreed. I just can't eat the bread in stores (for me to too sweet) and I'm a big bread person. It's remarkable easy to bake your own bread (as many tried in during the pandemic). Yeah, it takes time, but it's a good way to reduce your carbs intake. i.e. if you don't bake it, you can't eat it.

GloriousKoji 4y ago
Counterpoint to the carb reduction is fresh baked bread is so delicious and scaling bread recipes is easy so you end up eating twice as much bread compared to store bought.
- idopmstuff 4y ago
  Yeah, my wife bakes bread and it's usually just her and I. Can't leave that bread overnight, so I end up eating half a loaf of bread instead of the two slices of store bought bread that I usually have each day.
  - vlod 4y ago
    The freezer is you're savior! :) Each bread I bake is cut in half (even before I taste it) and put in the freezer for next soup time.
  - Oxidation 4y ago
    > Can't leave that bread overnight Is that a climate thing? In my (temperate) experience, bread lasts for several days, even in summer.
- deleted 4y ago
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deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

maxerickson 4y ago

There's a national brand that makes fresh artisan style bread and then most even slightly upscale grocers will have a couple types in their inside bakery.

dmoy 4y ago

Freshly baked bread can be hard to obtain in many parts of the US. For me if I wanted fresh baked bread every day and not make it myself, I'd be looking at like 40-60 minutes of extra time per day if I drive there every day. The closest grocery store to me is 1.5 miles away up an extremely steep hill. Shit, fresh vegetables can be hard to obtain in many parts of the US. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert We've got ~20 million people who don't live near a grocery store with fresh food at all.

2Gkashmiri 4y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tub6eEdmjzs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tub6eEdmjzs heh... we have over fresh bakery shops IN EVERY STREET so you are no more than 10 house lengths away from one. It has no yeast, around 3% is salt but is made fresh and goes bad in hours so it is consumed HOT. I wonder if stuff like our centuries old tech can be replicated in more "modern" nations?
- pixl97 4y ago
  The problem in the US is housing density and dependence on cars. In the average US city a street may have an order of magnitude fewer people than a moderately dense city.
  - gnz11 4y ago
    Zoning laws generally exclude businesses from opening in residential neighborhoods. So no neighborhood bakery, butcher, produce, pub, etc within walking distances. Change the zoning laws, change the car dependencies.
    - sqeaky 4y ago
      This is also a major shift in culture and is likely to have unexpected side effects. Maybe those side effects are good, or bad, I don't know but zoning is a big deal and complex to the point of having emergent properties that should be considered.

88913527 4y ago

The time ROI of using a bread-making machine and the 3 or so ingredients placed in it could be positive when compared to the trip to the grocery store.

WaitWaitWha 4y ago

You can buy fresh products at a reasonable cost in the USA, just have to make the effort to look. Talking about processed bread, here is an example from Sam's Club [0] for sourdough boules, at $6 for four (about 1kg total). The ingredient list contains nothing ultra-processed. [0]: Soudough boules at Sam's Club https://www.samsclub.com/p/members-mark-sourdough-boules-4-ct/PL980416810 https://www.samsclub.com/p/members-mark-sourdough-boules-4-c...

incone123 4y ago
What's a reasonable cost depends on your means. And I can get an (ultra processed) 800g sliced wholemeal loaf for less than 2 USD. There are other cheaper ones too.
cptskippy 4y ago
> just have to make the effort to look. That is the problem, people aren't going to take the effort to look.

orangepurple 4y ago

If you want to understand what the average American consumes the answer is whatever is on the shelf of their local Walmart (they sell groceries). The average American may assemble food from time to time but generally does not cook. That said, there are hundreds of millions of people in that country, so this is obviously a generalization, and should be treated as such. That said Lidl is making aggressive inroads into the country and that MIGHT have an impact long term. They have legitimate and affordable fresh bread. https://www.walmart.com/tp/bread https://www.walmart.com/tp/bread This is Walmart's store brand (as cheap as possible): https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Wheat-Sandwich-Bread-Loaf-20-oz/10315699 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Wheat-Sandwich-Bread-... Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Whole Wheat Flour, Sugar, Yeast, Contains 2% or less of the following: Soybean Oil, Wheat Bran, Salt, Vital Wheat Gluten, Molasses, Calcium Propionate (Preservative) Vinegar, Dough Conditioners (Monoglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Ascorbic Acid, Calcium Sulfate, Enzymes), Potassium Iodate, Monocalcium Phosphate

beepbooptheory 4y ago
I totally believe it, but it is just so wild to me that it has gotten to the point where we can somewhat confidently say that most Americans just do not cook at all. I just don't even understand how that works, even if you have enough income, how do you have enough space to like store all the trash for the week? Don't you just get tired of restraunt food at some point?
- orangepurple 4y ago
  In the US in many places trash disposal is a flat rate included in your utility bill, rolled up into your rent, or you have a common dumpster area you can throw trash into for free. This isn't Switzerland where you have to pay two bucks for a LICENSED small plastic trash bag. Here you can generate as much residential trash as you want for the same price or for free if you drive the trash to the county dump yourself. You have to call the county to schedule a pickup of huge trash like for appliances if your new appliance delivery people won't take your old stuff. In most cities there are usually many options for restaurants nearby and Uber Eats for anything further out. For everyone else there's McDonalds and friends: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/content/ranking-top-50-fast-food-chains-america https://www.qsrmagazine.com/content/ranking-top-50-fast-food...

stronglikedan 4y ago

There's bakeries with fresh baked bread all over the place in m y area, but most people would rather just get their bread with the rest of their groceries from the grocery store, where of course they're going to add preservatives. For those that want fresh baked, it's available, just not as convenient.

frandroid 4y ago

Supermarket bread is the norm, good bread is the exception. I live in downtown Toronto and I have to go out of my way to find good bread, and unprocessed whole grain bread is particularly difficult to procure.

jrsj 4y ago

In many places it’s either not an option or not one that you’re going to find almost anywhere most people shop. As far as I know in my city the only place to find real bread is Whole Foods (where the inventory is limited and inconsistent) or the one independent bakery that happens to sell sliced bread. And it’s a Japanese bakery, so I would guess almost nobody would even think to look there. Almost every other bakery is selling bullshit like cupcakes. It also costs $5+ a loaf when you can get the cheap stuff for $1-$2, so a lot of people just wouldn’t spend the money anyways because they don’t know or care about the difference.