Nature Fresh White Toast Bread. Apart from being thicker than sandwich sliced is it also supposed to be half cooked? Even the Nature Fresh white sandwich bread I have bought recently has been kinda doughy, for want of a better word. I actually enjoy the cheaper loaves more.
k8nasha,
Feb 3, 7:16am
I hate alot of the breads available now - have recently been buying daily baked sliced loaves from the local Pak 'n Save, and it's alot nicer.
jessie981,
Feb 3, 8:44am
Bought bread from The Mad Butcher in the weekend & definitely wasn't fresh! Never again.
uli,
Feb 3, 10:14pm
Could that be because it is a butchery rather than a bakery?
tommydog,
Feb 4, 3:56am
Countdowns Bread is terrible just a gultenous mass and they charge enough for it.
buzzy110,
Feb 4, 4:29am
What about one of those new fandangle machines? Can't remember what they are called now. Ummm let me think.
^&*Shuts eyes and starts the memory chant*&^ Mmmm. Still not working. @#!Does memory dance!#@
Screws face up in concentration!!!
I have it. \Breadmaker/.
carriebradshaw,
Feb 4, 5:04am
It's so hard to find decent white bread .I've started buying all my bread at Bakers Delight now,it's so nice.
buzzy110,
Feb 4, 5:40am
Gosh. There is such a thing as decent white bread? Gosh again.
malcovy,
Feb 4, 5:56am
I have been buying SR white toast bread as the family are happy enough and even the budget white toast bread.The budget white doesn't seem to have any substance too it.I also buy tip tops goodness grain sunflower and poppy seed bread for toast as well and that is delicious.I do not mind paying up to $4 for it but I do have a problem paying more for white bread.
jessie981,
Feb 4, 7:36am
Don't think so uli. Mad Butcher brand & they also stock Couplands so guess it all comes from the same bakery.
nfh1,
Feb 4, 7:45am
I love Baker's Delight - buy all my rolls from there.
uli,
Feb 4, 7:51am
Alright here we go:
The Chorleywood bread process (what I call the "turbo bread"):
A method of preparing dough for bread making by submitting it to intense mechanical working, so that, together with the aid of oxidizing agents, the need for bulk fermentation of the dough is eliminated.
This is a so‐called ‘no‐time’ process and saves 1½–2 hours in the process; permits use of an increased proportion of weaker flour, and produces a softer, finer loaf, which stales more slowly.
Named after the British Baking Industries Research Association at Chorleywood.
uli,
Feb 4, 7:52am
The Chorleywood Process was developed in 1961 - the age of industrial bread was born....
So here are all the things that are wrong with modern bread making:
For a start the wheat is milled in high speed steel mills at a high temperature. This smashes apart the starches making it easier for the enzymes and improvers to work on the flour but reducing the nutritional value. This process also makes the flour able to absorb more water. So when you buy an 800g loaf of industrial bread, you pay for a higher water content. In fact nearly half of your industrial loaf is water.
This wheat flour is then mixed with water, soy flour, fat, baking aids, ascorbic acid (designate on packaging as E300) and yeast. The mixing arms rotate at about 400 rpm for around five minutes, transferring energy to the dough.
The reactions created by this violent input of energy, assisted by the ascorbic acid, releases the gluten in the wheat very quickly and produces a stiff dough in a small fraction of the time compared to the traditional proving process used at home and in craft bakeries.
This part of the process is being linked by "some people" to the increase in Coeliac disease, a serious gluten intolerance. I would say that it doesn't produce adult Coeliacs, but that it can lead to severe gluten intolerances.
uli,
Feb 4, 7:52am
Another part of the Chorleywood Process is the use of a hard fat - which we would never use in making a loaf at home. This hard fat works with the gluten to create a stiff dough that will rise very quickly and retain its structure during the baking and cooling of the bread. Until recently hydrogenated fats were used because these contain more stable heavy fat molecules, which give the fat a higher melting point.
Recently bad publicity about hydrogenated fats, in particular their implication as a key contributor to heart disease, has created a switch to fractionated fats. These are created from the processing of ordinary vegetable oils to remove the heaviest fatty compounds, usually by cooling the oil to make the heavy fats crystalise. They therefore have the same properties as hydrogenated fats, and "may possibly" cause similar health problems. But who knows?
Often, when a manufacturer states they no longer use hydrogenated fats, it's likely that they are using fractionated fats instead.
After mixing the dough is then left for a few minutes before processing into tins, or onto trays, where it is left to prove for up to a hour (again, perhaps a half of the time of that used traditionally).
uli,
Feb 4, 7:53am
To help the fats bond to the wet flours, emulsifiers are also added to the mix (usually E471 or E472e).
In addition a small amount of vinegar is added as a preservative.
Probably worse than these additives for health, is the addition of relatively large amounts of salt, about double that used in traditional recipes. High salt intake being linked to heart disease and raised blood pressure.
Finally your industrial bread with its high water content is an ideal breeding ground for moulds, so it is often dosed with an anti-fungal compound.
Primarily because of the milling process, the vitamin content is lower than that of traditional stoneground flour (which you cannot buy in the supermarket by the way!).
Accordingly, vitamins are added to the dough mixture to compensate (in some countries this is law).
You will find lots of good reasons to either bake your own or go low-carb :)
prawn_whiskas,
Feb 4, 8:05am
Thank you for that.
Always knew there was a reason I never liked bread.
ant_sonja,
Feb 4, 8:16am
Thanks for that info Uli :-) Another good reason to keep baking my own bread! Not to mention that it tastes a million times better and is much more satisfying to eat which in turn means we eat less of it. The amount of this 'turbo bread' people seems to be able to consume in one sitting is astounding to say the least. A thick crusty slice of home made sourdough on the other hand is all most people would need to feel 'full' and would cost no more to make than the purchase price of a cheap loaf of sliced 'bread' - crazy really
uli,
Feb 4, 8:23am
Just for fun buy one of those cheap loaves of bread - then pour it all onto the kitchen table, sprinkle a bit of water over and use your hands to form it into a ball. You will amazed that it will all end up about the size of a tennis ball - maybe slightly bigger. That is what you pay for - a few spoonfuls of grain and lots of chemicals - I am sure you could use your money for better "food" than that.
charlieb2,
Feb 4, 10:01am
*sighs*
beaker59,
Feb 4, 7:43pm
Reminds me of a guy I used to work with who had pie sandwiches for lunch butter 4 slices of cheap white bread place 2 either side of a cheap petrol station piemmmmmmmmmmenjoy!
buzzy110,
Feb 5, 1:18am
I know. Terrible isn't it? It is appalling that we should suffer the indignity of being conned into eating a grain product that is supposed to be good for us when the absolute opposite is true.
bedazzledjewels,
Feb 5, 1:24am
Pie sandwiches! Love it Beaker!
darlingmole,
Feb 5, 1:26am
wow uli you are a veritable fountain of knowledge~!I'd LOVE to have a bread maker but I'd need 2 as we go through at least 2 loaves of (horrible white budget bread) per day.How long does it take to cook a loaf of bread at home anyone?(wanders thinking: maybe when my numbers drop?*sighs wistfully*)
buzzy110,
Feb 5, 1:41am
It is more simple than you could ever imagine to make your own bread from scratch and without a breadmaker. 0800xford learnt the skill in a couple of days. Perhaps you could make one loaf a week, just to add some variety. You could branch out and use beautiful organic stoneground flours and all, such as are being sold at Pak-n-save nowadays.
I love making bread and it is way easier than most people think, even using wild yeasts.
darlingmole,
Feb 6, 2:01am
thanks for the buzzy, could I ask if you have a simple recipe for this novice breadmaking chic??!
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