Bread - poetry versus 4

[Alfred_B]

I happened to look at the ingredient list of commercially sold bread. What a beautiful poetry of sophisticated language.

Then I looked at the ingredient list of my bread recipe. A miserable list of just 4 words. Or 6 if I'm feeling frisky.

 

[skyactiv]

If it had less ingredients, would it have a shorter expiration date?

I bought some Lance Peanut Bars and couldn't believe they have only four ingredients: Peanuts, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Salt. https://www.lance.com/peanut-bar/

 

[Drosselmier]

And a Best Before Date closer to Thanksgiving than today.

 

[Lolvoguy]

Strangely enough, things with fewer ingredients seem to be priced higher on the store shelves?!
What's the deal with that?
You'd think the more they add, the more expensive it would be.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
Strangely enough, things with fewer ingredients seem to be priced higher on the store shelves?!
What's the deal with that?
You'd think the more they add, the more expensive it would be.

It's not just fewer ingredients. It's DIFFERENT/better ingredients, which may be more expensive.

Also, the level of effort / time may be different to make real bread. For example, my local shop makes sourdough bread which requires 72 hours to ferment. That's probably a lot longer than it takes to crank out Wonder (what's in it) Bread.

 

[KneeGrinder]

I'm disappointed...lol, I was thinking "BREAD" The band, and their music as poetry, I guess I need to drive the Subaru, think the CD is in the changer presently. I do appreciate Good Bread also though!

 

[KneeGrinder]

Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
Strangely enough, things with fewer ingredients seem to be priced higher on the store shelves?!
What's the deal with that?
You'd think the more they add, the more expensive it would be.

It's not just fewer ingredients. It's DIFFERENT/better ingredients, which may be more expensive.

Also, the level of effort / time may be different to make real bread. For example, my local shop makes sourdough bread which requires 72 hours to ferment. That's probably a lot longer than it takes to crank out Wonder (what's in it) Bread.



We lack a lot of I would call them "Gourmet" type foods being out in the sticks. We have very limited choices as compared to the big cities.

Some places that are very famous for making very "GOOD" Sour Dough have had a small amount of dough, I forget what they call it, that they keep left over from every batch of bread they make. So in theory, some of those places have had the yeast, or microbe's, or starters, like I said, what ever they call it since they first started making bread. They claim this is the key to their unique foundation and taste or flavors. They claim water also plays a part, just as the Moon Shiners did!

I make Pizza dough, Slow ferment in the fridge over 24 hours or more is better than rapid, or even 4/6/8 hour rise, and double rise. I always double rise.

 

[Dinoburner]

Asked a young lady stocking bread shelves why Market Basket bread had such a short use by date and she said no preservatives.

 

[Food Scientist]

I always love how people think commercial foods are somehow inferior because of a long ingredient list vs homemade cooking. It can go both ways, lots of homemade cooking is better than commercial but some stuff is just to hard to make at home, like crackers. When was the last time you made homemade saltines?

I've seen a 3000 lb batch of dough being mixed at a bakery.
The ingredients used are for a few purposes, most of them are for flavor, texture, cost, processing, and shelf life.

I grabbed the loaf of bread at my house and I'll explain what each ingredient does.

100% Whole wheat bread

Whole grain wheat flour - just the entire kernel of wheat otherwise wouldn't be whole wheat

Water - to hydrate the starch molecules and proteins and to make the dry ingredients cohesive so you can make a dough.

Wheat gluten - whole grain flour doesn't tend to rise very well due to the fiber. When you knead dough you are developing the gluten protein to hold the carbon dioxide gases in as it bakes. The fiber interrupts that development of gluten so extra gluten is added so you don't get a flat loaf of bread.

Yeast - to ferment the dough which in turn provides some flavor and leavening in the form of carbon dioxide gas. Unknown how much flavor is being added without fermentation times but I think three hours from mixing to knockdown and second proofing is not far off. The yeast also produces enzymes to break down starches and proteins which makes the dough easier to work.

Soybean oil - so the dough and subsequent bread isn't dry/hard and to provide some flavor

Sugar - depending on when they add it it's used to make the yeast grow faster and ferment the starches faster and for flavor and browning.

Salt - flavor and I think to help control large carbon dioxide pockets of gas so you don't get big holes in your slice of bread

Molasses - it's a plasticiser, meaning it helps foods remain in a rubbery, or flexible state at room temp. Also added for flavor and for browning since it's a reducing sugar. Also the yeast can convert this monosaccharide faster into ethanol and carbon dioxide than disaccharides and even faster than polysaccharides.

Cultured wheat flour - this stuff is intense. It's basically a sourdough powder. Used to boost that yeast/fermented flavor without requiring at least a day to do it.

Barley malt extract - flavor more than anything. I think this is carried over from the old days before corn syrups and the like were commercially available.

Monoglycerides - it's a emulsifier to bind fat and water. Helps keep the bread softer and *might* slow down the process of bread going stale but don't quote me

Ethoxylated mono and di-glyceride - another time of emulsifier. Sometimes you see different ones simply because it's providing a slightly different function or is limited in use to prevent too much off flavor.

Vinegar - mold inhibitor and to soften the dough for processing.

Wheat starch - could be for a lot of stuff, but probably to increase the starch content a little and make the texture closer to white bread and still make the claim 100% whole wheat. White flour is mostly starch but would be labeled white flour, thereby not making it 100% whole wheat.

Modified whey - most likely sweet whey to harmonize the line meaning they also make products on the same line that contain dairy and they don't want to do an allergen clean in between production runs. Allergen cleans take significantly longer than regular cleaning and some ingredients are much harder to remove the allergens than others, such as eggs. Nuts and peanuts are the hardest and that's why some companies make the entire production plant nut free.

Dextrose - corn sugar. Dextrose is cheaper than sugar and is more soluble in water, i.e. it needs less water to go into solution. Could be they are adding it at a different stage when less water is available or simply to save some money instead of using more table sugar. Also is a better plasticiser than sugar.

Calcium sulfate - it does fortify the bread for calcium but is mostly used as a dough strengthener.

Ascorbic acid - mold inhibitor.

 

[jakewells]

I suppose i am the only one who prefers a nice dark rye bread.

 

[Alfred_B]

I haven't been able to bake rye bread that couldn't serve as a hammer as well.