Campaign for Real Bread

[Gromit]

Interesting report in todays Daily Mail about the quality (or lack of it) of the bread we eat.

http://www.dailymail....s-loaves-bad-you.html

// ‘Once, the law was designed to protect us from manufacturers adulterating our daily loaves.
‘Now, it enshrines their right to throw in a whole cocktail of chemicals — and at the same time denies the people of Britain the right to know whether or not a handful of so-called processing aids has been snuck in, too.
‘We want the Government to give bread the same sort of protection as butter, so anyone wanting to throw in additives would have to come up with another name for it.
‘We believe it should be illegal to call that stuff bread.’

http://www.dailymail....ou.html#ixzz1PL5RaCLp //

I wholeheartedly agree. When I go abroad I find the bread so fresh and tasty. The stuff we have is like cardboard. Time to raise standards?

[LoftyLottie]

We do too Shaney, but it still doesn't taste as good as my breadmaker bread.

I am just remembering being sent out to the bakers as a child first thing in the morning to collect the hot bread. Half of it was gone by the time I got home!

I have to admit that the bread is better on the continent.

[shaneystar2]

I do make bread sometimes for Mr S But get a mix from the German Deli .It's very nice too.
He misses his Graubrot . My brother has a breadmaker he never uses as he has Gluten free ( which the local baker does to ) so I may ask him to give it to me !

[venator]

I've been baking at home for years, and agree with a lot of the article. The CAMRB are a bit over the top, though, and the Mail isn't always too objective...

http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/

You're only doing things with dough for about 30 minutes - the rest is waiting, and the cost is less than a third of the price of supermarket "quality" breads.

If anyone's near Manchester,i run very informal breadmaking mornings. Email me on [email protected] if you would like to know more. There's no charge - tea coffee & homemade pizza are free too, but bring a bottle if alcohol aids your learning process!

[Old_Geezer]

I eat breadmaker bread. It's good and you can make different varieties, tomato, olive, garlic, whatever, but in my opinion not quite as good as done properly by a baker in a real oven. Never got it really crusty & dark yet. And it has a gap where the stirrer isn't removed before baking.

[scotman]

BBC 4 tonight at 10:30. In Search of the Perfect Loaf.

[classylady60]

I've said for many years how bad the "plastic bread" was for us and proved it many a time for me, my family and friends who when leaving bread out of their diet have seen much improvement to some ailments they have including depression (yes true), swollen feet, large tummy, constipation and other things. The difference is amazing when you try doing without bread and I always recommend the bread free diet to detox yourself.

[emmie]

thing is what to supplement it with, if you cut out bread. I mean i like the odd sandwich, or cheese on toast.

[modeller]

Supermarkets give people what they want and that means sliced white bread.

However they also sell speciality breads so there is no shortage of choice.
There are , seeded , soya , whole grain , soda , mixed fruit, malt, raisin , linseed breads etc.
I love Irish Bract bread which is a wholemeal , yeasted , tea bread which can be eaten hot or cold and with butter it is delicious. The term tea means it is made from cold tea which gives it a special flavour.
What is more most of these breads can be frozen and even a month later they are OK.
I agree freshly baked bread tastes lovely when eaten immediately but if you want it to last any longer then there is plenty of choice.
I make batches of fruit bread which keeps for weeks in the freezer.
The important thing of fruit bread it has to be made with proper bread flour .
Bog standard fruit loaves are really big current buns they are made with a light white flour and dont keep.
Real bread is available is you look. and it's usually only available in large supermarkets. I find Tesco has the most choice. Waitrose used to be good but it doesn't now have so much choice. I have found small bakers unfortunately have only a very limited range.

[ludwig]

// anyone wanting to throw in additives would have to come up with another name for it. //

I agree, and if there's any manufacturers looking in I'd like to suggest 'I can't believe it's not bread!' ..as a possible option.