I grew up on Howdy Doody and Wonder bread. Didn't know any better at the time.
I grew up on Howdy Doody and Wonder bread. Didn't know any better at the time.
Rich
ALASKANS FOR GLOBAL WARMING
Eagle River Alaska
Breads often depend on the dominate local bakeries. Currently I am very happy with the Franz Bakery in Portland, Oregon. One of their breads in particular, Columbia River - Sweet Dark, is great for all my needs. It is an almost black whole wheat loaf with no HFCS. It is as good for toast as it is for a PB&J, a BLT or a grilled cheese.
A good white bread is great, but it is difficult to find such a thing in today's market.
jtk
Last edited by Jim Koepke; 03-05-2017 at 1:56 PM. Reason: punctuation
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
I like to make bread. Have a bread machine that does fair. I even bought a Kitchen Aid stand mixer just for bread making. My x wife made good Italian bread, and I've been trying to figure out the process for years.
Anyone got a good Italian bread recipe?
Chuck
I worked at a large supermarket (Cincinnati) for years and it was not uncommon for commercial bread to still be warm when it came in.
I like to buy the frozen bread dough and bake it at home.
"Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
- Rick Dale
I used to bake a lot of bread in a bread machine. It is great for mixing and keeps the perfect temperature for rising. I never cared for the crust when it was baked in the machine. My solution was to use the machine in the dough cycle and put it in a bread pan for one extra rise, then cook it in the oven. This also gives you the opportunity to make bread rolls, hamburger buns, pretzels, or any other shape.
Steve
We're OK with the crust but the shape took some getting used to. Our machine makes loaves that are taller than they are long. We slice them in half horizontally to make 2 small loaves. The top half looks normal but has no crust on the bottom. The bottom half looks less traditional but still makes good slices. Using bread pans would eliminate the need for that at the cost of convenience.
I too, used to use the bread machine on dough cycle and bake the loaf/loves on a sheet or in bread pans. Today I made a fair basic Italian loaf with just the stand mixer and baked it on a sheet. Tried letting the dough rise and then kneading for a couple minutes in the mixer, second rise on the sheet, then baking. Still not what I'm looking for, crust wise, but very good. Used butter wash for browning and crisping the crust.
Chuck
We also us a bread machine...for the obvious...but it also makes excellent bready-pizza dough.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Bought a loaf of "Wonder" bread last week at Dollar Tree. Thomas Bakeries bought the right to Wonder bread, so now it's in our local Dollar Tree. Usually has a "best by date" that about a week out, same as local grocery stores, but a heck of a lot cheaper. I had forgotten how good Wonder Bread tastes, plus the texture is out of this world. Brings back a lot of childhood memories, as Wonder Bread was baked in local city. Last stop light out of town was in front of bakery. The aroma was such that you wanted to stop for light, even if it was green.
I grew up before batter whipped and wonder type breads existed, the white bread was firm and had texture but it was a one day bread. They had discount shelves for day old bread. IMO wonder bread is only good for catfish bait, same category as Velveeta cheese.
My dad used to refer to grocery store white bread as "punk" bread. He always preferred bakery bread. I remember his fondness for "salt rising" bread, I liked it too. Once I matured, the only white bread I really loved was warm and out of the oven or bread machine. The best I ever had was when my grandfather's neighbor's wife pulled a fresh loaf out of her wood stove and slathered it with butter fresh out of the churn. It was while we visited them as my grandfather was helping cut up firewood with a true buzz saw, running off a belt from the tractor.
I just bought a loaf of sourdough from Publix in FL, it was OK, but no match for the fresh, crusty sourdough I get from Kroger bakery in Michigan. That being said, we do keep a loaf of Hillybilly Bread around for my wife's sandwiches and for french toast. Only slightly off-white.
NOW you tell me...
That brings back memories of New Orleans when I was young. I can remember the smell coming from the Merita bakery in the early morning, and the coffee roasters on Tchoupitoulas Street close to the river. If you were out about dawn on Tchoupitoulas, just off Canal, the wonderful smell of coffee was all around you. I wonder where coffee gets roasted these days.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.