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Grocery store bread

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
Has anyone else given up on grocery store bread - white loaf bread? It was never great bread but now it is disgusting to me. What have they done to it?
 
Can't do bread anymore.

Before that I baked my own bread.

Have not bought grocery store bread in decades.

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DoctorShavegood

"A Boy Named Sue"
Has anyone else given up on grocery store bread - white loaf bread? It was never great bread but now it is disgusting to me. What have they done to it?
Are you talking about the commercial bread like Pepperidge Farm or the bread that's made by the grocery store bakery?
 
Arnold's Seeded Jewish Rye is still decent, for store bread. Most white bread at the store is tasteless at best, or tastes of chemicals. If I am gonna indulge with bread, I either opt for rolls, biscuits, or crackers, unless it is a sandwich on rye.
 
This bread makes some great toast.

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Dave's makes for a great sandwich as well.

I'm thinking it must have been the 70's since i had to eat white grocery store packaged stuff. Made whole wheat weekly for quite a number of years in the 90's. Not hard to find good whole wheat breads, even the drugstore around the corner carries Dave's.

dave
 
We shop at Fry's which is a division of Kroger. They have some excellent bread in the bakery department. They sell some artisan breads that are better than what I get at a local bakery. Some brands that come to mind are LaBrea and California Goldminer. The LaBrea has a nice crust to it and their sourdough baguette is my favorite.
The bread contains no preservatives so it does go stale quite fast - but then I use it for french toast.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
I've never much cared for the Wonder bread sort. Even when I was a kid, I was drawn more to Roman Meal (something else I've not had in ages).

There are some decent shelf breads in a pinch, but I'm growing away from that soft, spongy texture. The amount of fat and sugar in those breads tends to turn me off, too, and I mean from a flavor and texture standpoint. If I want a loaf bread, I want a loaf bread--not a chewy pound cake.

Now, the in-house bakeries and some supermarkets around here make some very good bread. I happily pick those up and even go out of my way to do so.
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
Most store or mass produced white bread is loaded with sugar some even with high fructose corn syrup so ive given up on them
 
When SWMBO and I were traveling in western Michigan a few years ago we swung into the Bellaire farmer's market.

There was a gentleman there with a pickup truck loaded with "round things". SWMBO asked me "what's that? Giant Turnups?". I looked and said, "looks like a truck load of bread to me". She said STOP we need bread.

We stopped and I walked back. Talk about one interesting person. He made a large clay and brick oven and baked bread. LOTS of bread. There must have been more than 80-100 hot loaves in the truck and he said his oven was still fried up and he was going to bake more.

I bought a loaf for $5 and after tasting it with SWMBO.... whoa... what a fantastic tasting bread. I walked back and said "I'm going to have to get that $5 back from you". He started to reach in his pocket when I finished up with "because I need to give you this $10 and get a second loaf". This made him laugh..

When I got back to the RV SWMBO had time to think and said we should get some for the friends we were staying with. So I walked back a 3rd time with another $10 for 2 more loaves.

We went back every week and never saw him again but I've never had such good bread before or since.

And that is my bread story.

.
 
Our default bread these days is a basic white bread made with a recipe from The Joy of Cooking.
It has a texture almost like cake.
 
My daughter got a job working at the local bakery. She immediately started criticizing grocery store bread and taught how there is no nutrition in over-processed packaged bread. We only get the bakery bread now, and I have to admit it's a lot better. Of course, she brings home a free loaf every time she works, so that helps.
 
With five kids we still buy it. It's convenient.

But I do make a homemade sandwich loaf every now and then (via our bread machine) for special meals like grilled cheese and soup or chicken a la king. The kids go nuts for it and ask that their sandwiches always be made with it. But with two working parents it's not feasible hence supermarket bread.

I also make (via the bread machine) homemade French baguettes for diners and they always are a hit, much better than the supermarket version.

I'd love to get to the point where all our bread is homemade but that will have to wait.

Chris
 
When SWMBO and I were traveling in western Michigan a few years ago we swung into the Bellaire farmer's market.

There was a gentleman there with a pickup truck loaded with "round things". SWMBO asked me "what's that? Giant Turnups?". I looked and said, "looks like a truck load of bread to me". She said STOP we need bread.

We stopped and I walked back. Talk about one interesting person. He made a large clay and brick oven and baked bread. LOTS of bread. There must have been more than 80-100 hot loaves in the truck and he said his oven was still fried up and he was going to bake more.

I bought a loaf for $5 and after tasting it with SWMBO.... whoa... what a fantastic tasting bread. I walked back and said "I'm going to have to get that $5 back from you". He started to reach in his pocket when I finished up with "because I need to give you this $10 and get a second loaf". This made him laugh..

When I got back to the RV SWMBO had time to think and said we should get some for the friends we were staying with. So I walked back a 3rd time with another $10 for 2 more loaves.

We went back every week and never saw him again but I've never had such good bread before or since.

And that is my bread story.

.

Mick, that was not me. But I can make bread like that. However... It is a heck of a lot of work. Starter (biga), time, kneading, time, effort. (And now, alas, I avoid carbs.)

Making great bread is easy. A few years of practice, the right ingredients, the right oven, and anyone can master it. LOL
 
Mick, that was not me. But I can make bread like that. However... It is a heck of a lot of work. Starter (biga), time, kneading, time, effort. (And now, alas, I avoid carbs.)

Making great bread is easy. A few years of practice, the right ingredients, the right oven, and anyone can master it. LOL

When I first went up to him he asked me how I liked my bread. He said different parts of the oven baked a different loaf. We talked for a while about bread and coffee as I mentioned I roasted coffee. He showed me photos of his outdoor oven and I showed off pictures of my coffee roaster.

There was no way I could pick out a loaf so I said, these are all your babies. Pick one out for me. He handled several loaves, fondling them fondly before he handed me one.

If you get over to Bellaire keep any eye out for him. He should be easy to spot as he only has bread. LOTS of bread.

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I'm in the lucky position of being able to walk into the small grocery store in my village and having a choice of perhaps 15 or 20 different types of freshly-baked bread. There are probably 15 other packaged sorts available but I would only ever consider those if I was away for a few days (in the mountains for example).
 

ajkel64

Check Out Chick
Staff member
I work in a supermarket and we sell bread that we bake on site and proprietary bread from outside vendors. The bread from vendors is the bread that we sell quite a lot of. It seems to be full of preservatives as it seems to last for days and days. The bread that we bake does not last that long as we do not use preservatives. To me it seems to be a taste thing. Some customers swear by the bread that we bake and others will not touch it and vice versa where customers will only buy the proprietary bread. I personally like the bread from one of our local bakery's. I find it very tasty. LOTH who has cut her bread intake down will always tuck into a loaf of bread if I get it from the local bakery and not from where I work.
 
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