When The Bread Bug Bites

Written by SuenMike Tuesday, 01 February 2011 00:00

We started baking our own bread a month or two ago. 

We just got sick of bad bread.  Sticking the tasteless and changeless slice into the toaster day after day made life feel cheap and bland.   

We also did some reading on how bread is made.  One good source was Guardian food writer, Felicity Lawrence in her book, “Not on the Label”.  We quickly learned that the Chorleywood Bread Process is at the heart of the modern loaf.

CBP is how modern-day bread products are made to rise in quick-time.   It relies on an inordinate amount of yeast, additives, fat, emulsifiers, and salt.  A good explanation of the process can be found here.

A loaf can be made in about 3 hours and that’s only after one rise.  A home-baker can’t use the CPB because it requires a high-speed mixer that releases extra gluten from the wheat. 

 Most domestic bread recipes call for at least two risings.  You set the dough in an airing cupboard or beside a radiator, wait an hour and punch it down.  You do it again an hour later.  It takes a good 4 hours usually to bake a decent loaf.   In fact, the more risings, the better; the more character it has. 

We haven’t bought a loaf in a couple of months now, and I’m never going back.  My question is: what took us so long?  It really isn’t that much more work, it’s a heck of a lot of fun and you get to experiment with different flours and ingredients.  You also don’t get the added chemicals and additives that the big boys put in their breads.  It’s a life-style change.  It’s a different way of thinking but, as usual, the hardest thing to change is the mind.