What's In The Bread?

The basic ingredients are simple - flour, water, salt and yeast.  The salt is added for flavor.  I understand that omitting the salt will give you bread that tastes like chalk.  Some people have very sensitive taste buds and can discern the salt, but most people simply taste the bread.

The unlisted ingredient is time.  Depending on the variety, ingredients can be mixed up to 48 hours before it is formed for its final rise.  This long fermentation period with some or all of the ingredients brings out the flavor in the wheat flour kind of like how fermentation brings out the flavor in beer.  The two day process results in a crumb with a different texture than the super-light one day process.  I am told that this is because the long fermentation period changes the enzymes in the dough which results in a thicker crumb, a creamier chew, a little more developed flavor and a longer storage life.

• The extreme of the 'long fermentation style' is natural leavening sometimes referred to as sourdough where the bacteria that is used to produce the bubbles that fill the gluten bubbles resulting in the bread rising comes from a combination of local sources (the air) and some foreign sources that are introduced into the dough.  The long fermentation period, sometimes under refrigeration for days, can produce creamy, rich tasting breads and acid like tangy breads (sour breads) depending on the fermentation period and the strength of the seed or starter.

Unlike the sourdough approach, I use commercial yeast AND time.  Commercial yeast was developed for production bakers who wanted to mix and bake in one day.  Use enough and you could get your dough to the ovens in half a day.  Enough yeast made the bread rise quickly, but a quick mix and bake didn't give the bread time to develop the flavor in the flour.  But, if you use less yeast and give the mix more time to develop, you increase flavor, keep the lift in the bread and impact the texture of the crumb.

Other ingredients I use include rye flour, rolled and steel cut oats, herbs like dried rosemary, thyme, dill, caraway and fennel seed, and dill; fresh, dried and frozen vegetables like onions, garlic, hot peppers; seeds of flax, sesame and chia, and other items like dried figs and cheddar cheese and honey and molasses.

This is not organic, although some of the components are organic, but it is simple.  It is real.

No added chemicals, fats, oils (other than the dairy in the pepper cheese bread).  Have you read the label on your store boughten bread?

Compare.  Here's the label from my Rosemary/Thyme Artisan Bread

Simply stated (without all the components of components) you have
- Enriched flour (that means that vitamins have been added back to try to replace some of the goodness removed when the wheat germ is removed)
- Water
- Salt
- Yeast
- Dried Rosemary
- Dried Thyme                            
Total =  6 Ingredients (and two are flavor enhancements)

That's it.  That's all.  No hurry.  No rush.  The mixed dough (partially or entirely) spends a lot of time in a food-safe bucket as part of the fermentation process.  There it just 'does its thing' as the bacteria in the yeast eats the food in the flour and alters the nature and taste of the dough and the bread.  But, this doesn't happen quickly.  It takes time.

During that time, the dough goes from a 'wet mess' to something resembling a bubbling goo as the bacteria does its thing.  But, it takes time.

Simple ingredients - simple processes - lots of time.  

Real Bread in the Artisanal Style  

How Big is a Loaf?

Loaf Size - Our standard loaf size is approximately 1 pound - primarily because my “test group” said that they would rather have a smaller loaf than the larger one produced (about 1.5 pounds).  

Why?  Isn’t Bigger Better?  - I wondered that.  Over about 6 months of testing (as I worked out the recipes and techniques for the various flavors), these people received lots of breads - sometimes a half loaf and more recently a whole loaf.  They gave me constructive criticism about the crumb, crust and flavor,  and generally,  that they loved super fresh bread.  BUT, most of these ‘testers’ said that they tended to sit down and eat half the loaf when they received it. The bigger the loaf, the more they ate.  

I haven’t done the math, but my visual analysis tells me that a 1.5 pound loaf is about 2x the exterior size as a 1 pound loaf - it is visually much bigger.  That said, there are many factors that impact physical size  of the loaf of which the amount of raw dough is only one.  But, the a big factor in loaf size is the amount of rise (represented by captured CO2) - or air pockets. But, a pound of bread is a pound of bread without regard to the dimensions.  But, my point is that if it looks twice as big, check the weight.     

Well - what about eating too much bread?   My advice:  Don’t eat too much - of anything.  How much bread is too much for you?  That’s your decision.  I use the bread for toast, sandwiches and along with meals.  I love a slice from a freshly baked loaf (with butter mostly), and yes, I generally have an abundant supply and yes, some goes to waste.  Remember, there are no preservatives added to the dough, so it isn’t going to last as long and .  No oils or fats sugars added (aside from what’s on the label for specific varieties, cheese, molasses and honey, for example).  But, the flour itself has calories and carbs - yes … that’s bread for you.  

So, what do I recommend??  

• Buy no more than you will reasonably consume in 3 days.  While it well may last beyond 3 days, you will be ready for a fresh loaf at that time - and maybe a different variety.  FWIW - when you buy a loaf at a grocery store or bakery brick and mortar store - it probably came out of the oven 8 or more hours earlier.  Fresh is relative.  You will see the Fresh/Fresh difference - but know that the next morning, it will probably be as good as what you would buy at the store later that day.  
• Please enjoy some of the bread when it arrives.  They say that it declines in quality beginning about 2 hours after it cools from the oven.  
• Eat bread responsibly (just like you would donuts, cookies, chips, etc).  Fresh Bread tastes really good when you receive it.  Know yourself and don’t tempt yourself with more (size and frequency) than you and your household should eat.  

Bottom line - No - I am not your mom.  It’s up to you. But, that’s why the loaves are sized as one pound units.  

IF you think you might want several bigger loaves for a family event or party, please email me at MyFreshBreadCompany@gmail.com and let’s see if I can help you out.  

Whole Wheat or Enriched White???

I credit my interest in this subject to growing up in California.  I've been told for decades (lots) that white flour is empty of nutrition.  So, why use white bread flour for bread making is my question.

Whole wheat, in the olden days, meant grinding up a bunch of wheat berries and then the customer got the stone - ground everything - the bran, the germ, the endosperm - even a little sand as the stone wheel ground some of the other stone wheel.  All from that batch of wheat berries.

Time goes by and milling methods change; markets change; international markets change.  Efficiency is king and most stone mills were retired and steel wheels are used to progressively strip the bran and germ and grind the endosperm ending up with white flour.  The greatest markets are for white flour.

Because the most efficient way of making flour these days is to make white flour - the whole wheat flour we buy in the stores is white flour with some of the bran and germ added back.  And, that's an extra step, so the cost is greater than for white.

But, whole wheat flour doesn't get 'enriched' like white flour does - based on a FDA rules.

Enriched flour?  They add some vitamins so that it's not empty when the kids eat it (and what kid wouldn't prefer white bread to that brown stuff?).  In theory, they were adding vitamins to replace what was lost by removing the bran and germ - at least as they knew the loss back when they started doing it in the 1920's.

I am reading Nancy Silverton's "Breads from the La Brea Bakery".  She says that the vitamins added back to white bread are more easily assimilated than the natural vitamins in whole wheat flour.  Wikipedia says that the bran in whole wheat products slows the digestion of the product and therefore has a lower glycemic index rating than similar products made with white flour.  Silverton's book was copyrighted in 1996 (almost 20 years ago), but she said that almost all of her breads were made with unbleached white flour.

So - what's better?
I don't know.

But - as to making bread, both flours have much different characteristics.

100% Whole wheat flour (whether 'reconstructed' or milled and bagged as whole wheat) has these qualities
    heavier, more dense bread due to less of a rise (the bran cuts the gluten strands inhibiting the rise).
    has different moisture absorbing qualities than white flour
    more flavorful - but not a flavor that all people enjoy.
   
There is a version of wheat berry "hard white winter wheat" or "hard white spring wheat", that has less harsh a flavor and removes some of the offensive qualities normally cited in whole wheat products.

100% white bread flour has these qualities:
    can create very light and airy breads
    doesn't have much flavor when baked using traditional methods.
    Versatile
   
I read that up to 1/4 or 1/3 of the entire flour content can be whole wheat (with white being the remainder) which provides some of the whole wheat flavor but the lightness of white flour.  And, the addition of 'flour conditioners' can help to soften the crumb and help the rise.  There are natural and synthetic flour conditioners.  Natural ones include vinegar, lecithin, potato flakes.

So, is it better to bake for nutrition and not for flavor and utility?   I don't think so.  Not to say that there shouldn't be some breads available for those who want the full grain effect - but that's probably not a mainstream bread.

Bread should be baked so people will eat it.  In my little test group (4 homes made up of 11 people) I am amazed at the difference in personal preferences as to desired crustiness, flavor boldness, even how they use bread including whether they eat sandwiches or not.  So, what will people eat?

I think there will ALWAYS be someone to eat good bread.  Like a lot of things, too much is not good.  But, good bread is something special and doesn't come along all the time, so you eat it when you can get it - whether made from whole wheat or from white flour.

Fresh Bread - I mean Fresh

What does it take to make  r e a l l y   g o o d  b r e a d????    
I think that it has to have some wow flavor - that something you notice when you bite into it and say - 
                                   I can eat this.  And, is there more??

How do we do this?    

• Ingredients (less is better), 
• Flavor (from slowing down the process), and 
• FRESH (from oven to you)

Ingredients - Only flour, salt, yeast and water  .......  and some time.

Time gives the flour and water time to ferment and develop the flavor of the wheat.  

To this mixture is added some other flavor items.  Currently, my Wow Breads include an herb bread; a dried fruit and herb; a hot pepper and cheese bread.  And, you know, done right, just plain crusty white bread is a treat.  

And, the ultimate ingredient is FRESH.  

How FRESH?   Fresh bread is less than 6 hours out of the oven.  Crusty bread is crustier when it's fresh.  The inner crumb is soft and delightful when it's fresh.  It makes better sandwiches, is better with any spread, is better as a side dish and is even better toasted when it's FRESH.  It is better when it is FRESHER.