Is all Home Made Bread the same?

IN a word - NO.


Just like the bread aisle at a grocery store has many varieties of loaf bread, a home baker can pick from many types of bread to make.  In fact, there are probably more types for a home baker to make than a store has room to display.  

Breads fall into these categories
Lean breads (no oils, fats, dairy, sugar)
Enriched breads - with oils, fats, dairy or sugar, and often several of those things.
Naturally fermented breads - aka, sourdough (tho not necessarily sour)
Quick breads - leavened with anything other than yeast or egg


Lean Breads

In general, I make mostly lean breads of simply flour, water, salt and yeast.  Whether all white flour or part whole grain, these breads make great sandwiches and toast or just a nice snack.  The basic recipe is a great platform for all kinds of variations with dried herbs, vegetables or fruits or mixed with other flours like whole grain wheat, rye, even quinoa and other gluten free grains.

Flavor is not only a result of the added items, but also a product of time and fermentation.  High volume bakeries mix, rise and bake in short periods, but longer periods (30 hours or even several days).  Bakers have long known the flavor benefits of soakers and sponges - where a portion of the flour is hydrated, with or without a touch of yeast, and the natural actions start to work on the starch in the flour.  Extreme fermentation results in a sourdough style result.


Enriched Breads

Another large variety of breads historically used for celebrations or made where milk and eggs were in abundance.  Varieties include brioche and challah.  Changes in flavor, density and sweetness mark these breads.  Because of the added fats, these doughs are heavier.  The fats and sugars have different effects on the gluten formation and fermentation.  Cooler temperatures are needed to keep the fats (particularly butter) from melting and to allow a slow rise.  And, because the fats and sugars burn at lower temperatures, enriched doughs are baked at lower temperatures often with an outer egg wash for color.


Sourdough

Initially, sourdough was simply naturally fermented dough.  If you let some flour and water sit at room temperature for a day or two, it will start to ferment as the bacteria in the air starts to grow in your flour/water mixture.  The bacteria eats the sugars and other foods in the flour and exhausts gas (carbon dioxide) making bubbles.  Keep feeding the bubbling mixture with flour and water and you get a mature starter.  Use this starter to 'infect' other flour and water and you have dough.  

Sourdough baking, in my view, is a specialty.  When a baker has a regular schedule of quantities to mix and bake, a part of that routine is to feed the starter so that there is sufficient 'ripe' starter to infect the next batch of dough.  The proper ripeness and concentration of the starter to new flour is key to getting a dough that rises as expected.  

'Sour ness' comes from both the ripeness of the starter and the concentration of starter to new ingredients.  It can also be influenced by the actual bacteria used to create the starter which is perpetuated with each feeding.  Some people say that the local water used in feeding the starter and dough has a unique flavor impact to the dough.  There is a separate cult of sourdough people that give honor to specific sourdough cultures from times gone by, some of which are hundreds of years old.  

And, there are some people who say that after generations of feeding and feeding, the old bacteria is diluted and replaced with local bacteria. 

Who knows what is right?  I am guessing that people who spend all their time with sourdough culture (the bacteria and the way of life) can tell the difference.

All this is to say that sourdough is a specialty unto itself.  


Quick Breads

I really wonder if Zucchini Bread is really bread.  It seems to me that it is a long way from any of the other breads above - almost too gooey to be bread.  But, quick breads are generally leavened with something other than eggs or yeast- such as baking powder or soda.  Generally these breads are not so good for sandwiches or toast.  

Ok - they are breads.  I just don't make them - and rarely enjoy them.  


My Choice?

I choose to make lean breads.  I choose to use yeast.  Why?  Partially, because I enjoy eating the finished product even more than I enjoy watching other people with the finished product.  Sometimes it doesn't come out as pretty as I want it - but, as long as I don't leave any of the ingredients out, the taste is great.

And, with a few additional ingredients (from the flavor paragraph above), there are lots of varieties to be made.  Change some of the processes (time, soaking, rising periods, baking temperatures, humidity), the results can change dramatically.  So, while I want some consistency at times, whenever I want change, no problem.  

And, with all the variety, have I ever had a bread I made that I didn't like?  Well, yes, but that's because I left out the salt.   I didn't mean to, but I did.  I learned from my mistake, that I didn't want to make bread with no salt.  Otherwise, grainy bread or soft bread or no herbs or even with dried fruit - it was good.  Some I have never made again, but I can say that I have enjoyed most all of them.