The junk we eat that passes for bread.

the beer revolu · 22-02-2012 12:38pm

This was originally a thread on the quality of bread commonly available in Ireland, as I understood it. It seems to have become a tread on the pros and cons of bread machines.
Hijacking I say.!!!:eek:

I would politely request that the mods remove these posts to a new thread or to merge them with one of the several bread machine threads that already exist.

I would also urge people to post about their favourite bakeries and breads in their area so people will know where to source good bread (if they don't wish to bake their own).

Melendez · 22-02-2012 12:49pm

This post has been deleted.

slowburner · 22-02-2012 12:50pm

Going Forward wrote: »

Does anyone agree that the quality of many sliced pans has decreased in the last few years?

Its nearly all mush now IMO.

I usually get the Aldi 800g brown sliced pan, which I like, but recently got the Tesco equivalent- not as nice.

The modern mass produced "baking" process has been covered in detail elsewhere, eg;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1298227/Tescos-misleading-claims-bread-just-tip-iceberg.html

Anyone recommend a good supermarket own brand bread or otherwise affordable alternative?

For some unknown reason (to me, that is) sliced pans are completely and utterly different down here in south Wicklow, compared to the bread in Dublin.
I don't buy sliced pan any more, and that muck which pretends to be French bread makes me feel rotten.
The bread from Lidl's own bakery is very good indeed and reasonably priced.

vibe666 · 22-02-2012 1:02pm

i tend to go for wholemeal granary wherever i can get it. despite really liking good soft white bread, i know it's not good for me so i steer clear of it if at all possible.

the long term goal is going to be making my own, hence asking about breadmakers, which was already a good portion of the discussion.

i don't have one (yet), but looking at various models and their prices and reviews, i'm inclined to think that there *can* be a huge difference in the results from various different breadmakers. just looking at argos, their cheapest breadmaker is €42 whilst their most expensive is €229. i'm hopefully optimistic that paying 4 times as much for something that does essentially the same thing would yield significantly better results.

hopefully.

that panasonic one seems to be a good deal on amazon anyway and is very well reviewed, so i think i'll be going for that one when the time comes.

Cedrus · 22-02-2012 1:08pm

the beer revolu wrote: »

This was originally a thread on the quality of bread commonly available in Ireland, as I understood it. It seems to have become a tread on the pros and cons of bread machines.
Hijacking I say.!!!:eek:

I would also urge people to post about their favourite bakeries and breads in their area so people will know where to source good bread (if they don't wish to bake their own).

That's the way of a good conversation, which I think this thread is. Cut another slice and put the kettle on

The Black Oil · 22-02-2012 2:43pm

I very rarely eat white bread...I imagine it being like soggy kitchen roll and the thought of that is yuck. I make home made brown when I can, though not as often these days. Usually a wholemeal sliced loaf most times, though I do prefer home made...isn't some stuff fake brown, it's essentially dyed?

Cardinal Richelieu · 22-02-2012 3:47pm

Is Mulligans(dublin brand) bread still on the go? They use to do a gluten free range too.

saywhatyousee · 22-02-2012 5:20pm

If you ever happen to be in Sligo go to a place called the French market they do the nicest bread ever. The only thing is it only stays fresh for 5 or 6 hours so you have to eat it quick enough.I like the bread they do in Dunnes stapletons crusty cob its called nice for a store bought loaf.

JONJO THE MISER · 25-02-2012 2:38am

Ireland is pretty good for bread, ye guys should go to Canada and try what passes for bread there:(.

Little Alex · 25-02-2012 3:23am

cloptrop wrote: »

Whats wrong with Brennans , todays best bread today , Im shocked

Aul Mr. Brennan can go and hang his you-know-whahs from The Five Lamps. :pac:

The Polish/Eastern European shops have some really lovely breads. I recently bought Georgian Bread (as in Georgia, former SSR) and Lithuanian sour dough bread (identical to German Roggenbrot, in appearance and taste). Both were fabulous and both were baked in Dublin.

paddyandy · 25-02-2012 2:34pm

The whole of western culture has gone for style over substance including the food trade .We have generations today that have never known the taste of a lot of the foods that we knew in the fifties .I have had deja-vu recalls of tomatoes and apples and we simply hav'nt got food like that anymore .The decline was imperceptible over decades to many people and older people were blaming themselves at times but the food has been decreasing in quality for years with intensive production methods and wily and very clever marketing .

Going Forward · 25-02-2012 11:48pm

The Holy Grail of a decent 800g slice pan for less than a euro doesnt exist then?

I do love the home made style brown breads, such as McCambridges etc, unfortunately its usually gone (devoured) in one sitting!!!!!!!!!!!

cloptrop · 26-02-2012 11:04pm

I have never met anyone who doesnt love a fresh Brennans bread , I find this thread amazing ,
Ok mcambridges and sour dough bread and stuff are nice but you need a white sliced for sambos and making your kitchen smell nice.
Monday mornin go to Dunnes and get a Brennans pan.
On topic : If you are looking for a white sliced for cheap , you wont get a good one , Id rather have ham and cheese with mayonaise without bread than a 99cent tesco white sliced sandwhich.
Its like cardboard.
How much does baking your own bread cost . Like for each pan how much would you spend on ingrediants.

Sergeant · 27-02-2012 10:25am

Going Forward wrote: »

I do love the home made style brown breads, such as McCambridges etc, unfortunately its usually gone (devoured) in one sitting!!!!!!!!!!!

I wouldn't classify McCambridges bread as being anything approaching home style.

emeraldstar · 27-02-2012 10:44am

cloptrop wrote: »

I have never met anyone who doesnt love a fresh Brennans bread

I don't particularly - and definitely not the white. Bleh.

huskerdu · 27-02-2012 12:35pm

cloptrop wrote: »

I have never met anyone who doesnt love a fresh Brennans bread ,
How much does baking your own bread cost . Like for each pan how much would you spend on ingrediants.

If you like commercial factory produced processed white bread, Brennans is one of the best brands.

I do eat it sometimes, but, like a bit of people here, I would consider it a very poor substitute for bread made by the traditional method, either at home or in a bakery.

As for the price, here is my estimation.

2kg of strong flour is about €2.
a packet of 7 sachets of instant yeast is 99c.

This means that the ingredients for a 500g homemade loaf of bread is 57c.
The electricity cost is hard to estimate accurately, but making an guess based on the calculator on the esb website, it seems to be about 20/30c.

If you buy the ingredients in bulk, they will be a lot cheaper and you can use the oven for multiple things at the same time.

al28283 · 27-02-2012 12:39pm

cloptrop wrote: »

Whats wrong with Brennans , todays best bread today , Im shocked

maybe so, but Pat the Baker is first with freshness. So fresh it's famous!

Alun · 27-02-2012 12:57pm

huskerdu wrote: »

As for the price, here is my estimation.

2kg of strong flour is about €2.
a packet of 7 sachets of instant yeast is 99c.

This means that the ingredients for a 500g homemade loaf of bread is 57c.
The electricity cost is hard to estimate accurately, but making an guess based on the calculator on the esb website, it seems to be about 20/30c.

Electricity usage is actually very low .. the main usage is during baking which takes about 1 hour, but the element is only on for part of that time because of the thermostat. I attached an energy monitor to mine once and I seem to remember it only costing about 5c, certainly not as much as 20/30c anyway.

huskerdu · 27-02-2012 12:59pm

Alun wrote: »

Electricity usage is actually very low .. the main usage is during baking which takes about 1 hour, but the element is only on for part of that time because of the thermostat. I attached an energy monitor to mine once and I seem to remember it only costing about 5c, certainly not as much as 20/30c anyway.

Interesting, thanks. I went with the estimate on the ebs website and I thought it seemed very high.

cloptrop · 27-02-2012 11:52pm

So your looking at close to a euro to make the bread yourself and then at least a euro in manpower , like if you did an hours overtime and just bought a loaf of bread on your way home surely youd profit.

Melendez · 28-02-2012 8:26am

This post has been deleted.

RobbingBandit · 28-02-2012 8:45am

I bought a brown bread pan in Dunnes over the weekend,own brand. It was stale 15 minutes after opening it and tasted like paper. They do a own brand batch which I find better than the Brennans batch for 99c.

murphyebass · 28-02-2012 8:55am

I make bread a bit from scratch no machine. Soda bread mixture can be made in 5-10 minutes then just baked for 40 mins. Eg I made Guinness,apple and cheese version yesterday before work. Other breads like whites crusty loaf are a more time consuming Sunday type thing as it has to rise twice, etc. I haven't bought a loaf of bread in at least a year now though. Brennans etc are all full of rubbish and taste terrible in comparison to home made.

huskerdu · 28-02-2012 11:41am

cloptrop wrote: »

So your looking at close to a euro to make the bread yourself and then at least a euro in manpower , like if you did an hours overtime and just bought a loaf of bread on your way home surely youd profit.

I do it because I like doing it and the result is fantastic.
The effort is minimal, and because I like doing it, it doesn't feel like work.

If you don't like baking, I am not trying to convince you to try it.
If you don't like homemade bread, then, again, I am not bothered.

blatantrereg · 28-02-2012 4:33pm

Sean's quarter brown soda bread. Ingredients: Wholemeal flour, buttermilk, Bicarbonate of soda, water, salt. Homemade in a bakery, bougt in a petrol station at a reasonable price. Goes off in about three days, not kept in a firdge or whatever. Really very nice indeed though.

The junk we eat that passes for bread.

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