best bread?

Seraphina

i eat alot of sandwiches. i'm in college and busy and they're generally the easiest thing to have for lunch. however i'm wondering what the best kind of bread is for someone looking to reduce their carbs? i'll admit it myself i'm a carb monster, it really does make up the bulk of my diet, and i'm really trying to change that, but its very difficult to do when you dont do the shopping yourself.

what's the best low-carb widely available bread? it's always brown anyway, but they can vary alot! like i said i dont go shopping myself, so i cant go round checking all the packets.

any helpful recommendations for the carb monster? i'm eating wholemeal pasta now too, but unforuntely i'm not a big fruit/veggie eater, my tastes are pretty much limited to all the bad stuff!

i've lost a considerable amount of weight recently with going to the gym regularly and trying to watch my diet, but i find i'm often hungry and just dont know what to eat!
i'm about 5'6 and 9 stone, and while im pleased with my weightloss and improved muscle tone, i just cant seem to lose that 'squishiness' if you know what i mean!?
i'm scraping at the bottom of the barrell for ideas now at this stage!

TerrorFirmer

Most bread has about 40 or so g carbs per slice.

I don't eat bread, I eat crackotte crackers. 5g carbs per slice. And they taste really really good.

ronbyrne2005

Seraphina wrote:

i eat alot of sandwiches. i'm in college and busy and they're generally the easiest thing to have for lunch. however i'm wondering what the best kind of bread is for someone looking to reduce their carbs? i'll admit it myself i'm a carb monster, it really does make up the bulk of my diet, and i'm really trying to change that, but its very difficult to do when you dont do the shopping yourself.

what's the best low-carb widely available bread? it's always brown anyway, but they can vary alot! like i said i dont go shopping myself, so i cant go round checking all the packets.

any helpful recommendations for the carb monster? i'm eating wholemeal pasta now too, but unforuntely i'm not a big fruit/veggie eater, my tastes are pretty much limited to all the bad stuff!

i've lost a considerable amount of weight recently with going to the gym regularly and trying to watch my diet, but i find i'm often hungry and just dont know what to eat!
i'm about 5'6 and 9 stone, and while im pleased with my weightloss and improved muscle tone, i just cant seem to lose that 'squishiness' if you know what i mean!?
i'm scraping at the bottom of the barrell for ideas now at this stage!

i just cant seem to lose that 'squishiness', you need more protein ,are you consuming much protein? what about healthy fats?
the best bread would be brown bread or whole grain bread,i dont mean the white bread that is dyed brown! i mean the old fashioned irish brown bread and also whole grain,these have high levels of fibre which means they have effectively less calories as the calories in the fibre cant be absorbed into the body.lean meat like chicken on wholegrain or real brown bread with salad is a very healthy sandwich, also egg cheese tuna are good protein sources too.

Seraphina

yeah i am really trying to consume more protein considering i've started using weights recently. however the problem is my mother cooks my dinner (lame excuse, i know) sometimes i would come home from the gym to a dinner of white pasta and carbonara sauce because my mum's been in work and is tired. but on these occassions i often dont have time to cook myself a 'proper' dinner either!
i love the mc cambridges wholemeal bread, but my mum told me recently apparently its the 'worst' kind of brown bread its not exactly practical for making sandwiches either, damn tiny slices!
i just dont know what to think!! i reckon i might ask my mum to start making her nice brown bread again, if its home-made its got to be good!

ronbyrne2005

you shud have plenty of time to make your own dinners,i know i did when in college! the wholegrain sliced pans are good ,mc cambridges is good as far as i am aware,check if has much fibre in it,and check the flour that is in it,wheat flour is the one to avoid. get her to cook wholegrain bread at home-its easy and better than the sliced pans.wholemeal pasta is good ,especially if your goin to the gym etc,you need energy.consider taking a protein drink after the gym,it will help.also consume healthy fats like omega 3 and monounsaturated ones

TerrorFirmer

I seem to recall someone saying the best bread for you is stoneground, or something with stone in it? The title that is. Not the bread itself

As I said I don't normally eat bread, but I'd be interested in trying some of the healthier varietes from time to time.

slicus ricus

Seraphina wrote:

i love the mc cambridges wholemeal bread, but my mum told me recently apparently its the 'worst' kind of brown bread its not exactly practical for making sandwiches either, damn tiny slices!
i just dont know what to think!! i reckon i might ask my mum to start making her nice brown bread again, if its home-made its got to be good!

McCambridge Bread is one of the healthiest brands of bread there is: its also considerably lower in carbs than sliced pan bread and high in fibre. An alternative to sandwiches are wraps: you know the tortilla things! The only problem is that when you put chicken in them, they tend to be very dry without a sauce of some kind.

Another alternative would be to bring in a lunchbox with a salad or something in it. Not something i've ever done myself (i generally go with the chicken wraps) but i often see people in college doing this.

You mentioned eating a fair bit of pasta: very high in carbs, so if you're tryin to cut down, you should only eat it in small quantities. Apparently brown rice is a healthier source of carbs.

Transform

Quantity quantity quantity!!!

Mc Cambridges is good as it has a low number of ingredients however if you end up eating lots of any good food then there is no point. This is more common in women as their portions need to be MUCH smaller than men when it comes to foods that are higher in overall calories e.g. cereal, bread, red meat etc

hubbub

I was going to post a new thread something along the lines of "Wholemeal vs Wholegrain" to ask which was better for you and was happy to come upon this thread already answering that question for me. Hovis has been advertising their new 'Best of Both' bread which is white but allegedly "contains all the wholegerm goodness of wholemeal". It tastes fine and I've been happy eating until more recently, when my attention was drawn to wholegrain because it has become a buzzword among cereal manufacturers etc. I started to wonder if wholegrain might be better for me and on that note this morning I took myself off to the corner shop and bought some Brennans wholegrain brown bread and had some with my breakfast. It's delicious but I won't be happy until I know I'm eating the most nutritious bread I can get.

ronbyrne2005 wrote:

mc cambridges is good as far as i am aware,check if has much fibre in it,and check the flour that is in it,wheat flour is the one to avoid.

I've never even heard of McCambridge bread and to the best of my knowledge I've never seen it in a shop, though then again I wouldn't have been looking out for it. I may very well ring up McCambridge Bread and ask them where I can buy it locally. If someone can post its ingredients and tell me how it compares to the Brennans me way soon all know which bread wins! Brennans details appear on the wrapping as follows:

INGREDIENTS

Wheat Flour, Water, Wholemeal Flour, Cracked Wheat, Yeast, Salt, Vegetable Oil, Soya Flour, Emulsifier: E472e, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).

BREAD IS LOW IN FAT ABD CHOLESTROL FREE

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

COMPOSITION per 100g

Energy 870kj
207kcal
Protein 9.2g
Carbohydrate 40.9g
of which sugars: 0.2g
Fat 1.5g
of which 1.05g
Fibre 5.0g
Sodium 0.5g

If only I had a scannner! All this typing has made me hungry so I'm off for some all-bran bran flakes (also delicious).

TouchingVirus

hubbub wrote:

INGREDIENTS

Wheat Flour, Water, Wholemeal Flour, Cracked Wheat, Yeast, Salt, Vegetable Oil, Soya Flour, Emulsifier: E472e, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).

BREAD IS LOW IN FAT ABD CHOLESTROL FREE

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

COMPOSITION per 100g

Energy 870kj
207kcal
Protein 9.2g
Carbohydrate 40.9g
of which sugars: 0.2g
Fat 1.5g
of which 1.05g
Fibre 5.0g
Sodium 0.5g

If only I had a scannner! All this typing has made me hungry so I'm off for some all-bran bran flakes (also delicious).

That one is vicious. Wheat Flour as the main ingredient..you're on a loser already, The Wholemeal Flour is only to make it look brown...thats a bad choice of bread

hubbub

TouchingVirus wrote:

That one is vicious. Wheat Flour as the main ingredient..you're on a loser already, The Wholemeal Flour is only to make it look brown...thats a bad choice of bread

Ahh it's only to make it look brown which is never a good thing. I had seen ronbyrne2005 post that Wheat Flour was one to stir clear of but I toyed with the idea that MacCambridge bread may also contain this. Well I'm up early and am going to head off to the shop to get some bread and make some sandwiches for breakfast and to bring with me to college so I'll try buy one with wholemeal flour in it, though locally I only have a Spar shop to deal with. Come thursday I'll make it into Tescos and Marks and Spencers and should have much better choice then. ronbyrne2005 and TouchingVirus: enlighten us as to which brand of bread you use? (which doesn't contain wheat flour)

martinl

Ever tried “Vogel bread” (nothing to do with birds, as “Vogel” stand in German for bird) which doesn’t have preservatives? Not sure about the other ingredients carbs etc.

Some of the health food stores have the “stone oven bread”, which I think doesn’t have any preservatives either, you can get it in e.g. Nourish in Wicklow St. in Dublin’s city centre.

TouchingVirus

hubbub wrote:

ronbyrne2005 and TouchingVirus: enlighten us as to which brand of bread you use? (which doesn't contain wheat flour)

I've a bread-making machine, so i makes my own

casper-

TouchingVirus wrote:

I've a bread-making machine, so i makes my own

Would you mind posting your ingredient list? I don't have a bread machine but I'm not afraid of baking either ...

hubbub

TouchingVirus wrote:

I've a bread-making machine, so i makes my own

a bread making machine? is that her name then? :P

I came across bread yesterday in a newsagents in drumcondra that the lady behind the counter told me is very similar to maccambridge. I was shocked as I thought you guys had been talking about regular sliced pan, I mean bread that is the regular size like Brennans main bread. I don't think I could make sandwiches out of a little loaf, thought then again I could always make more sandwiches. I'm going to ring MacCambridge today and ask where I can buy it locally.

amazingemmet

hubbub wrote:

a bread making machine? is that her name then? *hides* :P

Unhelpful posts cost fifty press ups in this forum

TouchingVirus

hubbub wrote:

a bread making machine? is that her name then? :P

Heh, i call her Morphy Richards 48280 :P

Ingredients for meh bread..

1 lb 4 oz Wholegrain Flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon if light brown sugar
2 level teaspoons dried yeast
400ml lukewarm water

found in most good bread-making books

casper-

TouchingVirus wrote:

found in most good bread-making books

I was feeling lazy when I wrote that Thanks for the recipe .. thought you might be adding flaxseed or some other "exotic" ingredients tbh.

I _thought_ I had found a decent bread with Johnston Mooney & OBrien's Wholegrain Brown Sliced, but then took a bit closer look at the ingredient list today. It almost exactly matches what hubbub wrote earlier. Sigh. They lied about the wholegrain

Wheat Flour
Water
Wholemeal Flour
Cracked Wheat
Yeast, Salt, Soya Flour, Vegetable Fat, Emulsifier, Ascorbic Acid

Composition per 100g: 207 kcal, 9.20 g protein, 40.9 g carb (0.20 g sugar), 1.50g fat (1.05 saturated fat), 6 g Dietary Fibre, .50 g Sodium.

Does anyone know if the first ingredient in McCambridge's bread is wholemeal? I'm happy with either wholemeal or wholegrain, afaik they're both decent for you.

ronbyrne2005

hubbub wrote:

a bread making machine? is that her name then? :P

I came across bread yesterday in a newsagents in drumcondra that the lady behind the counter told me is very similar to maccambridge. I was shocked as I thought you guys had been talking about regular sliced pan, I mean bread that is the regular size like Brennans main bread. I don't think I could make sandwiches out of a little loaf, thought then again I could always make more sandwiches. I'm going to ring MacCambridge today and ask where I can buy it locally.

tesco in drumcondra have mc cambridges or thunders bakery beside tesco's has a larger loaf of same type of bread.
the wholegrain bread in a sliced pan aint too bad as it has high proportion of wholemeal flour as well as the ordinary wheat flour,its when the only flour in the bread is wheat four that you have to avoid it.the wholegrain has high amount of fibre which will lower its GI status.i think its quite acceptable but mccambridge style brown bread is the best.

mad m

I buy a bread from time to time which is nice in Aldi.Its called Granary malted brown bread.

Ingredients: Granary Flour,water,fresh yeast,salt,soya flour,vegetable fat.

Dont know if its good for you but its lovely bread plain or toasted.

ixus

Mc Cambridge's Ingredients - just reading from the back of it.
Picked it up in Centra myself, think you can get it most places.

Ingredients - fresh buttermilk(43%), wholemeal flour(30%), wheatflour, raising agent, bicarbonate of soda, salt, wheatgerm

Chris P Duck

hubbub wrote:

I was going to post a new thread something along the lines of "Wholemeal vs Wholegrain" to ask which was better for you and was happy to come upon this thread already answering that question for me. Hovis has been advertising their new 'Best of Both' bread which is white but allegedly "contains all the wholegerm goodness of wholemeal". It tastes fine and I've been happy eating until more recently, when my attention was drawn to wholegrain because it has become a buzzword among cereal manufacturers etc. I started to wonder if wholegrain might be better for me and on that note this morning I took myself off to the corner shop and bought some Brennans wholegrain brown bread and had some with my breakfast. It's delicious but I won't be happy until I know I'm eating the most nutritious bread I can get.



I've never even heard of McCambridge bread and to the best of my knowledge I've never seen it in a shop, though then again I wouldn't have been looking out for it. I may very well ring up McCambridge Bread and ask them where I can buy it locally. If someone can post its ingredients and tell me how it compares to the Brennans me way soon all know which bread wins! Brennans details appear on the wrapping as follows:

INGREDIENTS

Wheat Flour, Water, Wholemeal Flour, Cracked Wheat, Yeast, Salt, Vegetable Oil, Soya Flour, Emulsifier: E472e, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).

BREAD IS LOW IN FAT ABD CHOLESTROL FREE

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

COMPOSITION per 100g

Energy 870kj
207kcal
Protein 9.2g
Carbohydrate 40.9g
of which sugars: 0.2g
Fat 1.5g
of which 1.05g
Fibre 5.0g
Sodium 0.5g

If only I had a scannner! All this typing has made me hungry so I'm off for some all-bran bran flakes (also delicious).

I was looking at the ingredients of Brennans Wholemeal bread last night and the thing i noticed from the ingredient list was that it had no wheat flour. Its main ingredient is wholemeal flour, It also uses vegtable oil instead of the dreaded Hydrogenated Vegtable oil. That is something you have to look out for aswell. Lots of breads contain hydrogenated vegtable oil. It also contains 190Kcal per 100g. Thats all I can really remember, but it seems Brennans Wholemeal aint a bad bread after all

casper-

Chris P Duck wrote:

I was looking at the ingredients of Brennans Wholemeal bread last night and the thing i noticed from the ingredient list was that it had no wheat flour. Its main ingredient is wholemeal flour, It also uses vegtable oil instead of the dreaded Hydrogenated Vegtable oil. That is something you have to look out for aswell. Lots of breads contain hydrogenated vegtable oil. It also contains 190Kcal per 100g. Thats all I can really remember, but it seems Brennans Wholemeal aint a bad bread after all

Sounds good to me. I'm gonna try and find some over the weekend. Thanks for the info Mr Duck.

hubbub

ronbyrne2005 wrote:

tesco in drumcondra have mc cambridges

I got some in a Spar shop a few days ago and I bought some in Tesco in Drumcondra more recently, so thanks to ronbyrne2005. When I first clapped eyes on McCambridge bread it the spar I was immediately impressed by it being hermetically sealed only to find if you squeeze each bag you will see they're actually not air-tight and air is free to enter and escape them although I'm pretty sure they're sealed much better than regular bread's packaging. It tastes great and you feel good eating it because you know you're eating something that's good for you, according to you lot anyway! Initially as I stated in my earlier posts, I was slightly prejudice about McCambridge bread because of the small sized slices because I make sandwiches for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch but I soon found that I could easily still make this regular sized sandwiches by just using two McCambridge slices for the base of the sandwich and of course two for the top. All I have to do is slice through the ingredients of the sandwich when it's made because the bread of course doesn't need to be cut. I will scan the ingredients and nutritional information on the McCambridge packaging this coming Monday and upload a pic onto this thread. Anyway, I ate two loaves of it yesterday, one with sandwiches and a whole other loaf with butter and jam when I got up for a midnight feast. I know eating the jam isn't good so I'm going to put smoked salmon on it next time as a classmate of mine tells me it's very good on MacCambridge. Big thumbs up from me.

SprostonGreen

I've found another bread that you might be interested in. Its called CGills Sliced 100% made in Rathcoole.

Its yeast free and the breakdown is :

Ingredients:
Wholemeal Flour, Buttermilk, GM Free Soya Flour, Rasing agents: Sodium Bicarbonate, Salt

Nutrional Info grammes per 100g:

Protein : 6g
Carb: 37.4
Fat: 1.9
Dietary Fibre: 6.3g

Energy in kcal: 182.

I got it in Dunnes, Crumlin last week, though it wasnt there today.

rubadub

McCambridges is nice but crap for sandwiches. Look at the fibre contents on them too, and on all foods. Batchelors do mushy peas with a very low fibre count. I can only presume that normal peas are processed to strip them of fibre which is then isolated and sold as a fibre supplement, then they sell the left over waste as mushy peas. I love mushy peas so just mush the normal ones. Roma brown rice also has a very low fibre count compared to uncle bens, something must be going on there too.
I would like to make my own bread but also wondered if some of the wholemeal flours are mysteriously stripped of goodness like the peas & rice.

I never understood the whole dying of bread brown, or mixing the flours. I presume the white flour is cheaper, and always wondered why as it must cost a lot to process. I can only figure that it economies of scale that result in it being cheaper.

~Leanne~

MobileInfantry wrote:

Most bread has about 40 or so g carbs per slice.

I don't eat bread, I eat crackotte crackers. 5g carbs per slice. And they taste really really good.

Yup same here - im addicted to them, there sooo tasty with cheese

robbie--balboa

mccambridge bread is crap, i used work in irish pride before and irish pride deliver mccambridge to shops for mccambridge outside dublin, by the time mccambridge is baked in its bakery in dublin and sent by truck to wexford irish prides main bakery and then from there sent to all the different depots around the country and then has to be packed onto boards and then they are all divided up and given to drivers to deliver, the bread is 2 or 3 days old before it hits the shelf everyday.

Hanley

robbie--balboa wrote: »

mccambridge bread is crap, i used work in irish pride before and irish pride deliver mccambridge to shops for mccambridge outside dublin, by the time mccambridge is baked in its bakery in dublin and sent by truck to wexford irish prides main bakery and then from there sent to all the different depots around the country and then has to be packed onto boards and then they are all divided up and given to drivers to deliver, the bread is 2 or 3 days old before it hits the shelf everyday.

Much like this thread, which is almost 2, almost 3 YEARS old :D

Petrolium Hat

Seraphina wrote: »

yeah i am really trying to consume more protein considering i've started using weights recently. however the problem is my mother cooks my dinner (lame excuse, i know) sometimes i would come home from the gym to a dinner of white pasta and carbonara sauce because my mum's been in work and is tired. but on these occassions i often dont have time to cook myself a 'proper' dinner either!
i love the mc cambridges wholemeal bread, but my mum told me recently apparently its the 'worst' kind of brown bread its not exactly practical for making sandwiches either, damn tiny slices!
i just dont know what to think!! i reckon i might ask my mum to start making her nice brown bread again, if its home-made its got to be good!

I dont accept when people say they "dont have time to cook". It takes ten mins to cook a variety of different helthy meals from stratch. Don't use time as an excuse. It's down to laziness, and "not arsedness" nothing else.

If youre serious about it then tell mammy youre cooking your own meals.

Soda bread is "best" alright.

Petrolium Hat

Hanley wrote: »

Much like this thread, which is almost 2, almost 3 YEARS old :D

Just saw that now as well. I going to write "I must read all posts before jumping in." 600 times.