To want a loaf of bread, not air?

[BertieBotts]

Drives me mad

I bought a loaf of bread today from the corner shop, dated BB 3 October. just opened it expecting a nice, white, soft loaf and no - I get a loaf of half-stale, weird stuff that smells vaguely bread-like and is full of so many holes it looks more like a sponge than a foodstuff. This seems to happen about 30% of the time I buy bread from the local shops.

I'm guessing they just add extra raising agent to reduce overall ingredient cost and then some bulking stuff to make sure it conforms to the required 800g, but WTH? It's not even a particularly bad brand, it's Kingsmill!

[BertieBotts]

This tastes like cardboard that my 3 year old has stabbed holes in. :(

[worraliberty]

I love Kingsmill

Is it a bad batch?

[DreamTeamGirl]

Oooh I like Kingsmill too

Do you usually like it?

[BertieBotts]

I don't know, usually Kingsmill is fine, as is Hovis (the other brand they tend to have offers on/stock in these two corner shops) but if it is a bad batch, there have been loads in the last 6-12 months or so, because every time I've had one I got irrationally annoyed with it and thought about starting an AIBU thread to see if others had noticed it. Was starting to wonder if it was knock off bread or something They always sell it for £1 whereas supermarkets are charging £1.40 or so.

[squeakytoy]

The shops dont bake the bread themselves, so you cant blame them.

Anyway, YABU because the best bread is warburtons.. you wont find any holes in that!

[BertieBotts]

Yes, it's usually fresh, white and has that doughy sort of feel when first opened. This looks more like that Danish bread you can get which is very light and full of air bubbles, except that it's heavier than the Danish bread and tastes quite stale. It's also slightly yellowish like bread goes when it gets stale.

Really? Nobody else has noticed this? :(

[BertieBotts]

But Warbutons have a stupid packet which lets the air in and gets stale really quickly.

[worraliberty]

Warburtons need to fuck off with that stupid packet that means it goes stale after a day

[worraliberty]

OMG Snaaaap!!!! Lol

[eurochick]

Bake your own, by hand or with a breadmaker. You get proper bread, made only of flour, water, yeast, salt and a dash of sugar to make a nice crust. No nasties and you're not paying for air.

[startail]

You need a Panasonic bread maker. I can guarantee hole free bread, but at least it tastes nice.

[BertieBotts]

No I know, but it's weird that it's only ever bread I buy from the corner shop or Iceland which is like this, where coincidentally it's a good 30-40p cheaper than the supermarkets are selling it for. But then I don't buy bread from a supermarket that often so that might be why.

Anyway I need to go to bed. If anyone else has had bad bread I'd be interested to hear!

[BertieBotts]

I want a breadmaker :( can't afford one though.

[startail]

Sorry that should have read I can't guarantee hole free bread. Intact there will always be a hole for the storing blade.

[startail]

stupid ipod I'm going to bed

[Laquitar]

I read an article a while ago about the shit they put in the bread to rise it.

Bread is the only thing that i pay extra money (i buy cheap tea, cheap wine, cheap everything). I buy a German one from healthy store for £2.10. Its a lot but we only need one slice as it is very filling, not air.

[squeakytoy]

I keep my warburtons in the microwave.. airtight and better than a bread-bin!

[garlicslutty]

It sounds like that crappy diet bread, Bertie. You know, more holes than bread as holes are calorie-free

Have Kingsmill started doing diet bread? I've always found it pleasingly dense like Prince Harry but have recently switched back to the Co-op's pricey, organic, wholemeal loaf because it's better. And much, much heavier.

Aldi should have their breadmaker in sometime next month, I think. Trouble is, I'd have to give up 20 Co-op loaves to buy it!

[troisgarcons]

I queried the rising prices of bread from my local baker (now upto £1.50 a standard loaf) and was told that if Ianted substandard bread he would buy crappy flour from Germany, or he could keep making nice bread and import flour from Canada.

If you look at commodities prices, there is a 50% increase in staples using flour due a 'bad crop' some two years ago. The same weather affected coffee, wheat, rice (I thought rice liked rain??) and potatoes.

So that was me told, by the baker, anyway.

[TartyMcFarty]

I haven't noticed but then there aren't any local shops here. I wouldn't use them if there were TBH - the one in my mum's village is pretty grubby and tends to sell multipacks separately at extortionate prices!

[BertieBotts]

How weird. I wonder if it is just the local shops here then. I do use them because I don't drive so to nip out for milk/bread is a mission otherwise.

I know the price of wheat went up massively a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have minded that, it's that they seem to have changed the formula of making the bread in order to keep it the same price. Perhaps I should just stick to the more expensive loaves!

[BertieBotts]

But yeah, it's like the diet bread, but it's not diet bread. At least, it's in the same packaging as the non-holey bread.

[AmberLeaf]

Warburtons is the best.

I dont find it going stale quickly at all if anything its the opposite.

[ElderberrySyrup]

Breadmaker will save you money long-term, so it's worth saving up for, especially if you buy expensive bread.
Or try Ebay or Freecycle for a cheap one? It's one of those gadgets you either use all the time or never, so a lot of people end up with one they don't want.

[eurochick]

A breadmaker is useful (we tend to stick ingredients in ours before we go to bed, put the timer on and wake up to lovely fresh bread) but I find bread slightly nicer by hand (and you get no paddle hole). We both work full time though and often at the weekends too so I just don't have the time to do it at the moment. It's very simple but because you have to do it in two stages leaving it to prove in the middle it is just too difficult if you aren't in very much.