There is a huge array of plastic-wrapped sliced pap in supermarkets that tries to pretend it’s bread. But I know better. My breadmaker produces a loaf that has a gorgeous crust and a tasty, soft innard that smells divine.
It’s perfect for toast and for cutting off hunks to mop up bean juice or dunking in eggs. Give it a day to mature, and I can slice it thinly enough for sandwiches, too.
I also know exactly what’s in it – flour, one teaspoon of salt, a little bit of butter, water, and a teaspoon of yeast. And that’s it.
Sliced and packaged bread, however, as well as flour, usually contains unknown quantities of yeast (they don’t tell you how much on the packet), vegetable oil including palm oil, plus extra E numbers that I don’t understand. It tastes awful; like softened polystyrene. And weirdly, it takes ages to go off (even if it’s not a 60-day loaf!) which I don’t trust.
Bread making is easy and saves you money!
It only takes a couple of minutes to make your own loaf if you have a breadmaker, as you just add the ingredients to the pan and let the machine do the hard work. And once you’ve forked out for the breadmaker itself, it also works out cheaper to make your own. You can buy 1.5Kg of bread flour for as little as £1.10, which makes nearly four loaves. A 100g pot of dried yeast is £1.
Which is just as well, as buying proper bread is really expensive. As I found out when I tried to buy a loaf in an artisan bakery. I may love bread, but I still expect to receive change when I hand over a note.
Best breadmakers
I’ve got a Best Buy breadmaker and it’s worth every penny. I use it every other day and it’s never let me down, reliably producing quality loaves whenever I want them. I’m glad my kids are growing up knowing what real bread tastes like and won’t think the bread they sell in the supermarket is the real thing.
You can watch our video to get some tips on making bread – such as what type of flour to use.
Sliced bread sales are falling
Sales of sliced, packaged bread have taken a nosedive recently, with a combined £120m drop in sales from the three biggest brands. Some of this is probably down to people choosing to consumer fewer carbs, but I bet you a big chunk of it is because people are wondering why they’re forking out for something that tastes so awful.
Have you used a breadmaker to make your own bread? What did you think of the results – was it easy to use and did you notice a difference in how the bread tasted?
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