Bread

[livius drusus]

You know what's weird about bread? There's just so much of it out there I bet nobody can say definitively that they don't like it. How many foods can you say that about? I seriously can't think of any other foodstuff with the variety of bread.

I was thinking about it yesterday on account of LadyShea's spinach dip in a huge bread bowl fetish. Specifically, I was thinking clearly the bread bowl should be pumpernickel. Then I got timid and dialed the darkness back to a nice whole wheat sourdough or maybe even a rye. Then I thought, "Naw... Rye is dangerous. Lots of people don't dig the caraway." Then I rembered that there is plenty of rye to be found (or made) without caraway, but in the end I settled on the whole wheat sourdough for guests, and the pumpernickel for my personal preference.

Corona "Starch Boy" 688 made me think wistfully of the old sammiches thread, and next thing you know, here I am dedicating a whole thread to bread. Man may not live of it alone, but surely we can try?

So just off the top of my head, here are some breads that I love and that I use in all kinds of different ways: Alvarado Street sprouted wheat multigrain for every sandwich under the sun and for delicious crostini, Alvarado St. sprouted wheat pizza shells for every pizza under the sun and delicious breadsticks, a very basic, very heart-healthy rosemary and garlic focaccia, whole wheat pita for light toasting and stuffing with greek spinach salad, anything stale for making croutons, Wheatines to accompany tomato soup, insanely sharp English cheddar, my trademark feta spooge, or even just to gnosh on when the cracker spirit descends.

Phew. That tuckered me out. Y'all take a turn now and then I'll be back with the rosemary and garlic focaccia recipe.

[Dingfod]

Is it the caraway that give rye bread it's aromatic stench? Rye, as a grain, is rather flavorful compared to wheat, I've chewed on some that grew wild in amongst the wheat. Rye bread, I cannot stand. It's that smell and the associated bitterness.

Otherwise, bread, I do like. There is not much better than a warm slice of homemade bread slathered in butter. But, alas, bread does not like me. So goes the days of my life. I cannot or should not eat the things I love to eat.

Anyone else wad up white bread and eat it when they were a kid? Or, am I just a weirdo?

[LadyShea]

I love bread, all kinds, every kind...except white sandwhich bread. I could never do Atkins!

For the record, I use a Shepherd's Round for spinach dip. I feel the dip should be the strongest flavor when serving. For myself (not at a party), I'll use any ole thing that sounds good at the moment.

[dave_a]

I have nothing much to add as I don't know too many breads by name except the basics, but there is this Italian bakery near where I work that makes some killer bread.

On Sundays only they make this bread they call "Gino's Surprise". I don't know what the base type of bread it is, but it contains pretty much whatever meat and cheese were left over in abdundance from the week.

You have to get there before noon to get any as people flock in droves to get it. It is a meal all by itself and it is out of this world good.

[Socratoad]

Just a few years ago I used to make bread for half the neighbourhood. My favourite which soon became the favourite of many was one I concocted myself. It was a multigrain bread with a preponderance of whole sunflower seeds in it. I used to make my own malt by sprouting barley and then gently roasting it in the oven before grinding it and adding to the bread dough. Then I found I could skip this labour intensive step by adding some malt mixture ....one of those canned beer making kits. It has to be one of those very dark malty types.

If I ever stumble across my recipe for this bread I shall post it here.

Alas I do not bake bread anymore because I am only able to eat bread in small quantities because of blood sugar problems ..... carbohydrates almost instantly turns into sugar in the stomach of poor old Toad


There is nothing anymore magical IMHO than baking bread. Well there are a couple but that would be another thread.

[Corona688]

You should have known better than to make a thread like this with me around

I like bread. Whole, white, brown, multigrain, rye, flax, corn, cinnamon, rasin, chocolate, garden-veggy, zucchini, and on. When the bread machine screws up and produces one of those inch-thick loaves of leadlike density, that's even better! Even happened across some whole-grain rye bread once. Not whole as in "keep the germ", but whole as in there were cooked unground rye grains scattered at random through the bread. That was interesting. Cooked rye grains have an interesting chewy texture and a milder flavor.

About the only kinds of bread I cannot stand are those weird multigrain breads with those crunchy dusty white round seeds, and bread with those little hard crunchy square bits of Fruit(tm)(r) in them. Why? Red and green are not fruits. What do chemists make it from, and why do they use it? Why? What did they use in hot-cross buns before they invented this crap?

[Corona688]

Originally Posted by warrenly

Anyone else wad up white bread and eat it when they were a kid? Or, am I just a weirdo?

I'm sure lots of people did that, hell, I still do sometimes

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by warrenly

Is it the caraway that give rye bread it's aromatic stench? Rye, as a grain, is rather flavorful compared to wheat, I've chewed on some that grew wild in amongst the wheat. Rye bread, I cannot stand. It's that smell and the associated bitterness.

Yessir, that aroma is most likely the caraway seeds. All you need is to find plain old rye flour and make you some delicious stench-free bread. Or a quality baker.

There is not much better than a warm slice of homemade bread slathered in butter.

I can think of several things, actually. I have butter issues. Any butter on my bread must be so thinly spread it is translucent. It must then melt completely before I take even the smallest bite.

The only thing I hated about eating in France was the way they mortared bread with layers of butter in every sandwich.

[Dingfod]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Yessir, that aroma is most likely the caraway seeds. All you need is to find plain old rye flour and make you some delicious stench-free bread. Or a quality baker.

I think Outback Steakhouse serves a dark, dark loaf of rye bread that is delish. In fact, forget the steak and other stuff, just give me a couple of those and some butter and I'm a happy man.

I can think of several things, actually. I have butter issues. Any butter on my bread must be so thinly spread it is translucent. It must then melt completely before I take even the smallest bite.

The only thing I hated about eating in France was the way they mortared bread with layers of butter in every sandwich.

I love French bread... And French fries.... And the French....

[lisarea]

I HATE BREAD!

No. I'm lying. I love bread. I am now getting a jones for rye bread, because I never get it because nobody else likes it. I like especially with lots of caraway. I also love pumpernickel and, well, pretty much everything except Wonderbread kind of squishy stuff. I was never allowed to have that as a kid, so I built it up in my head as some kind of food of the gods. It's not. I think sourdough is sometimes overrated, because I've known people who just used it for everything, and it just got played. Someday, maybe I'll start to like it again.

There was a period some years back when I would get up in the morning and start something in the crock pot, and set the timer on the bread machine so that, when the Little Muffin and I got home every night, we'd have dinner waiting for us. That rocked.

I used to have a honey cranberry bread I loved, but I forgot how I made it. Also, a bulgur bread, which was good, but needed some tweaking. I should work on that one again.

My bread machine is broken now, but I've decided I don't need one. To celebrate throwing away the bread machine, I made a few batches of challah bread type stuff, which was sort of half one recipe and half another, so I don't even know if it was official challah bread or anything. I was getting a big kick out of making the braided loaves with the shiny egg topping, because you can't do that in a bread maker. That made the best french toast ever. Plus, it's pretty. I need to make another batch of that.

Know what's sad, though? If I eat plain bread at all, I get the hiccups, and sometimes, they don't go away for hours. If it doesn't have butter or olive oil or something on it, I am just so fucked. And I mean, even if I miss a corner or something. I hate that.

[freemonkey]

The only thing I don't like about bread is the calories. And I also don't like the squishy white sandwich breads, either.