What's Your Favourite Loaf Of Bread?

[johnb]

Hobbs House Bakery bread made in the traditional way (i.e. most definitely not using the Chorleywood process) - wonderful stuff.

I find supermarket bread tasteless with no texture - their white bread is usually dreadful stuff made by the Chorleywood process.

When I first moved to the district in which I now live there was a local bakers (Herbert's) set up by David Herbert which used traditional methods and which people used to flock to. That changed hands many, many years ago but the Herberts set up Hobbs House Bakery.

[Quarky]

What's your favourite loaf of bread (or type of bread)?

(I often ask myself fascinating questions like this)

Sainsbury Granary loaf, baked on the premises, and cut before my eyes, is my staple. However, because it doesn't have not much in the way of preservatives, it has to be eaten rapidly.

Otherwise Morrison Pumpkin seeded granary loaf. This does have a lot of extra ingredients, but it stays moist for a lot longer, and is very tasty.

[vinteuil]

.

... for morning toast, the bread made by Mrs v is excellent. It is full of nuts (almonds, walnuts etc) and seeds, and doubtless very good for the gut. She spurns the notion of 'bread makers', and does it using bowls and bread tins. Great for toast, but a bit 'heavy' for other use.

There used to be a wonderful 'real' baker a biscuit's toss from here, which did an excellent granary loaf. Sadly it closed last autumn, and there is no convenient succedaneum.

Sainsbury's does a quite nice sourdough (cheaper than Waitrose... ) which we get when we need a bread to go with soups etc.

.

[Belgrove]

We very fortunate to have a wonderful young independent baker close by who set up two years ago and soon established herself as the go-to place for sourdough, wholewheat, rye, fruit, nut loaves, baguettes, focaccia, bagels and the best croissants this side of the channel. Also wonderful cakes, pastries, doughnuts, and mince pies and hot cross buns at the appropriate season. There are queues outside when the shop opens at 8 am.

[Beef Oven!]

Lots of mention of sourdough. I don't actually know what it is except I like it. About ten years ago, a Jamaican colleague used to bring me a loaf in a couple of times per week because she would go to her local baker everyday on the way into work, to get stuff for her lunch break. I don't remember where she got it from, but I remember her saying it was pretty close to the bread she ate in Jamaica, before she was lucky enough to come to work with me. I kinda took it for granted and when she left to work in the USA, that was the end of it. I'm ashamed to admit it, but sometimes I ate the whole loaf in one go at my desk with no butter or anything. It was delicious. I bought some Irish sourdough in Tesco's last year, but it wasn't the same. It was branded up as authentically Jamaican, but it was rubbish, IMO.

[vinteuil]

Lots of mention of sourdough. I don't actually know what it is except I like it.

... sourdough is so good. I think it wd be my favourite. But it's a complete faff to make and nurture, it becomes a compulsion for some bread makers and takes over their lives - but you can't do it in any easy way - it takes commitment. Mme v enjoys making her bread, but it's the work of a few moments - popped in the oven -et voilà !

Whereas sourdough -

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-sourdough-bread-224367

.

[Beef Oven!]

... sourdough is so good. I think it wd be my favourite. But it's a complete faff to make and nurture, it becomes a compulsion for some bread makers and takes over their lives - but you can't do it in any easy way - it takes commitment. Mme v enjoys making her bread, but it's the work of a few moments - popped in the oven -et voilà !

Whereas sourdough -

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-sourdough-bread-224367

.

I doubt very much that I would ever attempt to make it myself.

[Serial_Apologist]

Tescos Multiseed Batch - packed at main HQ I imagine, mass-distributed and nearly always available at my nearest Tesco Express. Otherwise on the rare occasions I can make it to the Brixton main Tesco branch of a morning, it has to be the on-premises baked Multigrain, the best bread I've ever tasted: it has to be in the morning because there's no one on-hand in the afternoons to put it through the slicer - essential if the loaf is not to become brick-hard within 3 days, even if put in the fridge - just the background music playing to a vacated bakery department. The one drawback with the Multigrain is that, being light in weight and texture, it gets consumed twice as fast as the Multiseed. Oh, and it's no good asking them if the loaf on the shelf is still warm, because the slicer will just squash it.

[Serial_Apologist]

....any bread....bread....

I always had you down as being well-bread, eighth!

[Dave2002]

Not really a favourite at all - but I was surprised to find recently that mrs d had never heard of Wonderloaf. That's one of those Chorleywood thingies - and I thought that Wonderloaf was a UK wide brand in the 1960s, others being Hovis, Mother's Pride etc.

https://writing.wikinut.com/Wonderloaf-Gone-but-not-forgotten./hxakwyr6/

https://www.google.com/search?q=wonderloaf+images&client=firefox-b&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CXTkNRTvjDRvIjiv6-HOMTxOmMEYGgtF96pEf4bYx-F9w4WrRoXyJBi7rImVCm-0UDQuq36feM6FYsOevugr_1SrLnSoSCa_1r4c4xPE6YEZQYZSmwwLtiKhIJwRgaC0X3qkQRKvZEbF41S_1QqEgl_1htjH4X3DhRGf6ZQZDBxthyoSCatGhfIkGLusEQJV9Gs62BWzKhIJiZUKb7RQNC4Rcuji9fJiIzcqEgmrfp94zoViwxGzw9DGXsHYfCoSCZ6-6Cv9KsudEZ2EaRU98zGq&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwis3K3ww-3fAhVEvxoKHdW7BZ4Q9C96BAgBEBs&biw=1135&bih=681&dpr=2#imgrc=ZnJI-uRryDgD2M:

[vinteuil]

Not really a favourite at all - but I was surprised to find recently that mrs d had never heard of Wonderloaf. That's one of those Chorleywood thingies - and I thought that Wonderloaf was a UK wide brand in the 1960s, others being Hovis, Mother's Pride etc.

... I remember as youngsters when on holiday (Wales, Scotland, the Lake District) we were reduced to chorleywood stuff from local shops we tried to make it a bit classier by calling it 'la fierté de Maman', 'Mutterstolz', 'l'orgoglio della madre', &c, &c

[Pulcinella]

Tescos Multiseed Batch - packed at main HQ I imagine, mass-distributed and nearly always available at my nearest Tesco Express. Otherwise on the rare occasions I can make it to the Brixton main Tesco branch of a morning, it has to be the on-premises baked Multigrain, the best bread I've ever tasted: it has to be in the morning because there's no one on-hand in the afternoons to put it through the slicer - essential if the loaf is not to become brick-hard within 3 days, even if put in the fridge - just the background music playing to a vacated bakery department. The one drawback with the Multigrain is that, being light in weight and texture, it gets consumed twice as fast as the Multiseed. Oh, and it's no good asking them if the loaf on the shelf is still warm, because the slicer will just squash it.

Ooh! Don't keep your bread in the fridge, SA!

https://www.stilltasty.com/questions/index/18

[Dave2002]

For shop bought bread, LIDL's GI loaves are good - if you can get them. Oddly the size of loaf seems to vary wildly from store to store. It's perhaps too hard to cut though, as very soft and sort of spongy.

Otherwise we are reverting to making our own again. Experimenting with different recipes, and different rising agents.

[Beef Oven!]

For shop bought bread, LIDL's GI loaves are good - if you can get them. Oddly the size of loaf seems to vary wildly from store to store.

Maybe you are looking at the rolls section in the other shop .........

[ardcarp]

We very fortunate to have a wonderful young independent baker close by who set up two years ago and soon established herself as the go-to place for sourdough, wholewheat, rye, fruit, nut loaves, baguettes, focaccia, bagels and the best croissants this side of the channel. Also wonderful cakes, pastries, doughnuts, and mince pies and hot cross buns at the appropriate season. There are queues outside when the shop opens at 8 am.

This one is found in Street, Somerset. Clearly specialists in toast: