America...your bread sucks.

[Love of My Life 2]

Agreed, the bread is just brutal.

(Is it even logical to call it bread? lol)

[SapphireDreams 71]

I had the same problem with the flour here, I did some research and found out that the US doesn't regulate how much protein the flour has unlike Canada where it is regulated. The brands of flour differ its protein content too. So I called home had my mom and friends tell me the protein content of the flour. And guess what, it was allot higher in the All Purpose flour in Canada then the bread flour used in the US. Yup that's why in Canada you can make a nice loaf of bread with regular old flour and get great results, but not in the US it just plain old sucks.

So I tested out a few brands of flour and types of flour in the US and this is what I do. Gold Medal Bread flour is the closest thing I found here in Arkansas that has a protein content of 4g per 30g cup of flour that's almost as good as Canada all purpose flour. I use the the bread flour for everything I make. I just think of it as the cheap no name flour you could get back home and it works great I can make pie crust cookies and everything I made back in Canada with out much difference.

As for American bread sucking i think its the flour and the HFCS that they use. We went out last night to stock up on bread supplies to make our own too. Well we have been but now we going to make rye and whole wheat.

We also don't like the hot dogs or the Sausage they have here. We can't seem to find good Italian sausage as of yet and I'm tempted to make our own.

So Kim try bread flour for your baking make sure its at least 4g of protein for a 30g serving just use it for everything you will be allot more happy.

Danielle

The US also uses a lot of what is referred to as 'soft' wheat in its flours. Canada uses more 'hard' wheat. Hard wheat is superior for baking, especially bread. Bread flour in the US incorporates more 'hard' flour than All Purpose flour which is a mixture of soft and hard wheats so that is why it is closer to Canadian flour. Soft flour is more commonly used in making cakes so that gives you an idea of the difference. Hard wheat has higher protein and gluten which allows bread to be more elastic and to hold its shape better. All purpose flour is a mixture of hard and soft wheats but tend to include more soft wheat in the US than in Canada so All Purpose Flour tends to work better in Canada for bread.

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/63/Wheat-Flour

OMG I'm so glad I stumbled on this post! I couldn't figure out why my baking wasn't turning out. I am definitely going to try with the bread flour. I couldn't figure out the difference! Now I know!

[Kimbear 53]

OMG I'm so glad I stumbled on this post! I couldn't figure out why my baking wasn't turning out. I am definitely going to try with the bread flour. I couldn't figure out the difference! Now I know!

ever since they tol dme that my stuff bakes better. i even managed to find five roses flour here when i can't get that i use king arthurs. man does it make a difference!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

ever since they tol dme that my stuff bakes better. i even managed to find five roses flour here when i can't get that i use king arthurs. man does it make a difference!

Yeah, I regularly use the King Arthur unbleached bread flour or whole wheat flour - makes great bread!

[Xanax 349]

Bread tastes like a dessert. I will definately buy a bread maker when we can afford it!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Bread tastes like a dessert. I will definately buy a bread maker when we can afford it!

Try this recipe - you don't need a bread machine and you don't need to knead it. I make a variation of no knead bread and it is so easy and wonderful:

This easy bread recipe requires no kneading, and uses the heat and humidity of a Dutch oven to achieve the perfect crispy crust.

ROGER DOIRON

No Knead, Dutch Oven Bread

1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting. You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two.

1 1/2 tsp salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.
5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Yield: One 1 1/2-pound loaf.

Adapted from The New York Times.

[himher 634]

LOL...........true

Why America, why? Your bread tastes like cake and lasts a ridiculously long time in my cupboard without going green. Lots of my food time is spent dreaming of white bread cheese sandwiches or white bread bacon butties with butter and HP sauce. Warburtons blue packet usually. I spend wasteful dollars on all these different kinds hoping one will taste normal. I don't fall for your 12/8/6 grain, wholewheat, bran nonsense anymore because I know they all taste of sugar and ruin my toast and sandwich experience. The list of ingredients are enough to send the health board into a spin.

It's not normal and it hurts.

JoJo - a bread lover from the UK.

[Xanax 349]

Thankyou, Kathryn!

[Mrs. NSA 6]

My husband would totally agree, He really misses his crumpets and Volgals

[MissK 5]

I'm planning on making my own bread (dark, whole grain, rye etc.) when I get there! Why? Oh, because the bread sucks!!

[Love of My Life 2]

Yes it looks like the protein content is the way to go regarding this situation. Much kudos to those who recognized this as we try to find our way through the lost world of corn syrup bread lol.

Most of the "flours" on the shelf that we found were 3g of protein, so we experimented with some other ones available and have found a remarkeable difference. The 4's are wayyyy better, the 5's hold together better yet, etc.

Thus far after experimenting with about 10 different ones, our preference is leaning towards the "Prairie Gold" flour out of Montana (was sitting on the shelf in Wal-Mart......so with any luck it is readily available to all.....a seeming trouble for most of us finding a consistent source across the nation).

It contains 6g of protein, twice the amount of the so called all-purpose stuff. Also, no GMO's etc (which made me happy).

We do ours in a bread maker, because hey we are lazy Westerners . But for the Europeans used to the whole wheat stuff from back home, this could be a better way to go for you.

Still working on it of course, but this seems to be the best "commercially" found flour we have so far for a better bread.

To be continued......

[LlamaInvasion 76]

Not even King Arthur's flour made my bread as good as it is back home.

[Steve & Rema 4]

It's funny, I seriously thought something was wrong with my taste buds when I was in the states. I stayed with my fiance for 6 months, and we tried over 10 brands of bread and I would never like a single one. I'm from Canada, I didn't think there would be such a difference! The bread always had a weird after taste, and was too soft (got mushy way to quick).

[Love of My Life 2]

Not even King Arthur's flour made my bread as good as it is back home.

Yes I agree as well. Now granted, the King Arthur is a 4g of protein and is definitely superior to the basic junk off the shelf (90 percent of that ####### is 3g and some are even 2). But we found that in the breadmaker, it wound up way too crumbly even on the lightest crust setting, and couldn't hold anything inside a couple of slices for a sandwich. If one were to use it only for toast or croutons, however....it seemed to be adequate (so to speak).

(Then again I am at elevation here as well......almost 6 thousand feet...so please take my words with a grain of salt).

It also makes a massive difference which setting one uses on the machine too. The basic/Quickbake/Expressbake settings make a different loaf than if it's set on French/Sourdough/European/Whole Wheat etc. They all worked differently straight across the board with each flour, and some of them had their pros and cons depending on the settings.

Yes I have gone psycho with this and have an actual journal marking down all the flours we have tried on each setting in the machine lol. Once one gets into the higher quality flours though (5g and higher), I think it's just a matter of preference from there on what type of loaf one is looking for. And it's certainly comforting to know that we have at least one thing here that doesn't have that flippin' corn syrup in it

After a couple other tries, our preference here is still the Prairie Gold flour out of Montana (6g protein and no GMO's).

To be continued.....

[Blondie-CO 8]

My husband and I bought a (nice) bread machine at GoodWill for $25 and use it every other day! You know EXACLY what is going in the bread... it fills the house with yummy smells, and even has a "dough" feature so you can bake the dough in the oven for a nice artisinal look/texture. Try it