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this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
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Asklemmy
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Just about anything can be made with or without questionable additives. What sorts of things do you want to eat?
You can buy bread with preservatives that stays 'fresh' for weeks, but bread made with just water, flour, yeast and salt generally starts getting hard the next day and moldy in around a week (depending on climate +/-). Whole grain bread is dense, more flavorful, and will not rise as much as white bread because the bran and the nutrient rich wheat germ break up the long-chain gluten structure.
So do you pick a bread that lasts or one that molds? Do you pick white bread because it is fluffy or whole wheat because it has more vitamins?
Maybe you don't eat bread. Well, the same applies to rice. Most white rices are fortified to make up for the vitamins lost in milling, but whole-grain (brown) rice is tougher, has a stronger flavor, and is less fluffy. Which would you prefer?
Thank you very much, I just don't understand all this very well, so your answer was extremely useful for me. By the way, is it better to bake bread yourself or buy it in a store? It's just that store-bought bread is either so to speak airy, or some kind of empty, like sand, or something in between.
Whether you bake or buy, I'd suggest moving toward whole grain bread. Looking at the amount of fiber per serving is a good way to assess how 'whole' a bread from the store is.
I'm not sure how lazy you are, or how much you like to experiment, but someone on Lemmy mentioned Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. While it isn't hyperbole, it will be a while before you reach this speed.
The big points for me are that most of the steps are, "do something else while stuff happens." There is no kneading and no need for special tools, although a big container you can mostly seal and something that can withstand having water poured into it while being at oven temperatures are a big help. A mixer with a dough hook is also helpful if you don't want to put in the effort to mix by hand, but a bowl, plastic wrap, a wooden spoon, and measuring spoons and cups are all you need.
I liked the results enough to buy their book, and everything I've made has turned out at worst alright (which isnt a whole lot because...lazy). Depending on the recipe, you can store the dough in the fridge for a couple weeks (do this regularly), or you can parbake and freeze loaves (never done this). Before doing this, I had only made bread in a bread machine, which never worked out too well for me, or helping my mom with kneading decades ago, which I hated.
Regular store bread has lots of preservatives. I do not think you want that. Many small bakeries make good basic breads without preservatives, but they are usually expensive. If you can afford that price, buy it! Making bread takes a lot of time, but it is cheap, If you can afford that time, make it! Personally, I like whole-grain flavors for almost everything from sandwich bread to fried rice ... but not for the rice in sushi.
Personally, I think anyone who can should give at least one shot at home baked bread, if only to see whether or not it's something they want to do. I think for most it's going to come down to whether or not they have the time for it in their day to day, week to week, routines. If you've never tried, there's a nice recipe on youtube, first (or top 5) result when you search '5 minute baguette', by Voila. I found this to be pretty doable in a daily routine. The 5 minutes is only referring to final prep time once you got a handle on it; no matter what the dough in this recipe needs to set up for 8 hours.