I grew up in Germany where bread is a major part of the diet. It is a staple food at breakfast, break-time and supper. Germans have more bakeries and eat a greater variety of bread than most other countries in the world. So, it’s not surprising that when I first moved to England I had a hard time getting used to the sliced bread sold in plastic packaging. It therefore didn’t take me long to start experimenting with home baked bread.
I got myself a bread maker and tried out lots of different recipes with it. At some point I narrowed them down to 2-3 different family favourites.
Of course, you don’t have to purchase a bread maker to make your own bread. In fact I know a lot of people who don’t even like them. Some prefer the sensory feeling of their own hands kneading the dough. Others like to use a ‘Thermomix’ or similar to knead their dough, then bake the loaf in the oven to acquire a more natural shape.
As for me, I absolutely love my bread maker. I don’t think I would manage to bake bread on a regular basis if it wasn’t for the ease of its use. It takes me seconds to add the ingredients to the loaf pan (especially if I’ve already pre-mixed the dry ingredients). I often do this the night before, set the timer function and voilà. The next day we all wake up to the beautiful smell of freshly baked bread.
1.Always Guaranteed Fresh Bread
Think about it. How long does it take for the loaf you buy at the supermarket to leave the factory, possibly be stored somewhere, then shipped and finally sit on the shelf for several days?
There are no questions about the freshness of your homemade loaf. Also every slice you cut will be fresh. If you are buying pre-sliced bread there is more exposed surface area. This will have an impact on the freshness of the bread.
The best way to keep your bread is whole as a loaf and cut it when you need it.
I do normally slice my loaf after a couple of days and keep it in the freezer. In my experience this stops it drying out. To defrost I simply take the amount of slices required out and pop them in the toaster on a low setting.
2. Home baked bread is so much healthier
There are often a lot of unhealthy ingredients in store bought bread. You might find potassium bromate, azodicarbonamide, partially hydrogenated oil, sugar, monoglycerides and diglycerides, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), sodium, caramel coloring, high-fructose corn syrup and added gluten.
You might find some brands with only a limited amount of additives.
The point is though, if you bake your own bread you will have zero unhealthy additives.
3. Determine the amount of whole wheat in your home baked bread
It is almost impossible to find 100% whole wheat bread in the supermarket. Yet we all know that wholemeal is so much healthier than white all-purpose flour.
Whole wheat bread often ends up very dense and many people don’t really like this texture. Whole wheat flour has very little gluten compared to white flour. It is normally the gluten that gives the loaf structure. Even just a small amount of white flour will help to give a better structure to the bread.
The great thing about baking your own bread is that you get to determine exactly how much whole wheat you want to add. Experiment with different recipes and whole wheat percentages until you find the one that suits the taste of your family best.
4. Your home baked loaf will be (almost) zero waste
Baking your own bread can spare the environment many plastic bags each year, depending on how much bread your family typically eats.
It won’t be completely zero waste though unless you buy all your ingredients from a bulk store using your own reusable containers.
5. Grocery shop less often
One of my favourite aspects of baking my own bread is that it helps me limit my trips to the supermarket to once a week. I do this for budgeting reasons, because it saves time and it reduces my carbon footprint.
This would make a pretty big difference to a family who doesn’t live very close to the shops.
