Cardienscarf

Holliver

Is it only white bread that is the problem? I always eat the brown/wheat stuff and have never found it too sweet. I get the bread without fructose corn syrup. Maybe it's just me, but I don't have any problems with bread.

Speedwell

A lot of so-called "brown" bread in the US is really white bread with bran and coloring added back in, often with molasses or raisin syrup. When I was a kid, people used to hate the taste of "wheat" bread because it tasted too plain. The usual response of commercial food producers is to enhance the flavor, and enhancing it toward either salty/savory or sweet is the usual method. Salty bread wouldn't go over very well, so the bread got sweetened to make it more palatable to people used to bland, sweet white bread.

Sally Redux

Trader Joe's do a wholewheat loaf which is OK but still sweeter than I'd like. The default setting for more or less everything here is sweet, I find.

Holliver

Eek, so how do I know if the bread I'm eating is really white bread? The one I'm currently eating is organic. Top ingredients - organic whole wheat flour. It's called one from Costco called 'Organic Seeds and Grain'. I always get one with nuts or grains and shizz, never plain brown bread.


(Ooooh, post 444!)

Speedwell

That should be OK; it says rather straightforwardly "whole wheat flour". Check what other kinds of flours, starches, and "dough conditioners" it may or may not have, as well.

tanith

My other half eats sweet white bread with a slice of baloney and a slice of processed cheese for lunch every single day.... it's not the best combination

Pulaski

Not sure what you're describing as "brown" bread, but I noted earlier in this thread that several whole grain loaves by Nature's Own, Arnold's and others that have no, or very little, added sugar that don't taste sweet and don't taste of fruit and nuts - they just taste of bread.

WEBlue

Yes, IMO it's MOSTLY the cheaper supermarket white breads that are the problem. But the cheaper supermarket brown/wheat stuff can also have HFCS in it, varying amounts. Once you find a non-sweet bread you like and stick to that, it's fine. But I've found it's dangerous to try a new & unknown brand of bread, especially if it's inexpensive.

Bakery bread is usually better, as are breads labeled "artisan" (whatever that means ), but whew! they can be pricey! I was given a breadmaker as a gift and in only a few months it's transformed our lives, as well as saved us lots of dosh. Big bread-eaters here in this house!

Karrie72

I agree, bread machine bread tastes so much nicer. The trouble is, I can't stop eating it and my waistline doesn't like that so much. But store-bought Italian bread is a good substitute. Arnolds is my go-to for kids lunches, breakfasts.

Holliver

Yeah, think I made a mistake, I never buy 'brown' bread. It's always wheat or grain or something.

I think the variety of American bread that is available is a refreshing change from the bread that I got used to in Japan. Very little choice and it was all white and very sweet. So maybe that's why I can't tell the difference.

I do remember coming to American on a school trip and found that I couldn't eat sandwiches then, well they were hogies, but they were disgusting. Can't remember why, perhaps it was the bread or it may have been the ingredients. Bleugh.

Suz16

The problem is not just in white supermarket bread, ( we don't like white bread) if you look at the back of the packet of most supposedly healthy, wholemeal bread you will find either sugar/ honey/ high fructose corn syrup. In one horrific example I actually found all three.

Even Wholefoods, who are certainly not cheap, are adding honey to their bread. While honey may be a natural sweetener, I don't want it in my bread, it just makes it taste far too sweet.

I have been buying bread from the baker section since starting this thread, mostly Italian or Rye, and have found it much better. However, my older daughter is still refusing to eat it, so I fear I'm in for buying a bread maker.

Also, I find the milk very sweet here too! Surely they don't put sugar in that too?

bilbos92

Thanks to Jan Alaska for this:
Made some today and it was so easy....this will become my go to bread mix..

Speedwell

I don't find any difference between the whole milk I get in Houston and the whole milk I got in Aberdeen. If you are buying skim or part-skim milk, it will be sweeter than whole milk generally because the proportion of lactose and galactose is higher in proportion to the total volume. The cows' diet has more to do with it than you may think, too; when I was a college student at a school known for its large animal veterinary and agricultural program, the milk supplied to the school cafe tasted significantly different from supermarket milk and I thought it tasted "funny". A farmboy friend told me that "funny" taste was the taste of "healthy" milk.

Mallory

When my children were young (raised in the US), and I took them on trips to England, they didn't like some of the food that was served to them - it tasted different. Too much salt in the bread, didn't like orange squash, didn't like cucumber sandwiches, didn't like butter on their bread. Guess what - they soon learned to eat it when they weren't given an array of different choices. I didn't run around trying to please them with this and that. Within a few days they would get used to it and forget about the differences. Kids will whine as long as you cater to them.