She said it

[Jenise]

"How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like Kleenex? " -- Julia Child

Thank goodness that really good bread is far more available now than it was back in the '50's and '60's!

Here in Redding, we have several locals who have permits to make sourdough in their home kitchens. They used to deliver, but now the grocery stores have taken over, and they have special shelving for the bread loaves. Also, several bread markets have picked up on this and are making their own breads on site. Lots of choices, and I love it because making your own is very time-consuming and something I was not interested in learning. I used to make a lot of quick breads when all the family was here.

I agree with you, Karen: I've got enough fidgety things in my life, I don't need another!

I've actually been pleasantly surprised that some of the local, but still commercial, products are pretty decent. Occasionally saves me the walk to the good bakery (...which is called Bien Cuit because, indeed, they bake everything quite dark).

Betsy loves making bread (she just did a great olive/walnut from Tartine), but it (sourdough) is time consuming. So sometimes commericlal. But the world of commercial bread is so much broader than my childhood (60s/70s). My options are much better.
And Jeff Bien Cuit is at my Sat market. I usually get baguettes or miche, but a wine geek friend was telling me last week I should try their 21 grain , so I will.

Of course, the Kleenex bread period might not have been the worst, the period in the 90s when everyone had just gotten a bread machine was pretty awful.

Ah, the miche is a marvel.

Well, y'all can go on about the laborious nature of sourdough breadmaking*, but for my money a good patisserie is even more important to have as making your own croissants and/or puff pastry is waaaaay too laborious for me. Apropos of all this, recently uttered by a friend from NIH who we're trying to hire as our department head: "I could never move anywhere that didn't have a good bread shop." Fortunately, we do have one, as well as two good patisseries.

*If you think of sourdough as a pet rather than a baking ingredient, the whole process takes on a much less onerous cast.

I don't eat all that much bread, but after reading this thread I checked the bread aisle in my supermarket. They do still sell Wonder Bread, the poster child for kleenex bread. I remember their old "Wonder Bread builds strong bodies 12 ways" TV commercials on children's programs.

-Paul W.

... making your own croissants and/or puff pastry is waaaaay too laborious for me.....

IDK, my son took one croissant class and started making pretty good croissants immediately, without too much technique or labor. Obviously not to the level of the best patisseries, but pretty competitive with what one finds in public. The advantage being you can use better butter than most places are willing to use, and you can have them fresh out of the oven. That's pretty much 80% of it. The lamination techniques being the tougher part.

... making your own croissants and/or puff pastry is waaaaay too laborious for me.....

IDK, my son took one croissant class and started making pretty good croissants immediately, without too much technique or labor. Obviously not to the level of the best patisseries, but pretty competitive with what one finds in public. The advantage being you can use better butter than most places are willing to use, and you can have them fresh out of the oven. That's pretty much 80% of it. The lamination techniques being the tougher part.

Back in the day, I did make croissants for myself. It's true that it's not all that challenging, but between the lamination and the chilling of the dough, it requires several hours to accomplish. Since I only eat croissants in the morning and usually don't have a morning to devote to the activity, I find it's more expedient to buy them on those rare occasions when I eat one now.

[Jenise]

I don't eat all that much bread, but after reading this thread I checked the bread aisle in my supermarket. They do still sell Wonder Bread, the poster child for kleenex bread. I remember their old "Wonder Bread builds strong bodies 12 ways" TV commercials on children's programs.

-Paul W.

I don't see it here in Washington but for reasons I can't fathom it's widely distributed in Asian markets in BC, and I see the old delivery trucks with the blue, red and yellow bubble motif on them occasionally too.

It's true that it's not all that challenging, but between the lamination and the chilling of the dough, it requires several hours to accomplish...

Indeed. A project! Much more efficient to purchase, if there are good ones available. Our other incentive to purchase is that we don't need very many and it's hard to do a batch of just 2 or 3. But depends how many people you have around...

It's true that it's not all that challenging, but between the lamination and the chilling of the dough, it requires several hours to accomplish...

Indeed. A project! Much more efficient to purchase, if there are good ones available. Our other incentive to purchase is that we don't need very many and it's hard to do a batch of just 2 or 3. But depends how many people you have around...

...or how greedy they are!

One of my English friends has a degree in hotel management. She is an excellent baker and adept at making puff pastry. But she usually uses store-bought puff pastry made with real butter. She did a side-by-side comparison once and yes, her puff pastry was slightly better than the store-bought, but not enough to warrant all that extra work.

-Paul W.

A friend of mine who routinely makes excellent sourdough Italian country bread was in Paris a couple of years ago and thought he'd make a starter to take home with him. He figured he'd get that good French yeast terroir or something like that. The problem was finding flour. They went to the largest nearby supermarket and easily found the wall of cheese and the roomful of wine, but it took forever to finally find the tiny bit of shelf space set aside for flour and other baking supplies. Apparently, the French figure that it's not worth the effort to make your own baked goods when there's an excellent bakery on every street corner. (Or at least that's what he figured.)