The bread that changed Britain



Those responsible should be executed for crimes against humanity.

Agreed. Home baking FTW!

I don't think it has to be home baked, although there are some odorous benefits to that. But this abominable contribution to the world culinary scene is no better than american processed cheese, popular but tasteless sh!te.

I sort of agree with the sentiments about the quality of sliced bread. However, I have to say, even the "value" supermarket own brand stuff is not that bad these days. It makes great toast, has a reasonable flavour, and freezes well. Not bad for 60p a loaf, or thereabouts.

We used to buy the more expensive in-store baked loaves. They don't keep, even frozen, and if they're sliced they dry out really quickly. They need to be eaten quickly, and when there's just the pair of us, we often ended up chucking the end of a loaf away.

I have no qualms about sliced bread. It's given people a cheap means of sustenance, which for the poverty-stricken, has been helpful.

Cheap, white, long-life bread may not be well-thought of but it was a wonder when it was invented and it still is. It helped a bankrupt Britain to have food in it's belly when big chunks of the populace didn't have two bob to knock together. It also replaced the much-loathed brown bread that Britain had suffered for nearly two decades.

Huzzar for the bread!

Yes there are benefits, but uniform blandness has no appeal to me.

I suspect with the majority of people suffering a squeeze on incomes that it will become more popular again.

I like brown bread. And white. Also wholemeal and... actually I like all kinds of bread! Sliced or not, cheap or expensive, I don't mind either way.

As long as it hasn't got blue spots on it...

I don't go in much for bread snobbery myself, same with chocolate. As rusty points out, the chorley wood process served a purpose.

I dont mind shop bought sliced loaves at all really. If any I prefer Warburton's Farmhouse but at the moment I'm mainly on wholemeal anyway (Hovis or Kingsmill).

+1


If the vast majority of bread is made the same way since 1961, it's doubtful that many of us would have experienced anything else; other than home baked stuff.

Have you hated shop-bought bread your whole life?

Don't eat much bread any more. Maybe only a couple of times a week, and it's usually a bread roll for a burger on the BBQ this time of year, or maybe a small bit of baguette.

I eat bread quite often. Though I have avoided white for quite a while. I normally eat wholemeal or granary bread. Though I usually opt for premium store brand varieties.

I'm usually shot down in flames when I make such comments!

In my experience, the cheap bread varies like crazy from shop to shop.

I really like the Value thick white slice at 49p for 800g from Tesco because it makes great bacon butties and really nice toast. I also like the economy wholemeal from Asda for about the same price - it's the best for a ham and tomato sandwich.

On the other hand, I can't stand Tesco's value brown bread because it resembles cardboard, and Sainsbury changed their recipe last year and ruined all of their Basics range bread.

I also can't stand Warbourtons - everything they make tastes like sponge and it's not cheap either!

I love high quality fresh baked bread, but as you say it only keeps at it's best for a day or two. This is why the French buy bread twice a day, even if they have to travel miles for it! Seriously, my parent's neighbours cycle the 10 miles to the bakers early in the morning and again for lunch