Time To Use Your Loaf

There's an article the Scotsman today (by Rose Prince - author of The New English Kitchen, read by many of us) saying that with the price of standard supermarket bread set to rocket past the £1 barrier you can bake your own at home for as little as 50p (and people on here have costed it out at nearer the 40p mark, depending on what you use). Then four of Scotland's top bakers tell you how to do it, without a breadmaker.

It goes along the lines of "Recently white sliced loaves have been sold as loss leaders, priced below their value in supermarkets to attract more custom. No wonder the nation squeals now that fuel prices have risen and a bad harvest has inflated the price of imported strong bread flour. £1 a loaf for a large family will be painful to bear manly because this type of soft white loaf is created to be eaten fresh. Thanks to the addition of enzyme-processing aids, it retains its softness right up until mould spots mushroom on its surface. ... Yes, it is economical, but the quality is compromised by the process. Families on low incomes are told they're lucky to be able to afford white bread, but it contains additives, too much yeast and salt, and no natureal wheatgerm, the most important nutrient. Surviving the present price increase demands some desperate measures: bake your own. Before you protest that you are time-poor, consider that bread dough can easily be kneaded in the time it takes to go and buy a loaf." And so it goes on.

The last bit is maybe overstated as I don't think I ever went out specifically to buy just a loaf, I bought it when I was already in the supermarket. Or maybe I did sometimes and it just looked as though I didn't as I ended up leaving with so many other things!

What I can say is, after making bread for about 9 months (usually in breadmaker and then finishing in oven as I personally don't like the tin shaped loaves much), the taste is so much better, it is more filling and the smell is wonderful. It never even occurs to me to look at the cost of bread now - apart from at Hogmanay when I was having friends over to dinner - making my own bread of course - and remembering that last Hogmanay I spent £3.15 on an artisan baked loaf!!! Usually at Christmas and New Year I never know how much bread to buy in (forgetting that the shops are only closed for one day). This year no problem - I had the ingredients and could make it whenever required.

Anyhow, the recipes are for traditionally baked bread - Basic White Loaf from Andrew Wilson, baker at Heart Buchanan, Glasgow; Spelt Bread from Peter Hamilton, Trusty Crust Organic Bakery, East Lothian; Simple Italian White Bread from Mary Conti, Valvona & Crolla, Edinburgh; and Olive & Coriander from Andrew Massey, The Manna House, Edinburgh. If anyone wants the recipes I can post them.