Why I am baking my own bread…
…and you should try it as well
I am by no way a natural baker, but rather one of those software guys that create intangible things for a living.
As so many, I have started baking my own bread during the Corona pandemic. It wasn’t because local bakeries had no more bread. I wanted to try that for a long time and this just pushed me over the edge. At first I just tried something random with mediocre success, but then got myself a good book. That book not only list a few recipes, but also contains a lot of theory, which I find helpful.
Why baking?
As I said before I am a computer guy, often doing very virtual things. Baking and other and other manual activity form a nice counterpart to those virtual activities. On can pretty quickly see and feel the result of the work (and taste it). And when the bread is in the oven you get the nice smell in your apartment.
And then there is my family who enjoys fresh bread or hot self-made buns on a Sunday morning.
Knowing what you get
Another aspect that is important to me is the fact that when I do the baking myself, I know what is in the bread or the buns and what not.
If you look at this list of ingredients of some commercial burger buns, you will not only see flour, water, salt and sourdough or yeast, but also a chemical cocktail:
The emulsifiers (E472e and E481) can be plant-based, but can also come from processed animals, but there is no requirement (at least in Germany) to mark them as non-vegan. To regulate the acidity there is Sodium Acetate. And on top there are added flavours and alcohol.
When I open the pack with the buns, it smells very chemical up to a point where I don’t wan’t to eat them anymore.
[updated on Oct 7th]
Another ingredient listed above is sugar (“Zucker”), which is not needed in a bread. Nowadays many people eat too much sugar that is hidden in processed food. Of course starch from corn is still a complex sugar, but the body reacts differently than for plain sugar. This week saw a ruling from an Irish court that the sandwich breads from Subway contain much to much sugar to still be called a bread.
Respect
And then last but not least, baking my own bread and buns gave me a lot of respect for the real bakers, that get up early in the morning, process a real dough and make sure you get a good quality bread in the morning and during the day.
And to be clear: I am not talking about the pre-fabricated-deep-frozen-dough-heaters.
Just do it…
When you want to start, go around and google some recipes on the internet. Most of the time you don’t even need any extra equipment other than what you already have at home.
Give it a try and you will enjoy it.
