Bread : What brand / type do you buy?

That’s a slippery slope…sorry was just my poor humour but couldn’t resist it.

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I popped down to our local Coles to grab a few items yesterday including Coles multigrain bread, only to find that, in Coles inimitable fashion, they had once again failed to bake any that day.

As there was no one in the bakery section, I did not find out what yesterday’s cop-out was, and as I did not feel like driving to Coles at Edmonton who always have it despite having just one baker and no assistants, I looked for an alternative and saw this bread.

https://shop.coles.com.au/a/earlville/product/coles-bakery-bread-7-seeds-grains-toast-baked-in-store

I ate a slice fresh at dinner last night and another sliced toasted at breakfast this morning.

Very tasty.

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Been baking my own bread since stage 4 restrictions. It has meant less shopping trips and less contact. Plus it’s very tasty, and no fats or sugar and only a little salt.

Nevertheless I’ll be happy to buy my bread again, because it’s a lot of work and clean up to bake my own.
Good when there’s plenty of spare time in isolation :wink:

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You may find the texture is made finer by the addition of a small amount of oil, say 1-2 tbsp per loaf. The bread will keep better, slice better and you may prefer the texture. Some say no oil because they like big bubbles but I prefer it with.

Wondering what size loaf that would be, please?
And is the tablespoon you’re suggesting a 20ml measure?

I do: dry yeast about 1% of flour,
water approx 60% of flour.
Oil ?%

Often it’s 500g of flour but not always.

Thanks.

For 500g of flour I would start with 20ml. You will see a difference in the texture, if you like the idea try a bit more. You can experiment, 40ml will not ruin it. I use EVOO as it is likely the first bottle I grab but the flavour is not important in small amounts so you can use other oils. If you use butter or margarine take into account the water content especially if it is a 50% low fat ‘spread’.

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An article regarding Coles reducing the salt content in their bread.

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I came across this promotion for “free bread” for a year.

I looked at the Store Locator on the Bakers Delight website and the nearest couple of remaining stores in North Qld are in Townsville, so not much use if you live in FNQ as their stores are all long gone.

Brumby’s does not fare much better with a mere 3 stores remaining in FNQ.

It appears that a combination of independent local bakeries who have really lifted their game, together with greatly improved offerings from the big supermarkets, are putting an end to franchised bakeries, at least in FNQ.

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Or the economics of the franchises is such that they do not survive well in smaller centres outside SEQ in Qld. The others lifting their games also as you surmise would probably impact the cost and profit result.

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We exclusively patronised a local bread shop for many years, including through a change of hands where the new owners took a few months to get their act together. After years of no worries, happy customer their product became less consistent to the point we tried Coles 30-month and Irrewarra (Woolies), and were steps up in quality, size, and price. We stop at the bread shop for ‘not bread’ these days. We also tried the ‘private label’ products the deli’s offer but for one or another reason they were not for us.

We have a Bakers Delight near Woolies, a ‘French’ independent bread shop near Coles, and the delis. It is a crowded market! Paying a franchise fee has to make it a very marginal business anywhere there is quality competition so the franchise doesn’t get the volume needed to cover their higher overheads.

It doesn’t take a lot for a customer to move on, and some owners don’t watch their competitive area to their own detriment., but rely on the franchise ‘magic formula’ that worked for them ‘last year’.

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None of the franchises produce “ultra” Low Carb bread. In the major supermarkets, Aldi has one variety, under their own label. Woolworths have two varieties (Macro and Bergen) and Coles has two (Bergen and Vitality Bakehouse Homestyle) There are a couple of other brands that rate as Low Carb.

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