Read your bread and cookie labels. Make your own after that. Or stop eating them entirely. Soy is added to most convenience and fast foods now. Why is soy added to bread?? I know this, because one of our family members gets really ill from legumes.
The best bread BTW, is made from strong (high gluten) white flour (Wholemeal tends to trigger allergies - happened to me), yeast, a little milk or honey, or molasses (to start the yeast), and some salt. Nothing else. People knew this before WW2, when white bread was considered the most dogestible. War-time food shortages set off what my mum termed 'poverty bread', which was then marketed as healthy. It isn't. (Same thing counts for brown rice vs. white rice)
Adding soy to bread (I tried a long time ago) makes for disgusting un-risen concoctions, that taste disgusting too, and people will refuse to eat it and beg for the 'regular' recipe.
Teenage boys especially, are vulnerable to soy, not only because they do not care what goes into their mouths, and are learning about spending money for themselves, so are likely to buy sheaky ready-to-eat food.
The first trick is to get a supply of strong white flour. Not standard cake flour. The main trick is patience and a warm room. It's all about nurturing the yeast.
I am going to write the recipe like a Victorian, not giving quantities, because making small batches is easier on the arms, but it is messy, making large quantities depends on the size of one's oven and also how much time one has to bake multiple oven-loads.
Start a tablespoon sized piece of yeast, or the dried granules, with a little warm liquid that is sweetened. Milk will do at a pinch, (but I don't like the smell when it is yeasted) - honey or molasses is good. After ten minutes or so the mixture should be frothing. Add a handful of flour and mix to a saucey consistency - like a smooth paste. Wait for another ten minutes. Now add the liquid for the main recipe,(should be like comfortable (not too hot) bath temperature when testing with your finger). Stir it all up and start adding flour in stages.
For reference the ratio is about 3:1 flour to water - depending on how high the moisture content of the air is around you.
First mix the dough to a porridge consistency, and let it double in size. Now add flour and any salt (or kelp), and mix to a stringy dough. At this point the mixing-stick or wooden spoon can go - dump the dough on a floured bench and use hands to keep just dusting the flour in. One hand for dry flour and one folding and mixing. Have patience, the flour goes in by small handfuls at this point. Knead. After a while the dough will feel springy and alive. Twenty minutes of pure exercise. Now, the lump should be left to rise with a floured cloth over it.
Preheat oven to hot 450 deg.
Knead again and shape into buns, loaves, knots, whatever takes your fancy. One can flatten the loaves into flat-breads and cook on a griddle at a pinch, or as a taster, while waiting, because everyone will be going crazy at this point.
Rise the loaves 15 minutes or so (and flatbreads) again and bake.
Thank you very much, fren. I totally understand and appreciate your “Victorian” directions. Really appreciate the emphasis on the process as opposed to precise amounts. Also get the part about ambient humidity. I live in the woods and humidity is always a factor. Warm room not a problem, I may even work it on the table in the sunroom. Agree what you said about whole wheat flours, although way back in the day I had 5 gallon vacuum packed bucket full of wheat berries and we ground our own flour till gone. Don’t even remember where I got the berries but they were part of a long term food storage supply that needed to be used up. Never had such a great tasty flour before or since. Thanks for the tip about molasses or honey, never heard that, but makes total sense. Thanks again! 👍 I’ll let you know how it turns out. 💪
This was on purpose. Decades ago my father talked about it. Soy in foods for example. Estrogen in the water. etc.
Read your bread and cookie labels. Make your own after that. Or stop eating them entirely. Soy is added to most convenience and fast foods now. Why is soy added to bread?? I know this, because one of our family members gets really ill from legumes.
The best bread BTW, is made from strong (high gluten) white flour (Wholemeal tends to trigger allergies - happened to me), yeast, a little milk or honey, or molasses (to start the yeast), and some salt. Nothing else. People knew this before WW2, when white bread was considered the most dogestible. War-time food shortages set off what my mum termed 'poverty bread', which was then marketed as healthy. It isn't. (Same thing counts for brown rice vs. white rice)
Adding soy to bread (I tried a long time ago) makes for disgusting un-risen concoctions, that taste disgusting too, and people will refuse to eat it and beg for the 'regular' recipe.
Teenage boys especially, are vulnerable to soy, not only because they do not care what goes into their mouths, and are learning about spending money for themselves, so are likely to buy sheaky ready-to-eat food.
Recipe please, fren.
The first trick is to get a supply of strong white flour. Not standard cake flour. The main trick is patience and a warm room. It's all about nurturing the yeast.
I am going to write the recipe like a Victorian, not giving quantities, because making small batches is easier on the arms, but it is messy, making large quantities depends on the size of one's oven and also how much time one has to bake multiple oven-loads.
Start a tablespoon sized piece of yeast, or the dried granules, with a little warm liquid that is sweetened. Milk will do at a pinch, (but I don't like the smell when it is yeasted) - honey or molasses is good. After ten minutes or so the mixture should be frothing. Add a handful of flour and mix to a saucey consistency - like a smooth paste. Wait for another ten minutes. Now add the liquid for the main recipe,(should be like comfortable (not too hot) bath temperature when testing with your finger). Stir it all up and start adding flour in stages.
For reference the ratio is about 3:1 flour to water - depending on how high the moisture content of the air is around you.
First mix the dough to a porridge consistency, and let it double in size. Now add flour and any salt (or kelp), and mix to a stringy dough. At this point the mixing-stick or wooden spoon can go - dump the dough on a floured bench and use hands to keep just dusting the flour in. One hand for dry flour and one folding and mixing. Have patience, the flour goes in by small handfuls at this point. Knead. After a while the dough will feel springy and alive. Twenty minutes of pure exercise. Now, the lump should be left to rise with a floured cloth over it.
Preheat oven to hot 450 deg.
Knead again and shape into buns, loaves, knots, whatever takes your fancy. One can flatten the loaves into flat-breads and cook on a griddle at a pinch, or as a taster, while waiting, because everyone will be going crazy at this point.
Rise the loaves 15 minutes or so (and flatbreads) again and bake.
Thank you very much, fren. I totally understand and appreciate your “Victorian” directions. Really appreciate the emphasis on the process as opposed to precise amounts. Also get the part about ambient humidity. I live in the woods and humidity is always a factor. Warm room not a problem, I may even work it on the table in the sunroom. Agree what you said about whole wheat flours, although way back in the day I had 5 gallon vacuum packed bucket full of wheat berries and we ground our own flour till gone. Don’t even remember where I got the berries but they were part of a long term food storage supply that needed to be used up. Never had such a great tasty flour before or since. Thanks for the tip about molasses or honey, never heard that, but makes total sense. Thanks again! 👍 I’ll let you know how it turns out. 💪