# Do you buy specialty bread or plain white bread? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726 "2014-01-26T04:07:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/61 "2014-01-27T12:17:25Z")
I default towards chewy, crusty, delicious sourdough, as that’s what I grew up with. But here on the east coast, it’s harder to find good sourdough, so I don’t buy a lot of bread. I may pick up a baguette or roll now and then, and I’ve always got tortillas around. But without sourdough, bread seems kind of a waste. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/62 "2014-01-27T14:12:01Z")
Generally buy specialty type breads, if for no other reason than that I am but one man, and a gigantic honkin’ loaf of Wonder-type bread will go stale/moldy before I have a chance to eat it. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/63 "2014-01-27T14:17:03Z")
You can freeze bread, you know? Put half a loaf in the freezer while you eat the other half. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/64 "2014-01-27T14:35:57Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I don’t remember the last time I ate white bread. Or white rice. Or white flour. Or white sugar. Racist. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/65 "2014-01-27T15:08:13Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I like Arnold specialty breads. My wife eats Nature’s Own Double Fiber – it has half as many Weight Watchers points, presumably because one craps it out twice as fast. Nature’s Own also doesn’t use HFCS and seems to have less added sugar than most bread, so it has about 2/3 the carbohydrates of similarly sized bread slices from many other brands. This means it also tends to be fewer calories than other bread, so it’s the calories plus the fiber that make it fewer Weight Watchers points. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/66 "2014-01-27T16:13:56Z")
I make white bread every week, and everyone that’s had some enjoys it. Mass-produced versions have given it a bad rap, I think. Home-made white bread can make Egg in the Basket, Cinnamon French Toast and even just buttered toast and jam into a decadent experience. A friend of mine and his wife bake but he’s a health nut and everything has no salt, sugar, flour… it’s basically a way of converting trail mix into loaf form. It’s healthy, it’s not bad tasting, but not pleasurable. And he will absolutely _flip out_ if you butter it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/67 "2014-01-27T23:41:18Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > Right. That’s why white bread dominated for many centuries before this abomination called 100% whole wheat was invented in the 19th Century. > > Oh wait, it was the other way around… I’ll give you a chance to see the gigantic holes in your argument. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/68 "2014-01-28T00:40:46Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > I’ll give you a chance to see the gigantic holes in your argument. I simply meant that people found whole wheat tasty for a long long time. All kinds of factors helped white bread get popular, but it wasn’t because whole wheat lacked taste. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/69 "2014-01-28T04:00:24Z")
When I was living in the US, it was multigrain loaves from the supermarket. Since moving to Germany, the role (heh) of bread in my life has changed. Bread IS a way of life here. There are more bakeries here than Starbucks in NYC. It would be difficult for me to take a walk around town without passing at least 7 places to buy fresh bread. Germans don’t even know what “white bread” (in the fluffy Wonder Bread sense) is. They call that “toast bread” since it is supposed to be only for toasting. (Incidentally, they also don’t understand peanut butter at all here, but that’s another topic). To be honest, I’m often feeling quite sick of bread. But you can’t escape it. It’s just there. It’s ALWAYS there. (but recently English Muffins have made their way into my local grocery store so that’s primarily what I’m buying lately, but there’s generally also always a loaf from a local bakery somewhere in my kitchen as well). ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/70 "2014-01-28T04:18:50Z")
We get these big round loaves of Italian bread. It’s white but more tasty than Wonder and more fun since the middle slices are huge and have holes that cheese oozes from when I make grilled cheese. I’m not much into the taste of whole wheat except for this 7 grain bread they serve at a couple companies I worked at in NJ. It’s made at a bakery in NJ but not available to the public. And some homemade (not by me). ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/71 "2014-01-28T08:21:39Z")
I buy wholemeal, wholegrain bread from the supermarket. I wouldn’t describe it as a specialty bread, though. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/72 "2014-01-28T13:35:49Z")
Maybe the store-bought whole wheat bread has changed since the last time I bought it a few years ago, but the brands I tried were hard and dry. Unless things have changed, it’s not surprising that so many people still eat white bread. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/73 "2014-01-28T16:08:26Z")
Other. We tend to do both. We get the cheapest bread (usually somewhat older white) when we just need bread. But when we can splurge, we get my mom specialty bread that has fewer carbs and more fiber, as she has diabetes (although it appears to be in remission right now). ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/74 "2014-01-28T16:40:31Z")
Another baker here. There is no reason to buy bread, I have all the time in the world during the day to pop out one or more loaves of bread. I even keep King Arthur Flour’s european type bread flour, a much finer low protein cake flour and a stouter semolina flour on hand along with rye, barley, various nut flours and assorted crunchies to add in. It really is a shame that as a diabetic I really can’t eat most of what I make, but mrAru takes stuff in to work and the ravening horde of goddaughters helps out as well. Our favorites are classic San Francisco sourdough, sourdough cibatta and a sourdough unbleached whole wheat with crunchies. ---
**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726/75 "2014-01-28T17:45:11Z")
I usually buy some kind of whole wheat bread or multi-grain bread. I do love Italian bread though, lots of great Italian bakeries around. I second Panera on making great bread. I worked with a guy once who had a son that worked at Panera and he bought loaves of bread for me all the time and that stuff was great. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-specialty-bread-or-plain-white-bread/679726.md?page=3)