Healthiest Thai bread?

[Spaniel]

I'm not a bread expert like many here but I know what kind of bread I like and when I'm in Pattaya, before returning to Bangkok, I always pick up a couple of loafs at the bakery in Big C on Pattaya Klang. They have a resident French baker running the bakery.

[sawadee1947]

Local breads are very fluffy and really only good for toast. Whole grains are only available in specialty shops. Tops has a good selection.

I started years back to bake my own. Best solution for surely good and healthy bread, if you don't know how to bake, would be a baking machine . Veras has a few. Good whole wheat flour is available at Max Value. There are also some good grains .

Pics attached is the flour from Max Value and a rye bread , what's left of it anyway.

That looks really good! Excellent idea too! How long does your homemade bread generally last (doesn't go bad) if you don't eat it all first.

I bake my own bread without ant preservatives in a baking machine. It'll last for up to 3 -4 days. Then it gets too hard, even kept in a fridge. And also the taste after 2 days is not as good as fresh out of the machine...

[CLW]

Bavarian dark bread

Raisin bread

[phutoie2]

Is any bread healthy? Thai or otherwise, questionable. I am a baker and also type 2 diabetic and rarely eat bread these days, apart from doing the odd taste. I let the wife proof test most types I bake now.

There is a huge difference in baking commercially in a bakery and making the odd loaf at home. I would suggest to amateur bakers to do some research on bakers percentages, it will give you a useful insight into ingredient ratios. Most people never use enough water, the "wetter the better", once you get the hang of working with wet sticky dough.

With all the modern instant yeasts available now, you can get away with very quick fermentation/proof times. This is Thailand,no need for warm water, if you are using a mixer that will heat your dough up, I always use cool water, about 18c, and never allow the internal temp of dough to be over 26c.

The quality of the flour is not as good as European/N Americas, most of the bakers I know use imported types from Australia. I stick with AP and bread flour from the United Flour Mill, plus Rye and Whole wheat from Kim Chua Trading. Happy Baking and watch those carbs.

[techboy]

Who cares. If it tastes good eat it. I mean why use bread to account for your daily nutrition?

[dddave]

Has anybody seen the VERASU bread machine in any Bangkok retail outlets? I tried Lazada.com but no listing.

BREAD TALK. a chain seen in most upscale shopping malls around Bangkok has a surprisingly good French baguette; nice, crisp and flaky crust but it needs to be eaten same day. B40/loaf

Yamazakie's bread varies widely from shop to shop, baguettes sometimes decent, sometimes dreadful. Le Etoile's baguette's OK.

[maxme]

I know it may not be healthy but i am in love with the fried dough they usualy sell in the morning.

[attrayant]

There is not such a thing like healthy bread. Bread is never healthy. It's like asking for a healthy cigarette...

If you want low sugar and high fiber don't eat bread. Eat fruit and vegetables instead.

Is there any real basis for that view? Wholemeal flour is full of vegetable protein, fibre, starchy carbohydrate.....

As evidenced by the thousands of French people dropping dead in bakeries every day.

Edited April 17, 2015 by attrayant

[Thomas33399]

To start with and simply for convenience a bread machine is a great option. The recipes are endless. Adding sunflower seeds, herbs, spices, roasted garlic and/ or onions all great ways to experiment with.

A few questions if you don't mind:

- Is that the model you have?

- Approximately, how long does it take to bake it?

- Is it easy to clean?

- Is the process pretty straight forward, or is there some trial and error to it?

You made my day, thank you for sharing. I'm very excited now to make my own bread!

This is not the one we have. Ours is three years old and I cannot find it anymore. If you check out verasu Web page you can find many. There are often promotions on these. The page has also a video. White bread takes 3.5 hours from putting the ingredients in to fully baked.

Have a look at YouTube and you get a bit of extra inspiration. Good luck baking. These things are simple and produce good bread.

The only backdraw I see is that the bread will have a small hole in the bottom, where the kneading arm sits. To me not a big deal.

It is easy to clean.

I would start with a standard whit loaf and progress from there. So you have a success story before going into trial and error fancy recipes. YouTube is your friend.

I have been very excited about making my own bread. I got the the Homemate breadmaker from Verasu.

I went to a lot of trouble finding the same flour as Stefan from Australia. I tried to find good video clips on youtube but they were of low standard with poor instructions and a lot of gossip.

Unfortunately the good results are disappointing after a substantial investment.

I first tried wholewheat which rose beautifully then collapsed near the end of baking and had to be thrown away. The wholewheat flour I used was from China and the plain bread making flour was from a Thai company. I made a mix with slightly higher ratio of white flour (i think about 60%) to wholewheat and it rose reasonably well but was very fibrous, - like chafe, and dry.

I looked at some recipes for rye bread and tried a blend of white flour and rye of the same brand as Stefan but it did not expand so it stayed in a funny shape and is quite dry. It is edible but not good. i am following the manufacturer's directions which are a rather sketchy and poor translation from Thai. Not a good effort from the importer of the Homebake machine.

I would like some recipes or references for recipes that people have tried. Sounds like Stefan gets results he is happy with so of he or someone else can help that would be great.

[MaeJoMTB]

^^^^

make white bread first ..........

Rye and whole wheat are problematic and for experienced bakers only.

300ml strong white flour + 250ml water + 10ml yeast (fermiplan red) = white bread

Edited May 27, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[Thomas33399]

^^^^

make white bread first ..........

Rye and whole wheat are problematic and for experienced bakers only.

300ml strong white flour + 250ml water + 10ml yeast (fermiplan red) = white bread

Thanks for the advice. I will try that next.

However I like to eat mostly wholewheat bread as eating it makes me feel better and I like the texture and flavour.

I hope I did not spend 4500 on a machine and a lot of time and money finding and buying flour if I can only make white bread.

[CLW]

Rye bread can only done with sourdough. 100% whole wheat is difficult to make and also not so tasty. Try a mix 50/50 or at least 30/70. I recommend you the whole wheat flour from the beginning of the post. It's also available at Tops. And they have a good assortment of specialty flour, too. If you want to bake bread more often I strongly recommend you to buy a digital scale with 0.1 gramm unit. I bought mine at Alibaba online for 7$. It's very useful for the amount of dry yeast

[h90]

Rye bread can only done with sourdough. 100% whole wheat is difficult to make and also not so tasty. Try a mix 50/50 or at least 30/70. I recommend you the whole wheat flour from the beginning of the post. It's also available at Tops. And they have a good assortment of specialty flour, too. If you want to bake bread more often I strongly recommend you to buy a digital scale with 0.1 gramm unit. I bought mine at Alibaba online for 7$. It's very useful for the amount of dry yeast

sourdough is difficult and needs long time. But it is absolute rewarding in taste, even in Europe it isn't easy to a real classic rye sourdough bread anymore.

I have some dried deep frozen starter culture if someone needs, but I am not sure if it will restart.

[bikerlou47]

There is no bread in the world that is healthy !

[h90]

IMG-20150403-WA0002.jpg

IMG-20150403-WA0001.jpg

Bavarian dark bread

IMG-20150309-WA0002.jpg

Raisin bread

Very nice.....looks so good could be almost Austrian bread

[h90]

There is no bread in the world that is healthy !

What exactly is unhealthy on bread?

[northernjohn]

We usually eat it within 5 to 7 days. I keep it in the fridge . Only once it got bad after a week, must have touched it with something on my fingers.

If we go somewhere for a couple of days I just slice it all up and freeze it in tight plastic bag.

I had heard that it will last longer left out of the fridge than in it. The best way to make it last was to freeze it.

Any truth in this?

[CLW]

In Thailand only in the fridge. Too warm and humid outside. You will get mold soon. Freezer is also an option. Good to put sliced bread in and then use the toaster

[CLW]

Todays result, pretzel sticks

[Sheryl]

You can easily make whole wheat and rye breads in a breadmaker. Most have separate settings for whole wheat, use that for rye as well. Tops markets sell whole wheat and rye flours that are quite good.

[h90]

You can easily make whole wheat and rye breads in a breadmaker. Most have separate settings for whole wheat, use that for rye as well. Tops markets sell whole wheat and rye flours that are quite good.

rye bread with a higher percentage of rye should be always made with sourdough, which is a bit difficult in the breadmaker and maybe problematic to the seals of it.

If you make rye bread with only yeast it is a bit difficult to congest for some people.

[Sheryl]

Perhaps for some, but I make it all the time and eat with no problems as have innumerable house guests.

[MaeJoMTB]

We usually eat it within 5 to 7 days. I keep it in the fridge . Only once it got bad after a week, must have touched it with something on my fingers.

If we go somewhere for a couple of days I just slice it all up and freeze it in tight plastic bag.

I had heard that it will last longer left out of the fridge than in it. The best way to make it last was to freeze it.

Any truth in this?

No truth, lasts weeks in the fridge, in a plastic bag.

Moldy very fast if left out of the fridge.

[h90]

Perhaps for some, but I make it all the time and eat with no problems as have innumerable house guests.

The question is if a lot farting is considered a problem or not

Of course depending on the quantity....a slice rye mix bread with 25% rye is surely no problem. But wolfing down half a kg of fresh 100% rye bread may cause a lot gas production.....

Also when you make the rye dough you notice how sticky it is. If you eat a lot of it, it is still the same sticky when it leaves the body. For people who have lots of hair there, it gets really difficult to clean....

[spidermike007]

More than likely, only locally made whole grain bread is healthy. Not sure if there is an manufactured bread in thailand that is healthy. There are some bakeries near me run by conscious individuals who create gorgeous whole grain breads.

[nickcar]

More than likely, only locally made whole grain bread is healthy. Not sure if there is an manufactured bread in thailand that is healthy. There are some bakeries near me run by conscious individuals who create gorgeous whole grain breads.

May i ask where is near me?

[Fab5BKK]

Nothing's better than a good fresh baguette!

[h90]

Nothing's better than a good fresh baguette!

And nothing worse than an old bad baguette (BigC)

[Sheryl]

Nothing's better than a good fresh baguette!

tastewise perhaps, but certainly not healthwise.

Well made baguettes are hard to come by in Thailand...but all over the place in Cambodia at a cost equivalent to 5 or 10 baht.

[Aforek]

tastewise perhaps, but certainly not healthwise.

True, not many things in baguette, not the best bread

in France, many people buy baguettes, because they are not expensive, but there are many breads better than baguettes

rye bread, bran bread , complete bread etc

here is a typical boulangerie