Bread

In the book Sugar Blues there is a story about how Andy Warhol used to go to the trouble to make himself a nice steak, then while it was cooking he’d eat bread with jam on it because, “all I really want is sugar”.  I feel the same way about bread. As a child I would eat wheat at every meal, and I mean the wheatiest wheat. While other kids begged for sugary cereals, I’d eat grape nuts with gusto, then often a wheat bagel for lunch, and either a sandwich on whole wheat bread or pasta for dinner. In my last year of college I worked at a Great Harvest in Cincinnati where we were allowed to take home old loaves. I lived on that bread, and when I went “grocery” shopping I’d go to a bagel shop and get a dozen plus about twice as many cans of diet coke. Maybe I overdid it…? Now, I don’t mind gluten free crackers or other baked goods~ I like Food for Life’s English muffins, PCC’s zucchini muffins (when my kids aren’t looking I can sneak one out of the four-pack) and I have made some decent scones and biscuits, but bread…it just isn’t the same. I have looked all over the Internet and in books for recipe that doesn’t call for a bunch of different flours and gums to just make a nice bready-bread, but it seems most people use about 4 different flours to try to emulate the texture, taste, and rise of wheat bread. This is off-putting to me simply b/c it waters down the whole grain taste with a much ‘whiter’ taste. Plus, I’ve heard some not-so flattering things about those gums. What are xantham and guar gums, anyway? I made the quinoa bread from Flying Apron’s book last night which I really like, but it isn’t a sandwich bread, nor a dipping into soup bread, so it is just an eat and enjoy bread, which is fine every once in a while, but I am determined to find something more versatile.