The Rex Baker managed to get away for a couple of weeks to Barcelona & Catalunya in August š
As always, theĀ family knew to expect some fieldworkĀ with side-tripsĀ to Spanish artisan bakeries.Ā Unfortunately ā not only are realĀ bakeries as few & far between as they are in the UK, but they tend to close down for 2 weeks in August themselves, so we didnāt manage to find too many exciting new loaves.
As itās hard to imagine a Rex family meal without a basket of bread or not sandwich-based, this meant exploring what presumably so many people consume on a daily basis ā pre-part-bakedĀ baguettes with their telltale dots all over the base, supermarket āartisanā loaves (yuk) and chain bakeries where OK appearances prove deceptive & disappointing.
Our best discovery was that the Catalans do like to cut up white loaves & top each slice with juice & seeds from fresh tomato plus chopped onion, then drizzle olive oil over before eating with cured charcuterie & fresh cheese ā thatās common for breakfast, lunch & supperĀ and what in theory should ever taste better than that when well made?
But because of the bread available, very rarely was a simple meal converted into the delight it should & couldĀ have been with a delicious real bread centrepiece.Ā Most breads we tried did not even contribute any added desirable taste & texture themselves, they at best worked as carriers.Ā Some were actually net detractors from the meal ā too dry & dense, too uniform & woolly textured, too bulky, largely inedible.
Ironically, at the same time as trying these disappointing daily fast-made breads, we were seeing enquiries into our Rex inbox regarding āgluten-freeā bread.Ā One was on TripAdvisor here (click on image to see in new window):
This leads us to spell out a few home truths comparing & contrasting fast-made fashionable gluten-free bread with Rex:
| Rex certified Real Bread sourdough | Ā | Factory gluten-free Bread |
| Only organic flour, natural leaven, water, a little salt And plenty of time |
Typically more than a dozen ingredients Added raising agents to fast develop Wheat flour alternatives with chemical additives such as improver, accelerators, preservatives |
|
| Hand-shaped | Heavy or all machine-use | |
| 3-days to allow full fermentation.Ā The leaven naturally, slowly denatures the wheat & gluten in the flour & dough rises in this time | Chemicals force fast dough rise within a few hours.Ā Unfermented. | |
| Resulting bread has delicious taste & texture | Resulting bread can be dense, cloying.Ā A filler. | |
| Clinicals have shown real bread (slowly made, fully fermented) sourdough is so benign to eat, it doesnāt even raise the blood sugar.Ā Highly tolerable & easy to digest, doesnāt bloat. | Spreading across industry with big bread brands like Allinsonās & Warburtonās investing in gluten-free production facilities & charging premium prices | |
| Gluten-sensitives find they can tolerate | Gluten-sensitives & coeliacs can tolerate |
Whilst itās reassuringly healthy for all Friends of Rex including gluten-sensitives to know that they can comfortably digest Rex without bloating thanks to our long fermentation principles ā the real benefit for all of us is that the taste & texture of real bread is so, so much better than any factory made bread (be it gluten free or not).Ā Ā Ā We really canāt see the value of consuming anything so inferior ā couldnāt be given away free to us now š
We were happy to returnĀ to Blighty just for our Rex breads !!! Ā Did you have the same experience? Ā Or was it more bread-y where you were? Enjoy this Indian summer back homeĀ all of youā¦
