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I'm trying to recreate a very specific brand of white bread from my parents' hometown, which isn't available outside about a 60-mile radius since the bakery doesn't use preservatives. But it's DANG good, and I'd like to be able to make something similar for myself in between trips to visit my parents.

The things I know about the bread are:

  • VERY pale, despite apparently using wheat flour - pure white inside and a very light tan on the crust
  • Extremely light and airy inside, with a fairly open crumb
  • Delicate, almost sweet flavor, with none of the usual "yeasty" or "bready" flavors in typical white breads
  • Makes a very lightweight but sturdy and crispy toast
  • Supposedly made from a German recipe from 1852, unchanged except for "the removal of lard" (I don't know what, if anything, replaced the lard)
  • The ingredients listed on the packaging are Enriched wheat flour, water, sugar, yeast, buttermilk, shortening (soybean and palm oils), malt, salt

I've made a few attempts at recreating the recipe, but so far haven't had any luck. The main problem is that no matter what I do, I can't eliminate the "yeasty" or "bready" taste. The closest I've gotten is by replacing half the water in a standard white bread recipe with buttermilk, substituting lard for shortening, and substituting all the sugar except what starts the yeast, with half the amount of malted milk powder (I've ordered proper diastatic malt powder but it'll be a while before it arrives).

However, among other issues, that recipe still results in the distinct "yeasty" or "bready" taste that I'm trying to avoid. I found this question which asks about how to increase the yeast flavor in bread, but I'm not yet good enough at bread science to reverse the answers.

How can I remove the "yeasty" flavor from my bread, ideally while also maintaining the characteristics listed above?

thatgirldm
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  • Maybe explore milk-bread recipes as a foundation and tweak from there? – moscafj Mar 24 '22 at 20:14
  • @moscafj I've looked at them, but weirdly enough they're *too* soft. Spatz's somehow manages to be fluffy and open without being, like, pillowy-soft. – thatgirldm Mar 24 '22 at 20:16
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    Is yeast an ingredient? Because there’s a process to make commercial bread that’s basically like carbonating a soda, so there’s no actual yeast involved – Joe Mar 24 '22 at 21:08
  • It looks like ‘aerated bread’ was invented around 1862… unless it was a trade secret in some other company? So the timing is close, but might not be it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerated_Bread_Company – Joe Mar 24 '22 at 21:12
  • Can we get a list of ingredients in the order they are on the packaging. It might well be that they are using non-yeast leavening in addition to yeast. – bob1 Mar 24 '22 at 22:36
  • @Joe Yes, yeast is listed on the ingredients list on the bag. I've added the ingredients list to the question per bob1's request. – thatgirldm Mar 24 '22 at 22:50
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    @bob1 Done! I also included a link to the photo I pulled the list from. – thatgirldm Mar 24 '22 at 22:56
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    Maybe steamed then baked? Fairly common in Asian (China etc) breads, which are also very pale, light and airy – bob1 Mar 25 '22 at 00:41
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    Wow…. Yeast is listed *before* both buttermilk and shortening. I would think that has to be fresh yeast, not dried yeast. And even then that seams like a crazy amount. I also like bob1’s steam suggestion. Or maybe a really warm proofing (as slower proofing is often to get more flavor) – Joe Mar 25 '22 at 07:24
  • Is it some type of soda bread? It uses buttermilk and baking soda instead of yeast. – RYZEXY Apr 24 '22 at 21:20
  • @RYZEXY They do list yeast in the ingredients, and not baking soda, so I doubt it. Though what I can't get over is the fact that there's apparently more yeast by weight than there is buttermilk or shortening. Given the relative weights of each, that seems to imply either a LOT of yeast, or the tiniest bit of buttermilk and shortening. – thatgirldm Apr 24 '22 at 23:58
  • @thatgirldm right, my bad. Didn't see that. – RYZEXY Apr 26 '22 at 00:16

2 Answers2

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One way to reduce the taste of yeast is paradoxically to use more yeast.

With more yeast (and higher temperature, and more sugar) you can make the dough rise faster, which yields less of the yeasty flavour. (Normally the process is the reverse - in order to get more yeasty flavour, use less yeast and let it rise for longer (and at lower temperature)).

An other alternative is to use the Chorleywood process, but that's not really suitable for home use.

I also think you're a bit confused regarding the use of 'wheat' as an adjective. Most white bread is made with wheat flour (i.e. ground endosperm from triticum), but when some (American?) bakers say 'wheat', what they really mean is 'whole-wheat', which does not mean '100% wheat', but rather that the flour they're using is (at least partly) made from whole wheat grains.

Popup
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  • You're right that I was confused about "wheat" as an adjective! Some googling later, I'm realizing they mean plain ol' white flour. D'oh! – thatgirldm Apr 30 '22 at 14:32
  • Sorry for how long it took me to mark this as an answer - there are only so many test loaves of bread my household can eat at a time! I still haven't quite replicated the flavor I'm after, but following this advice as well as @joe's comments has gotten me pretty close. Thank you! – thatgirldm Jun 06 '22 at 20:50
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You can't get rid of the yeasty flavor in bread completely, however it's a subtle flavor and you can cover it up with other flavors. The ingredients of your DANGgood bread show it's an enriched bread as it has added oil, fat (from the buttermilk) and sugar. You could use the same approach and make an enriched bread yourself for the flavor aspects, enriched breads also have a very pillowy structure. I personally have a Japanese milk bread recipe that has eggs, milk, butter and sugar in it and it's become my absolute go-to recipe as it's absolutely reliable, and extremely delicious. I have adapted it to use a 50:50 mix of white and whole spelt flour, and it still gives extremely elastic results.

You could also look to other flours with a strong flavor, for instance rye, to cover the yeasty flavor, however ryes tend not to have the structure you are looking for.

GdD
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