This title is published on 11 January, rather serendipitously: A History of Bread: Consumers, Bakers and Public Authorities since the 18th Century, Peter Scholliers (Author) https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/a-history-of-bread-9781350361782/ . The author is Belgian, I think, so there may not be anything specific about British laws.
My two cents is bread in England was particularly dire in the 19th century. To some extent the lightness and moistness of a loaf depends on the amount of gluten and they were still using relatively low gluten wheat and other grains like barley and rye. It appears there was also some weirdness going on with yeast. Then in the 1870s, high quality, high protein white flour started to become available, yeast improved, and mass production raised the quality of commercial loaves while lowering the cost. It appears wrapping of bread was also an innovation in pre-plastic times. Suddenly, working people could afford to buy decent loaves and they therefore started to care about the quality (elasticity decreasing as a purchase represents a smaller portion of income). A week-old heavy, grainy, dry loaf is probably not much worse than a day-old heavy, grainy, dry loaf, especially when it would cost you a quarter of your week's wages to upgrade to a better quality loaf. Whereas if it costs you half an hour's wages to get the nice, soft loaf you start to care a lot more about how it tastes.
John, It’s not all about size. As an avid bread maker the thing I’m most astounded by is weight. That visually large loaf can weigh similar to my much smaller but denser ‘no knead’ loaf. I believe this has something to do with it as well.
who baked their own bread, made very large loaves. But those loaves also serviced quite a few people. Household size must be a factor, as well as the style of bread being less prone to ‘going off’, perhaps?
Sorry to be boring, but I think along with smaller households we just don't eat as much bread per person as we used to. (If anything modern preservative laced bread should last longer than the 18th century variety, especially combined with fridges/freezers.)
A related phenomenon is auto marketing, at least in the US. The same auto model tends to get bigger from year to year. After a number of years, the model has expanded (literally!) out of its niche. The manufacturer then creates a new mini-model, about the same size as the original model had been. Consumer psychology is strange stuff.
Dunno. I very rarely buy bread, as I make my own, using a loaf size of about 1kg (pre-baked) which lasts 4 – 6 days. On the rare occasions I _do_ buy bread (when I've neglected to prepare the starter, or other commitments interfere with the baking process), I avoid getting it sliced for the reason you suggest.
I have noticed flour is a bit more expensive, though.
It depends on whether I left it for long enough to prove and how much oven spring I get. It's usually denser than the shit they sell in supermarkets, though. Doesn't taste like a bath sponge, either.
This title is published on 11 January, rather serendipitously: A History of Bread: Consumers, Bakers and Public Authorities since the 18th Century, Peter Scholliers (Author) https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/a-history-of-bread-9781350361782/ . The author is Belgian, I think, so there may not be anything specific about British laws.
There is also this title in the UQ collection (it's in warehouse, so you'd have to place a hold): Bread and the British economy, c1770-1870 / Christian Petersen ; edited by Andrew Jenkins 1995 https://search.library.uq.edu.au/permalink/f/18av8c1/61UQ_ALMA2180715630003131
My two cents is bread in England was particularly dire in the 19th century. To some extent the lightness and moistness of a loaf depends on the amount of gluten and they were still using relatively low gluten wheat and other grains like barley and rye. It appears there was also some weirdness going on with yeast. Then in the 1870s, high quality, high protein white flour started to become available, yeast improved, and mass production raised the quality of commercial loaves while lowering the cost. It appears wrapping of bread was also an innovation in pre-plastic times. Suddenly, working people could afford to buy decent loaves and they therefore started to care about the quality (elasticity decreasing as a purchase represents a smaller portion of income). A week-old heavy, grainy, dry loaf is probably not much worse than a day-old heavy, grainy, dry loaf, especially when it would cost you a quarter of your week's wages to upgrade to a better quality loaf. Whereas if it costs you half an hour's wages to get the nice, soft loaf you start to care a lot more about how it tastes.
And the pop-up toaster was commercialised in 1925.
I also meant to say art history might be an interesting source of information. This image, for instance, seems to show a loaf that would be over 2 pounds. It seems bigger than contemporary continental loafs. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:George_Smith_-_Still_Life_of_Bread,_Butter_and_Cheese_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
John, It’s not all about size. As an avid bread maker the thing I’m most astounded by is weight. That visually large loaf can weigh similar to my much smaller but denser ‘no knead’ loaf. I believe this has something to do with it as well.
I know my relatives in the old country,
who baked their own bread, made very large loaves. But those loaves also serviced quite a few people. Household size must be a factor, as well as the style of bread being less prone to ‘going off’, perhaps?
As someone who lives on my own, I wish loaves were smaller! A lot of it gets wasted, as is.
As do I. The home made stuff will give you good toast for a week, and any leftovers (which I rarely have) can be made into bread crumbs.
Sorry to be boring, but I think along with smaller households we just don't eat as much bread per person as we used to. (If anything modern preservative laced bread should last longer than the 18th century variety, especially combined with fridges/freezers.)
A related phenomenon is auto marketing, at least in the US. The same auto model tends to get bigger from year to year. After a number of years, the model has expanded (literally!) out of its niche. The manufacturer then creates a new mini-model, about the same size as the original model had been. Consumer psychology is strange stuff.
Dunno. I very rarely buy bread, as I make my own, using a loaf size of about 1kg (pre-baked) which lasts 4 – 6 days. On the rare occasions I _do_ buy bread (when I've neglected to prepare the starter, or other commitments interfere with the baking process), I avoid getting it sliced for the reason you suggest.
I have noticed flour is a bit more expensive, though.
But yours weighs more than the bought stuff of same visual volume?
It depends on whether I left it for long enough to prove and how much oven spring I get. It's usually denser than the shit they sell in supermarkets, though. Doesn't taste like a bath sponge, either.