I have noticed that in every store the "Ruchbrot" seems to be consistently less than half the price of all the other available loaves.
It seems to taste OK to me, so I wondered if anyone knows why it is so considerably cheaper?
I understand that obviously one type of bread has to be 'the cheapest', but the difference between this price and the next price up seems to be suspicious. Am I missing something?
Usually Ruchbrot and Halbweiss are the cheapest probably because they are nothing special. Just flour, water, yeast and really nothing else. Most other breads contain eggs or are a special form or recipe. I usually buy Ruch or Halbweiss or bake it myself
Ruchbrot flour contains more husk etc than more refined grades of flour -hence the darker colour.
It's actually healthier for you than the other light breads and bizarrely, it's the kind of thing that would probably sell at a premium in health-food type stores in other countries.
Thanks I did think that. Usually in the UK white bread is the cheaper.
For health reasons I generally try and avoid white bread, so Ruchbrot seems like a good option. Although having said that, in the interests of "freshness" I tend to alternate with a packet of the cheap long-life par-baked white rolls from ALDI. It takes me the best part of a week to get through a 500g Ruchbrot towards the end of which it is slightly firmer than ideal (but never mouldy).
In the German speaking part of Switzerland, Ruchbrot is so cheap because it's the variety that is made and sold in much bigger bulks than any other kind of bread. It's the quantity that makes the price.
Besides that, as mentioned above, it doesn't require any fancy decoration or the like, where a lot of expensive labor is involved.
If you have room in the freezer - most breads freeze well. I buy my bread - have some the first day and immediately freeze the rest - I even buy bread just to freeze - to have on hand. I normally slice it first then wrap and bag. I just thaw a slice or two as needed - my toaster even has a frozen setting. It also stops me from eating a whole loaf!!
It's amazing how little people know (or try to learn) about what they buy and consume... my ex would not touch it because to her it was obvious that anything that cheap could not possibly be any good
Yeah, that's how they sell stuff in Switzerland. People are convinced that some food needs to have a certain big heavy price tag. Otherwise it cannot be good. The higher the price the better it must be. High Price Island Switzerland = producer's paradise?
Our local bakery will happily sell half a loaf of any of their breads - if 500g is too much, you might want to ask if you can buy a half loaf.
(This usually only works in bakeries - you probably wouldn't have much luck in the supermarket. FYI, prices at our bakery are usually the same as in the supermarket.)
The bigger supermarkets usually sell a 250g loaf but it's almost the same price so to optimise gram for gram value I go for the 500g. I could go for the 1kg but I would have no hope.
I think a half loaf would cause me to go the shops too often. The 500g is perfectly edible by the time I get to the last piece, I just need to chew harder, so I am toning my jaw. Saves on joining a gym.
Besides freezing - the extra bread makes great breadcrumbs. I take the ends and tear into small pieces and leave in a bowl on the counter for a few days til it goes completely hard - or on a tray in a warm oven until dry.
Blitz in a food processor. Much better than store bought bread crumbs - and I like the mix of textures from different breads - especially seeded and whole grain ones.
Just as an aside to the general discussion on Ruchbrot: it also makes the best bread cubes for dipping into Fondue - just make sure that each cube of bread has some of the crust, otherwise if you just use the soft inside it'll disintegrate in the cheese
No, they're not. At least, not any more. In 1981 subsidies for bread were stopped. Instead, a maximum price got "suggested" to the baker's union in order to guarantee that poorer people are able to buy bread. So I guess if you buy another bread you sort of "finance" the cheap ones?
On the other hand: agriculture in Switzerland is subsidized.