Flour + Water + Salt + Yeast = Bread

Those of you that read my blog with any regularity (and thank you so much!), know that I make my own bread. I use the bread machine to mix my dough, but then I shape it, let it rise and bake it my oven. So, it's a little bit of cheating, but still I make my own. My everyday bread recipe has 4 ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast. That's it.

A couple of Saturdays ago, instead of baking bread, I had to have a mother/daughter talk with my 22 year old daughter. I would probably have been more productive baking bread, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Since, I didn't have time to bake bread, I bought a loaf of Italian bread from my local grocery store. I figured, Italian bread, it's pretty basic. This is the list of ingredients in my bread:

Unbleached enriched flour, water, yeast, salt, partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oils, sugar, wheat cluten, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, ascorbic acid, enzymes, diacetly tartatic acid esters of monodigyderides, soyflour, lechitin, azodicarbonamide, calcium propionate). High fructose corn syrup, leaving (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda), datem, sodium stearoyl lactylate, dextrose, malt, calcium, pyrophosphate, carrageenin, soybean oil, lechithin, color (annatto/turmeric). Quick shine - water, sodium caseinate (milk protein), propylene glycol, canola oil, methylparaben & propylparaben (preservatives), diacetyl acid esters of mono and diglicerides (emulsifier), sodium polyphosphate, artificial flavor for aroma enhancement, carroggenan, mixed tocopherols added to protect flavor, and nitrogen (propellant).

I am not kidding. I am so thankful that I cook and that I bake using simple, fresh ingredients. I have one question, well, actually this raises lots of questions, but lets just focus on one. Bread has one of the best and most loved aromas of all time, why then does this loaf of bread need "artificial flavor for aroma enhancement"???? They had to make this bread - smell like bread.