See here for a lively discussion of bread! Bread? Yes, commercial vs…well, what you might make at home… http://thebreadlab.wsu.edu/redefining-bread/

This is from Stephen Jones. The best way to think about the difference between store-bough bread and all the variations you might make… is in terms of the length of fermentation (slow fermentation usually involves “the sponge” that I talk about in the bread recipe in FoodWISE), but also, in terms of what’s added to the commercial bread—discussed in the article.

There obviously is some fermentation (otherwise you wouldn’t get the production of CO2 and alcohol (which is volatilized))….The article goes through (along the lines of what I say in the second section of part 2) the change in sensorial function of the bread as it goes through a longer fermentation (first “champagne-like,” then “beer-like,” for example). Fun!