In 2020, it ruled that the sugar content in Subway's savory sandwich bread was above the legal limit required to be labeled "bread," according to the country's Value-Added Tax Act of 1972, which states that for a baked good to qualify as bread, its sugar content cannot exceed 2% of the total weight of flour.
2 percent is frankly a little low for the bar sugar by weight to still be considered bread, but 10 percent(which is where they were at) is obviously outrageous. If you want a really aggressive rise while keeping a high hydration, adding sugar and heat can get you there. I don't think you're making bread anymore beyond 4 percent though.
Maybe I'm too European for this, but I would never have thought of putting sugar in regular bread. Even milk buns don't have added sugar in them, unless you count lactose.
…I'll have to try this, because it sounds off to me. Like putting a dishwasher in the bathroom. Not really insane. But I'd quietly judge someone who does that.
The only reason I would use a very small amount of sugar is to jump start the yeast. That shouldn't even take a teaspoon though, and it's only necessary when you have to get a faster rise.
The bread tastes better when you let it rise slowly though.
It's common in America when you want a quick rise or to increase moisture in the end product. Conversely, some recipes encourage proofing the dough in the fridge. This reduces yeast activity while retaining amylase activity, resulting in more sugar (maltose usually in this case) in the bread. In general, the best practice is to use the starches in the bread as the sugar for the yeast to develop complex flavor.
In the end bread is not an exact science and there's lots of variables to play around with to get what you want. It's just at 10 percent sugar you've certainly gone beyond that.
Look up sourdough recipes. The bacteria and yeasts will eagerly eat some longer-chain carbs. They aren't picky. Same goes for commercial supermarket yeasts.
Yeast does rise from "sugar" but it's actually the glucose contained within the flour. Bread yeast does not directly feed on sucrose. The process of breaking down starches into sugars is actually what gives bread a lot of it's flavor.
That said lots of European bread uses sugar too, just in lower percentages. American white bread is quite similar to French pain de mie.
Wasn't that in France specifically where they have more legal and commercial terms for bread than English speakers? For example a term more descriptive of what Subway serves translates to a "Sweet".