At last. . . a Supreme Court opinion that really, really, matters.

Rye soda bread dough.  No sugar.

Hooray for the Supreme Court of Ireland:

Subway bread isn't bread, Irish court says

LONDON — Ireland’s Supreme Court has ruled that bread sold by the fast food chain Subway contains so much sugar that it cannot be legally defined as bread.

The ruling came in a tax dispute brought by Bookfinders Ltd., an Irish Subway franchisee, which argued that some of its takeaway products - including teas, coffees and heated sandwiches - were not liable for value-added tax.

A panel of judges rejected the appeal Tuesday, ruling that the bread sold by Subway contains too much sugar to be categorized as a “staple food,” which is not taxed.

American bread in general is cake.

It's gross.

Oh, I don't mean the stuff you get at the bakery that's real French bread or the like.  

No, I mean that sliced sandwich bread or the mass produced bread that has piles of sugar in it.  

Ack.

In fact, in the misty dawn of time when I toured the hinterlands of the Republic of Korea on a Federally subsidized camping trip, Korean roadside venders sold individually wrapped slices of "cake" that for all the world looked like American sandwich bread. It probably was something pretty similar.

Which is why that bread tastes so gross, as soon as  you wean yourself away from it.  Ick.

You don't need sugar in bread in my view, unless yeast bread requires some for the yeast to do its thing.  You definitely don't need it for soda bread, which I used to make a lot and still occasionally do.  The recipe always calls for it, but I omit it.  I'll sometimes make it with beer, which includes sugar of course, and I sure don't add more.

Finished bread, a little too something, but hey, it wasn't because of a lack of sugar.

The Irish Supreme Court.  Striking a blow for sanity.