Healthy bread?

The Daily bread?

Christians pray to God to “give us today our daily brad”. And the old testament of the Bible tells about bread falling down from Heaven, in the form of manna.

When even God sends bread, surely it must be good?

Some people would, in their attempt to eat more healthily, switch from eating white rice to eating whole meal bread. Is wholemeal bread healthy bread? Does it have more vitamins, minerals and fiber than white rice?

Not genuine
Firstly, a lot of whole meal bread is not genuine, 100 percent whole meal. Most are made from a mixture of refined flour and wholemeal flour – typically 50 to 70 percent white flour, but it can be as much as 90 percent.

Even high fibred breads may not be 100 percent whole meal. Some are made from white flour mixed with bran.

It’s not the same thing. Bran is pure fibred, without the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.

In America, there had even been cases of “high-fiber” bread made with sawdust. And you won’t be able to tell from reading the list of ingredients on the label. There, sawdust is described as “plant cellulose”.

But let’s assume you manage to get genuine, 100 percent whole meal bread. And it’s still soft and fluffy, like white bread. Some “healthy bread” are like this.

How do they make it?

By adding lots of yeast and lots of sugar. This is not really healthy bread.

Most of you would know by now that sugar is not healthy.

What about yeast? Some books recommend yeast products, such as brewer’s yeast, as health foods since they are rich in vitamin B.

But too much yeast can be very harmful. Yeast is very hardy and they don’t die even after baking. In your intestines, they can grow out of control, leading to yeast infection, or Candida.

Candida is very common in modern society, especially among women. Sufferers experience a wide range of symptoms, such as sugar cravings, chronic fatigue, tiredness, eating disorders, etc.

Candida is not primarily caused by eating yeast, because a healthy body can prevent yeast from spreading out of control. But eating lots of yeast will only worsen the problem.

Bread made with little yeast tends to be more dense and heavy. These are better - closer to being healthy bread.

Better still are sourdough breads made without added yeast.

Instead, they use a sourdough starter, which is made by mixing flour with water, and leaving it in the open for a few days. The only yeast is those found naturally on wheat, or in the atmosphere.

Research has shown that sourdough breads are more easily digestible and its nutrients more readily absorbed by the body than yeasted bread.

Genuine sourdough bread, however, is again hard to find. (But a lot easier now than in the 1990s when this article about healthy bread was written.)

Many “sourdough” breads are made with both sourdough and yeast. Read the ingredients list carefully, and question the baker.

Home made healthy bread

Okay. Let’s say you can find 100 percent whole meal bread, genuine sourdough bread. Let’s say you even bake it yourself, so you know exactly what you put in.

Do you know exactly? Do you know what the flour contains? Isn’t it just flour?

Don’t be too sure of that. In Non-toxic and Natural, Debra Lynn Dadd tells us that “plain flour” (and bread) may contain up to 30 different chemicals. Current food laws do not require these chemicals to be listed. They include bread improvers, bleach, preservatives, etc.

So if you’re into bread making, buy your flour from reliable companies that are committed to pure, clean foods.

Companies that are produce organic flours are generally okay. But look for additional information, such as the company’s philosophy and guiding principles.

Look also for stone ground flour. This is better because conventional steel grinding generates heat, which affects both the quality and the taste of the flour. Stone grinding is relatively cool.

Healthy bread from fresh flour

More importantly, use fresh flour. Because the quality of flour deteriorates once it is made.

It’s like when you cut an apple. It turns brown as its oxidizes when it is exposed to air.

The same thing happens when whole grain are broken up and ground into flour. They too, begin to oxidize except that the process is slower and less obvious.

Ideally, you should grind your own flour just before using. People in traditional societies actually do this. I read that in the Himalays, the Sherpas (mountain guides) carry a small flour mill and they would grind flour each time to make bread for one meal.

Today, there are electric stone mills that can produce 1 or 2 kg of flour in minutes. They are worth the investment if you are serious about eating healthy bread. Breads and cakes made with fresh flour rises more.

Click here to read part II of this article on healthy breads, which discusses whether it is a good idea to eat bread on a regular basis in the first place.