What could be tastier than a slice of fresh white bread with sausage and cheese? Or a favorite treat of the children of the 90s - bread with butter and jam? The modern world with its keto diets, proper nutrition, calorie counting and horror stories in the spirit of cholesterol plaques calls for using oatmeal or rice bread instead of bread, but who, hand on heart, refuses a fresh, smelling soft vanilla smelling white bread?
Where and when did the bread appear?
According to scientists, bread appeared about 5,000 years ago, when people learned to cultivate and cultivate wheat and barley. They began to bake fresh cakes of crushed grain and water on fire. But it was still not bread in the form in which we know it.
The ancient Egyptians were the first to add sour milk to the dough, later the Greeks adopted this tradition, followed by the Romans. So bread and other bakery products quickly spread around the world and gained popularity.
White wheat bread has long been the prerogative of the nobility and rich people, but over time it became available to all segments of the population.
What is bread like?
Today on the shelves of supermarkets and bakeries you can find an incredible amount of bread. In addition to the traditional white, wheat and rye, you can find whole grain, protein, bran, potato, corn, butter.
Depending on the variety, bread can be of different shapes - these are all kinds of loaves, loaves, baguettes, rolls and loaves. Now everyone can taste the bread of various nations - Armenian lavash, Georgian shoti, Israeli matzo, Mexican tortilla, Italian ciabatta, German pretzels, French baguette and many other types of bread.
Benefit or harm?
However, not every bread is equally useful, on the Internet, on television, in magazines and books on proper nutrition, the dangers of white bread are described, urging you to replace it with any other (pita bread, yeast-free, multi-cereal or whole grain).
Is it really so or is it just a tribute to fashion? Is white bread healthy and who can eat it safely? What baked goods should you really be afraid of? Let's try to figure it out.
King of the loaves
It is not for nothing that our ancestors put buns on the table only for special solemn occasions - for taste, he leaves behind all the other varieties, and then few thought about the benefits and harms of white bread.
White bread is made from premium flour, yeast, water, sugar and fats. Sometimes milk powder is added to it. Each plant or bakery has its own secrets, but the classic recipe remains unchanged.
Thanks to the tales circulated in the media about the dangers of white bread, he fades into the background, or even does not appear on the table at all. The reality is that many fears are too exaggerated, or even have no scientific evidence or research at all.
Bread is the culprit of excess weight.
Actually, they are recovering not from bread, but from excess calories, and from where a person obtains them - from pasta, bread, sweets, meat, fish, bananas or cheesecakes - it’s the tenth thing.
The table below shows how many calories are in a piece of white bread and other varieties.
The difference with whole grains, for example, is 44 calories, and this is the calorie content of about one apple. What is really important here is supplements. Since Soviet times, we are accustomed to the fact that if bread - it is necessary with sausage and cheese, or maybe with butter and jam. These seemingly insignificant ingredients immediately add a 200-220 kcal sandwich.
And of course, the measure is important in everything. You can get fat on a whole grain loaf and lose weight on a slice of white bread. From the point of view of caloric content, the most dietary is rye bread.
Gluten is the enemy of health
Gluten, found in large quantities in baked goods, has recently become the number one topic in all kinds of pseudoscientific articles and blogs about healthy eating. But some 20 years ago, semolina was considered one of the best foods for babies up to a year.
The harm of white bread has been confirmed for people with gluten intolerance - celiac disease. They should not eat rye and barley flour and all food products prepared from it. Otherwise, the mark "gluten free" is just a marketing ploy.
Vitamins and Minerals
Starting from the 40s of the XX century, premium-grade wheat flour is enriched with all the necessary minerals and vitamins, and therefore white bread according to GOST will provide you with calcium, vitamins B2, B5 and B6, iron, manganese, iodine, phosphorus, sodium and zinc.
Rye and bran bread have about the same vitamin and mineral composition . However, bread is not the only source of nutrients on our table, the human body receives the lion's share of vitamins from vegetables and fruits, therefore they, and not bakery products, should be the basis of the diet.
Cellulose
The debate about the dangers and benefits of white bread has been a long-standing issue among scientists. But they all agree that in bakery products made from flour of the highest and first grade there are too few dietary fibers - fiber.
Fiber is very useful for the intestines - beneficial bacteria feed on dietary fiber, and therefore the use of sufficient doses of fiber will have a prebiotic effect.
In addition, dietary fiber absorbs liquid, creating a feeling of satiety, which is beneficial for people who want to lose weight. Fiber is useful for normalizing blood sugar - it enters the duodenum in small portions, which somewhat smoothes the glycemic reaction and does not cause a sharp release of insulin.
White bread on yeast contains 4 g of fiber per 100 g of product, in whole grain - 6 g, in rye - 5.8 g, bran - 4.9 g. The champion in the content of dietary fiber is rye bread - 16.5 g.
Yeast war
White yeast-free bread is now in fashion . His lovers argue that yeast causes fermentation in the intestines, causing rotting processes, poorly affect the development of beneficial flora. Is it really?
Yeast-free bread is prepared with sourdough, which is obtained from flour and rye malt. All the same yeast and lactic acid bacteria are present in it. They break down the sugar contained in the test for alcohol and carbon dioxide, the dough rises, saturated with air and nutrients.
Everything would be fine, but ordinary yeast works on the same principle, and labels “yeast-free” or “fruit-leavened” are nothing more than a marketing move designed for a gullible customer.
All yeast dies at temperatures above 60 degrees. Bread, as you know, is baked at 200 degrees, the temperature of the crumb reaches 98. There is nothing harmful in baker's yeast, however, as well as healthy. When choosing bread, first of all, you should pay attention to the flour, which is part of the composition, and the presence of all kinds of additives and "improvers". The fewer the better.
Rusks - a treat for tea
Dry white bread is one of the most delicious desserts. If earlier crackers were dried on their own, now on the shelves of supermarkets there is a huge selection of this product - for tea and beer.
Rusks are a rather mixed product. On the one hand, it is useful for people suffering from flatulence and irritable bowel syndrome, helps to quickly deal with heartburn, is allowed on a diet for people with pancreatitis and cholelithiasis. On the other hand, it exacerbates diseases of the stomach and can provoke an ulcer.
First of all, this concerns store crackers - most of them contain too much salt, spices and oil.
But their vanilla counterparts for tea are much more useful in composition - they, unlike beer crackers, which are fried in large quantities of oil, are usually simply dried in special dryers.
Rusks can be cooked at home (to dry bread in the oven at a low temperature), the same rule applies here - crackers from rye and whole grain bread are healthier and more nutritious than white.
Hello from America
If there is still debate about the benefits and harms of white bread from the bakery. But what is definitely not worth eating is toast bread and ready-made rolls for hot dogs and hamburgers in vacuum packaging.
Such baked goods are imported from America and, in addition to flour, water, yeast, salt and sugar, they include a large amount of margarine, “improvers”, stabilizers and preservatives. Without toaster, toppings and additives, such bread resembles the taste of cotton wool.
Shelf life is also not credible - more than two months. This is achieved by the addition of edible alcohol and calcium propianate.
Does bread harm health?
However, no matter what additives, preservatives and “improvers” are included in the composition of bread, a single or rare use of it will not harm health. The habit of eating it constantly and at every meal - for breakfast, lunch and dinner, without taking into account the total calorie intake, can harm.
The harm of white bread is that its use provokes a jump in blood sugar, but due to the lack of fiber, glucose entering the blood is broken down very quickly, and the remainder of free insulin provokes an outbreak of hunger. The man eats bread again, the situation repeats.
Whole grain and rye bread is free from such a disadvantage. The dietary fiber contained in it does not allow sugar to jump so fast, insulin is produced in smaller quantities and a person feels full longer. In addition, all kinds of seeds, nuts or seeds, which are often part of such a product, saturate the body with healthy fats.
How to choose bread in the store?
To date, there is no law that obliges the manufacturer to indicate on the package all the additives and ingredients that are included in the composition, as well as the amount of gluten artificially added to the dough.
It is beneficial for the manufacturer to use additional gluten in the production - this way the finished product turns out to be more magnificent, airy and slower to spoil. And for the consumer, this means only extra empty calories.
Unfortunately, the inscription on the label "Borodino", "whole grain", "bran" (or any other) does not guarantee the high quality of the product. Each bakery and bakery adapts the recipe in its own way, you should be guided only by the label on which the composition is indicated.
If the first or second ingredient indicates flour of the highest or first grade, such bread can be safely returned to the shelf. Better that it was not in the composition at all. The most useful are whole grain rye, whole grain wheat, rye and wallpaper.
Do it yourself
In general, the wording of the question "Is white bread useful?" - not quite correct and correct. It would be more correct to ask: "For whom is white bread useful?" or "What white bread is good?"
The answer to the first question is very ambiguous: despite the fact that in all respects whole grain and rye bread is much better, some nutritionists advise giving children only white bread. According to the results of their research, bread from whole grain and rye flour is less absorbed by the child's body, can cause pain in the intestines and indigestion. At the same time, other scientists insist that early introduction of white bread into the diet of children increases the risk of developing celiac disease - gluten intolerance. In any case, the choice of bakery products remains with the parents. But the answer to the second question is much simpler. If you choose between store and homemade bread - the answer is obvious. Only by preparing bread yourself, you will be sure that it does not contain harmful additives.
Homemade white bread
Even without a bread machine at home, you can treat yourself and your loved ones with delicious fresh bread.
Cooking it is not at all difficult. As in the best bakeries, we will use only five ingredients:
- wheat flour - 500 g (per dough), 150 g (per table);
- warm water - 300 ml;
- salt - 9 g;
- dry yeast - 10 g;
- vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l
Cooking:
- Sift flour twice, add salt and yeast to it and mix thoroughly with a whisk.
- Add warm water and mix thoroughly.
- Sprinkle the table with flour and start kneading. At first, the dough will be sticky and stick to your hands, but as you release gluten it will become elastic. Knead should be at least 15 minutes.
- Grease a bowl with butter, put the dough in it, cover with a towel and put in a warm place for 1 hour.
- When the dough comes up and increases about 2 times, shift it into shape, sprinkle with flour and leave to stand for 20-30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 230 degrees, reduce to 200 and carefully place the mold in the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes.
- Cool the finished bread on a wire rack.