 How old is bread? Nobody can say for sure. It is known that a few thousand years ago bread in one form or another was one of the main food products of all mankind. But in the past few decades, this invaluable product has become the subject of controversy among nutritionists. Some believe that bread is life, others find in it the cause of many chronic diseases. Which one is right?
In order to answer this question, it is necessary to look into the past and remember how and from what our ancestors made bread. After all, there was no yeast or baking powder, and flour from their own wheat was ground "white" only before big holidays, in everyday life they mainly used coarse wheat or rye. And home electric ovens at the beginning of the twentieth century belonged to the category of something fantastic and incredible. Nevertheless, there is practically no bread like our great-grandmothers baked in a real oven - delicious, extremely healthy and beautiful - now and cannot be any more - because the women of those times did not know modern wisdom and baked the way their mothers and grandmothers taught them ... With their own hands, they kneaded the dough in the same bowl, not forgetting to leave a piece for the next kneading. It was this piece that performed the function of modern yeast. With love and prayer they shaped the dough and prayerfully put it in the oven. Even small children knew that while the bread was being baked, in the house in no case should you make noise and quarrel. "Taking out" the finished bread from the oven is a solemn moment. The smell of freshly baked crust spreading through the hut could not be compared with any other aroma in the world, and the taste of an ordinary black or gray bread was simply amazing. In addition, even a small crust, eaten with fresh milk, was a full breakfast for children, giving enough energy and strength before lunch.
Modern realities of life have saved women from the need to bake bread on their own. Bakeries and bakeries produce enough products to sell. That is, modern bread should not become stale or moldy for at least a week. And for this it has to be “stuffed” with all kinds of stabilizers and leavening agents. What health benefits are there!
In recent years, many housewives, having heard all kinds of reviews about the dangers of bread, have transferred their families to homemade baked goods. Is home-baked bread more useful than store-bought bread? It is believed that this is so, but there are some nuances in this issue.
Let's start with flour.
Since childhood, we are accustomed to blindly believing everything that is written on the packaging of goods. If a bag of flour is labeled "Premium", then it really is the most useful and nutritious. But this is far from the case. Coarse wheat flour contains almost 70% more substances useful for our body. And in rye flour there are several times more such substances. So, for making everyday homemade bread, you should use not white flour, but rye flour with the addition of a small amount of whole wheat wheat (approximate proportion - 4: 1), since pure rye bread is quite heavy for the stomach, especially for children.
Now about the yeast. There are many old baking recipes on the web that mention yeast. It should be remembered that this was not the product we are buying in the store now. Yeast in the old days was called sourdough - a fermented dough made from water and flour or a piece of dough from a previous batch, kept warm for several days. And modern yeast is by no means a product of natural origin, but a substance made by means of complex chemical processing. And they were created for a faster raising of the dough, which greatly facilitated the life of modern housewives, but no less significantly reduced the taste and useful properties of bread products.
The quality of the water also contributes to the bread making. It is better to use water for kneading the dough that is not chlorinated from the tap, but at least the pump room.
Cooking technology. The owners of the bread makers put all the components into the machine and take out the finished bread after 2-3 hours. Fast? Yes. But is it useful?
By kneading the dough with your hands, you transfer a piece of your good energy to it, moreover, in this case, you can be sure that you have added the right amount of ingredients, for example, salt.
A truly "healthy" bread dough should be suitable for at least 12 hours, and in 3 hours it simply does not have time to gain all its useful strength.
Ready bread should never be eaten hot. It is extremely harmful to the stomach and liver. Let it cool down to at least room temperature.
In addition, you should not combine bread with many products. For those who want to lose weight or just maintain their existing weight, bread, even black bread, in combination with any porridge or potatoes is dangerous. But many ate this way for centuries and were absolutely healthy and did not get fat! Yes it is. But the physical activity was completely different. People moved more and did everything with their own hands, which took a huge amount of energy, which had to be replenished with the help of increased nutrition.
Meat and sausages are also not very compatible products in relation to the dough. If you are already making a sandwich, then put on the bread not sausage or fried chop, but a piece of boiled meat. And don't forget to add a raw vegetable - a slice of cucumber, tomato, or lettuce.
So, bread is really a healthy product, but only if it is properly prepared and the measure of its use is observed. Bon Appetit!
Kozub Anna Anatolievna
Bread recipes on the forum.
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