Bread: A definition
"What's in a name?
That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."-Juliet in “Romeo & Juliet”
Fortunately in Romeo & Juliet’s time, Shakespeare did not have to study the periodic table to understand what went into the bread he likely ate. I am halfway through David Wright’s, “Breaking Bread” and he titles chapter 3: Frankenloaf, which discusses the industrial process that churns out millions of loaves daily with mechanical methods and technicians. The ingredients that are commonly used in this mass manufactured “laboratory” could hardly be considered bread compared to centuries past. All you have to do is pick up a loaf at your local grocer and look at the ingredients list: enriched wheat flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), and the list goes on to mention things I have only ever heard mentioned in a college level organic chemistry class.
I define bread in it’s simplest form as being made up of three ingredients: whole wheat flour, water, salt. Now, the type of wheat flour and whether is it whole or not is another matter. My definition of bread is one what uses the best quality ingredients to maximize taste and nutrition, which arguably can only be achieved using whole wheat and fermentation. David Wright explains,
“The kernel of the wheat plant is a marvellous thing and bound up within it is a complex recipe for life. Everything from the outer bran to the nutritious endosperm and germ combine to produce a whole meal.”
He then goes on to describe how these nutrients can only be fully absorbed by the body with proper fermentation through the bread making process. He continues,
“The Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria continue to multiply and the resulting acids soften the gluten, essentialy pre-digesting it so our own gut doesn’t have to work so hard. If we overload our intestines with unfermented gluten, it gets clogged up, downs tools and we feel the effects. This could lead to anything from a sore tummy to dry skin or headaches.”
Due to the drastic departure over the last two centuries of simply mixing flour, water, and salt together and baking it into a bread, Wright questions this product that looks and smells like bread but has the complete opposite affect of the predecessor, i.e. robbing humanity of energy and making us “sicker by the slice”, can we still call it “bread”?
Industrial bread would still smell as sweet but should be called by another name. We must dissociate from the stigma that bread is unhealthy by returning to the artisanal methods - using locally sourced, whole wheat flours, and long-fermenting - so that this life giving resource can nourish us in the way that nature intended.
