Bread is at the heart of religion and culture.  The Lord’s Supper is all about bread and wine.  Breaking bread with the rest of the church body forms the foundation of our communion.  Bread is also a central part of table fellowship outside of church meetings, with each culture having its own versions: India’s naan, Scotland’s bannock bread, the Deep South’s biscuits, Ethiopia’s injera, etc.

With bread playing such a central role in cultures around the world, it’s good for us know more about it.

All About Bread & Health

There’s a modern movement to paint bread as unhealthy, but this isn’t true — at least not inherently.  Bread and other grain foods form a staple of diets around the world for good reason.  Not only are they inexpensive and ubiquitous, grains are nutritional powerhouses.

While each grain has its own unique nutrition profile, wheat (as an example) contains more than three dozen nutrients!  Spread a slice of 100% whole wheat bread with butter (which contains the remaining known nutrients), and you have a complete meal.

Bread’s bad rap probably arises in large part from the modern processing of grains.  See, grains that are left intact will last for a very long time, as long as they’re stored in a dry place (and assuming nothing eats them!).  But as soon as you grind them into flour, the oil in them begins to degrade.

Manufacturers realized this, and learned that if they refined the flour so only the starch is left, the flour doesn’t spoil.  There’s good reason the flour doesn’t spoil — almost all of the food has been taken out of the food!

Starting from whole grains of wheat — called “wheat berries” — the bran is removed, along with the germ, leaving only the starch: what we know as white flour. Because this is nutritionally deficient, manufacturers often then “enrich” this flour by adding synthetic versions of five of the vitamins that were lost (in very different ratios than what was found in the original grain).  As you can imagine, this is a much less healthful food than what we started out with!

The healthiest option is to buy whole grains and mill your own flour at home, fresh, when you’re ready to use it.  The second-best option is to purchase products made with “100% whole wheat” or “100% whole grain.”

Among those who acknowledge that bread can be healthful are those who teach that all breads and grains should always be soaked or fermented.  They claim that this was historically the case.

But unsoaked, unfermented grains (and breads) are not actually modern or novel.  The absence of fermented or soaked grains is largely modern.  The consumption of fermented or soaked grain products is pretty rare nowadays — at least in Western cultures.  But historically there was always a mix.  Some breads (and grains) were consumed soaked or fermented, and others were eaten more directly or “fresh.”

Bread Basics

So what goes into bread?  If we’re talking about a standard loaf of yeast bread like most people think of when we mention “bread,” there are three primary ingredients: water, yeast, and flour.  The water moistens both, and activates the yeast, which is a tiny micro-organism that feeds on the flour and produces gas.  This gas is then trapped by the elastic strands of gluten (protein) in the flour, forming bubbles that allow the bread to rise.  (This is why you can’t make yeast bread with gluten-free grains without special ingredients.)

Most breads also contain oil, salt — which rounds out the flavor — and some form of sweetener, which not only contributes to the flavor, but also feeds the yeast so they grow more effectively.  Some breads include additional ingredients like milk, eggs, or other additives to improve the “crumb” (how soft the bread texture is), add a richer flavor, etc.  (French bread usually contains no oil, which is why it has a drier texture than sandwich breads do.)

Our family’s favorite honey wheat bread recipe is a simple “white wheat bread” recipe made with only the basic ingredients: water, yeast, flour, oil, salt, and honey.  It’s simple for beginners, and I’ve never known it to fail as long as the water’s not too hot (that kills the yeast) and the ingredients are all right.

By the way, you might be surprised to learn that the unique flavor of rye bread isn’t rye!

Other Bread Options

Other leavened (raised) breads are “raised” with baking soda or baking powder.  These are known as “quick breads” because they don’t require the extended rising times that yeast breads need for the yeast to grow.

They also don’t rely on stretchy gluten strands in the flour to trap the air bubbles, so a soft wheat or a low-gluten or gluten-free grain will also work.  (Although completely gluten-free grains sometimes have a hard time holding things together in general and they get crumbly.)  Sometimes, in fact, a soft wheat is preferred when you want the end product to be very tender (not tough).  Biscuits are a good example of a bread where soft wheat is preferred.

“Sweet” breads like zucchini bread and banana bread are quick breads.  Our whole wheat banana bread is a favorite, and can easily be changed up by swapping the bananas out for a different fruit.  (I’ve also substituted gluten-free flours.)

Muffins are quick breads, too!  They just happen to be baked in small sizes. I like to have a few versatile recipes rather than numerous similar ones, so I love the healthy whole wheat muffins we make with our do-it-all recipe, and the long list of variations it can produce.  (We also have an adaptation for gluten free muffins.)

Croissants

Croissants are a special case.  Croissants are a cross between a yeast bread and a pastry, and they use the leavening methods of both.

They do contain yeast.  But they also are formed and raised in a similar manner to a puff pastry: a slab of cold butter is wrapped in the dough, and it is rolled, folded, and re-rolled repeatedly to form many thin layers of butter between thin layers of dough.  When you bake the croissants, the butter releases steam as it melts, which creates pockets of air between each layer.

If you want to give it a try, I have a recipe for whole wheat croissants here on the site.  It’s a bit fiddly and time-consuming, but it isn’t difficult.

Gluten-Free Bread Recipes at Titus 2 Homemaker

Given the facts already presented about yeast and other leavenings, it’s probably unsurprising that the gluten-free breads featured here on the blog are all quick breads.  (One does contain yeast, but it’s more for flavor than function.)

• Whole Grain Gluten-Free Bread
• Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread  (This is adapted from the banana bread above, so if you compare the two, you can easily see how I make a gluten-free banana bread, and how I would make a whole wheat pumpkin bread.)
• Gluten Free Dinner “Rolls” (made with whole grain and with yeast for familiarity of flavor)
• Gluten-Free Muffins  (This basic recipe is an adaptation of the whole wheat muffins above, so most of the variations in that recipe should work with it.)

Flatbreads

Some breads aren’t leavened with yeast or with anything else; they’re left unleavened.  Like tortillas.  Perhaps surprisingly, though, not all flatbreads are entirely unleavened!  Pitas, for instance, rise a bit; that’s how the pockets are formed.  Flatbreads like injera are fermented so they’re essentially a form of sourdough.

These flatbreads are found all over the world.  Experimenting with the variety can be a good way to explore a variety of grains and flours that are unfamiliar.  Many flatbreads use wheat, but many rely on grains that are indigenous to other parts of the world.  And if you’re gluten-free, these can be a non-overwhelming place to start, since many use naturally gluten-free grains and none of them require getting a large fluffy loaf to hold together!

If you’re “all about bread,” flatbreads can also be a great way to enjoy yourself without overindulging in carbs.

So go ahead and break bread…while also breaking out of the bread rut.