Bread

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What is bread · not all bread is the same

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What a loaf of bread means for your body starts with whether the bran and germ are still there. Whole-wheat flour keeps them and brings more fiber, magnesium, and B vitamins; refined flour keeps only the endosperm, which is almost all starch. How fast the bread raises blood sugar also depends on how finely the flour was milled and how long the dough fermented; a later chapter, on what sets how fast bread raises blood sugar, takes these apart.

Bread is grain milled into flour, mixed with water, yeast (or another starter), and salt, then fermented and baked. It is one of the most common processed grain foods in the world.

Whole-wheat flour keeps the bran and germ, and the bread comes out darker and denser. Refined wheat flour (ordinary white flour, bread flour, cake flour) has both layers milled off, leaving almost only starch and a little protein (gluten); the bread comes out white, fluffy, and long-lasting.

The catch: many shop loaves look brown and say multigrain or mixed grain, yet the first ingredient is refined wheat flour. The color can come from caramel coloring, and the grains can be a light sprinkle.

A brown loaf and a cut slice with irregular air pockets in the crumb. — A CLOSER LOOK
Color and air pockets cannot replace the label
This is one example of bread's appearance. Brown color, grain flecks and airy crumb cannot prove the whole-wheat proportion or fermentation time.

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.

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