Changes in the Bread You Buy

Esther F. Phipard.

Our consumption of grain products notably wheat flour has declined greatly during the past 40 years. We can infer from that fact that we eat less bread, although we cannot say precisely how much Jess, for no year-by-year figures are available that take into account the unknown amount of bread baking in the home as well as in bakeries.

The main reason offered for the downward trend in consumption of bread seems to be that we are eating more of other foods dairy products, except butter; citrus fruits; vegetables; and sugar.

Nearly everybody eats bread. Ninety-eight percent of the families included in a Nation-wide sample of urban areas bought bakery bread. The study, made in the spring of 1948 by the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics, gave information on the kinds and quantities of foods used in the household during a week and on the money spent for them. Purchases of bread of different types and the percentage of households using each kind in a week were :

White enriched bread, by far the leading item in the group, accounted for more than two-thirds of the total breadstuffs purchased. Most families enjoy variety now and then, as shown by the percentages that ate other types as well. More than a fifth used whole-wheat bread; more than one-fourth used cracked-wheat, rye, raisin, and other specialty breads. Ready-made rolls, biscuits, or muffins were bought by about one-fourth of the families and unsweetened crackers by nearly one-half. The figures do not include homemade bread, rolls, muffins, or corn bread, which were reported in terms of flour or meal.

Among four large cities studied by the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics in the winter of 1948, families in Buffalo, N. Y., bought the largest amounts of bread, averaging more than 2 pounds a week a person. Next in order were Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Francisco, and Birmingham, Ala. Farming in Birmingham used only about 1.5 pounds of bakery bread a week a person; hot biscuits and corn bread made at home more than made up for the difference.

Family income made little difference in the amount of bread purchased, except in Birmingham. There, as incomes rose, a marked shift to more ready-made bread and other bakery products occurred, but less flour and corn meal was used. The percentage of Birmingham families using whole-wheat bread also rose with income.

Grain products are among the cheapest sources of calories a fact that accounts largely for their prominence in diets of many population groups. Fortunately for people who depend heavily upon them for food, grains furnish many of the nutrients needed for good nutrition.

City families in the United States in the spring of 1948 spent about one-tenth of their total food money for grain products, from which they obtained about one-third of the thiamine, one-fourth of the calories, protein, iron, and niacin, one-fifth of the riboflavin, and one-seventh of the calcium in their diets. Grain products would thus be considered economical sources of those nutrients. Ready-baked bread took about 4 percent of the food dollar, but returned more than that proportion of several nutrients.

Processing changes affect the quality of bread. Basically, bread is made from flour and water or other liquid, to which is added a leavening agent, usually yeast. Other substances may be added to enhance flavor and texture or to promote the growth of yeast. The mixture then undergoes processes of mixing or kneading and rising before baking. That was as true years ago as it is today, but today's bread, dead-white in color, is quite different from the bread of, say, a century ago. To begin with, the flour is different. In the early days when wheat was ground between millstones, all parts of the kernel were ground down together. When the resulting product was sifted through bolting cloth, some of the brownish particles of bran and the more yellowish parts from the germ and aleurone layer also passed through. The stone-ground flour was therefore creamy in color with flecks of brown.

Beginning in 1880, stone grinding of wheat came to be almost completely replaced by the use of steel roller mills, a great technological advance. The chief difference was in the cleaner separation of the starchy endosperm from the outer branny layers of the kernel, and the nearly complete removal of the germ or embryo. The result is a finer, whiter flour, which makes a finer and whiter loaf.

Today's bread is different for other reasons, too. Consider how it is made and what goes into it. In the past few decades, laboratory testing of flours has revealed much about the relation of their chemical composition to the properties of the dough and the resulting bread. Methods have been devised for determining the elasticity and potential strength of the dough. As a result, there is better control of the flour going into various products, to the satisfaction of consumers and bakers.

Yeasts have been improved and standardized. The discovery that the kinds and amounts of natural salts in water supplies affected the activity of the yeast and the behavior of the dough led to the development of so-called yeast foods, commonly used in commercial bakeries.

Each of these developments has contributed to production of uniform quality in bread. Perhaps even more important is the physical control of the bakery processes. Large-scale bakeries are largely mechanized from the blending of ingredients to the slicing and Wrapping of the finished loaf. Control of time, temperature, and humidity helps to bring laboratory precision into the production of the modern staff of life. Even small bakeries, while they do not have the elaborate equipment used in large plants, make use of mechanical mixers and controlled oven heat.

Consumers have come to expect freshly baked bread and to associate freshness with softness. It is now known that certain chemical substances when added in small amounts to bread dough impart a softness to the loaf which lasts somewhat longer than would otherwise be the case. Whether or not this practice is desirable from the standpoint of the consumer has been under review. The kinds and quantities of these and other ingredients which may be added to commercial bread have been studied with a view to publication in a proposed booklet, Definitions and Standards of Identity for Breads, Rolls, and Buns, to be promulgated b~' the Federal Food and Drug Administration, Federal Security Agency.

A grain of wheat, like all seeds, contains the nutriment needed for germination and growth of the seedling. Protein, minerals, B vitamins, fat, and carbohydrates are present in the right proportions for the new plant. Actual concentrations of the several nutrients may vary widely with the type and variety of wheat and other factors. The nutrients are distributed unequally in the three major parts of the kernel. The outer coating, or bran, contains most of the fiber and a large share of the minerals and vitamins. The germ, or embryo, although a very small part of the kernel by weight, contains most of the fat, a large proportion of the vitamins, and protein of superior quality. The endosperm, or starchy portion, provides most of the carbohydrate and some of the protein, but much lower concentration of the minerals and vitamins.

White flour, as it is milled today, is largely the endosperm of the wheat. The removal of the bran portion and the germ has removed also the greater part of the minerals and vitamins and much of the protein.

According to B. K. Watt and A. L. Merrill, in Composition of Foods Raw, Processed, Prepared, the differences in the average composition of whole-wheat flour and white flours made from hard wheat and suitable for bread are :

Whole-wheat flour is higher also in other known nutrients not listed here and possibly in some still to be identified.

The slightly lower caloric value of the whole-wheat flour indicates the effect of the fibrous bran on the completeness of digestion of the protein and carbohydrate. In ordinary mixed diets of normal persons, a moderate amount of indigestible roughage is desirable. It gives bulk to intestinal residues and helps maintain normal functioning. An excessive amount of bran in the diet, however, may prove too irritating.

From the standpoint of calories, the slightly lower digestibility of the longer-extraction grain products is of little practical importance in American dietaries. It is more than compensated for by the larger amount and better quality of the protein and by the greater contribution of minerals and vitamins from the whole wheat. The figures show about twice as much calcium and riboflavin in the whole-wheat as in the white flour; from three to four times as much phosphorus, iron, and niacin; and seven times as much thiamine.