If you feel like you are doing the right thing by buying and eating “wheat” bread from your grocery store – you could be wrong. And if you are buying white sandwich bread or some sort of whitewheat bread (like I used to buy) you might really be in for a surprise! Have you checked the list of ingredients on your sandwich bread? If you were to make your own bread at home, what ingredients do you think you would need? It really only takes a few essential ingredients to make bread: flour, water, yeast and maybe a little salt. Some bread recipes might also include some extras like honey (which does help preserve the bread), nuts, raisins, etc.
I used to buy Arnold “Whole Grains” Health Nut bread for my husband. I recently counted the ingredients on the label of his beloved bread – 40! As most of you know the ingredients are listed in a certain order. According to the FDA’s website “Listing ingredients in descending order of predominance by weight means that the ingredient that weighs the most is listed first.” So here is the list of what I found in this supposedly healthy “whole grain” bread that also contains “unbleached enriched wheat flour” which may sound okay at first glance:
WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, UNBLEACHED ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR [FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, REDUCED IRON, NIACIN, THIAMIN MONONITRATE (VITAMIN B1), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), FOLIC ACID], WATER, SUGAR, CRACKED WHEAT, RYE, WHEAT GLUTEN, YEAST, SUNFLOWER SEEDS, GROUND CORN, NUTS (ALMONDS AND/OR WALNUTS), MOLASSES, SOYBEAN OIL, SALT, CULTURED DEXTROSE AND MALTODEXTRIN, WHOLE WHEAT, WHOLE WHITE WHEAT, BROWN RICE, OATS, SOYBEANS, TRITICALE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, BARLEY, FLAXSEED, MILLET, CALCIUM SULFATE, DATEM, CITRIC ACID, GRAIN VINEGAR, SOY LECITHIN, HAZELNUTS, WHEY, NONFAT MILK.
Now most of us have heard that white flour is “bad” for us. But, why is it so bad and is there anything wrong with “unbleached enriched wheat flour” as listed above? Well, I must break out the anatomy of a wheat kernel to properly explain this one. As you can see the wheat kernel has a few key parts: bran, germ and endosperm. Over a hundred years ago wheat was ground between big stone wheels, which removed the bran, but could not remove the germ (a.k.a. the embryo) of the wheat kernel. According to Michael Pollan the germ contributes “some of the most valuable nutrients to the flour, including much of its protein, folic acid, and other B vitamins”, although once the germ is crushed during the milling process it releases a nutrient rich oil that gives the flour a very short shelf life. So in the late 1800s rollers were developed for grinding grain, which “made it possible to remove the germ and then grind the remaining endosperm” which is basically a “big packet of starch and protein.” We were then left with a gorgeous white powder that could travel long distances without spoiling and was almost nutritionally worthless – Michael Pollan calls it “the first fast food.” Since then food scientists figured out what happened and began fortifying the refined grain with vitamins to try to add back what they thought was missing. This is why white flour – which is still technically made from the wheat plant – is often listed as “enriched” on your food labels. It also explains why when I recently compared the labels of my husband’s Arnold “whole grain” bread to my Nature’s Own “Whitewheat” bread it appeared – as if it was an illusion – that the Whitewheat had more vitamins and nutrients. But, studies have proven that there are “additional health benefits to eating whole grains that none of the nutrients (they added back in) could explain.” So you are better off eating real whole grain flour rather than white flour that tries to imitate what may or may not be important in the real thing. This summary also explains why whole grain flour should be kept in your fridge or freezer – did I really want to eat something like white flour that would stay “fresh” sitting on my pantry shelf forever anyway?
Back to the topic of what kind of bread we should eat! Now that we know it should only have whole-wheat flour and no enriched white flour what about all the other stuff they put in the grocery store bread that I can’t even pronounce? Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my husband and I both picked through the majority of the sandwich breads (including the ones from the bakery) at our local Harris Teeter, Trader Joes and Earthfare and we could not find much of anything with suitable ingredients. So you could be adventurous and try to make your own bread or take a shortcut like I did and find a local bakery to make bread for you! I recently discovered and absolutely love Great Harvest Bread Company (which is a franchise with locations all over) because not only do they bake their bread daily, but they also grind their own wheat every morning – that is much better than I can do at home! You still have to pay attention though and make sure you don’t regularly buy their white breads that contain sugar, but instead stick to their whole-wheat options. Our new staple sandwich bread (which is also their most popular product) is their Honey Whole Wheat Bread that is made with the following FIVE ingredients:
OUR OWN FRESHLY STONE-MILLED WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, HONEY, YEAST, SALT
At the Charlotte location this bread does cost $5 a loaf, but halfway through our first sandwiches with our new bread we quickly realized we were filling up fast – because it is REAL food! I used to fix my 2-year-old a whole peanut butter and jelly sandwich (she loves some PB&J), but now she usually fills up on a half. I only eat about a half sandwich of it myself. So the loaf does go a long way…and in my opinion it is very tasty for whole wheat bread (and that is coming from a previous white bread eater)!
PS – There are a few other things I have learned about buying bread from a bakery. You are not supposed to keep it in the fridge (for better consistency) and the shelf life is about 7 – 8 days. The bread can easily be frozen. We splurged one week on their Cinnamon Raisin Bread (INGREDIENTS: OUR OWN FRESHLY STONE-MILLED WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, RAISINS, MOLASSES, YEAST, SALT, CINNAMON) and I froze half the loaf because we wouldn’t be able to get through the whole thing in a week. Also, they offer some items that can be special ordered like hamburger buns (minimum order is a dozen – freeze some for later!)
Thanks for this post, Lisa! I was just about to go grocery shopping and look for a ‘whole grain’ option, but I think I’ll try this Great Harvest place instead!
So glad I caught you in the nick of time and that you are reading the blog!
Lisa,
So glad that you found and love GH Bread. My husband Todd is friends with the owners Jeff and Janet…really great people with a great business. We have been buying their breads for years now. Thanks again for the awesome blog and I will pass the word along to Great Harvest about your support of their business.
What a small world Julie! Please do pass this on to them!
Thanks SO much. That’s really interesting. I never knew that Great Harvest grinds their wheat every morning. That’s a big incentive, because I just learned that the ground flour starts losing nutrients over time. Apparently the fresher the grind, the healthier. (you may have said that)
I know Elizabeth I mean technically we could all get wheat grinders and try to do this at home, but since that is not happening at my house anytime soon 🙂 I think Great Harvest is such a wonderful option! It is just exponentially better than the stuff that has been traveling to and sitting on the grocery store shelves!
what do you think of Milton’s, review pls. we use it for the extra fiber..
why do you want extra fiber? for obvious reasons??? just asking because if you cut out a majority of your processed foods you probably won’t need any extra fiber…
Thanks so much for doing this blog Lisa. I have just requested ” In defense of Food” from our library. I am looking forward to reading it and slowly but surely getting the processed foods out of our house. I am sure I will have lots of questions. My biggest concern is cost and time. I am hoping that I can realistically afford and make the time to actually “make” our food. I am going to give it my best shot! Kristie
I am so glad you are reading the blog Kristie! The downside of all of this is definitely a little higher cost and more time to prepare foods, but it is so worth it. Jason and I just decided that this has to be one of our higher priorities because what we put in our bodies is so important! Once you get into a new routine it will get easier as time goes on. I am glad you guys are on board!
I am addicted to Ezekiel bread. I buy the Trader Joe version, and enjoy it so much. Have you tried it?
I have not tired that before and I just looked it up online – on the surface it definitely looks a lot better than most of the factory made breads out there. It doesn’t show ingredients online though…is the list pretty basic?
It’s FLOURLESS, so all ingredients are sprouted grains. *Organic Sprouted Wheat, *Organic Sprouted Barley, *Organic Sprouted Millet, Malted Barley, *Organic Sprouted Lentils, *Organic Sprouted Soybeans, *Organic Spelt, Filtered Water, Fresh Yeast, Sea Salt. *Organically grown and processed in accordance with the California organic foods act of 1990.
Lily that sounds like a great choice for something off the shelf – thanks so much for sharing!
Lily – I just came across this information on sprouted grains (put together by the Whole Grain Council) and thought I would share with you since that is what is used in the Ezekial bread that you like! http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/sprouted-grains-april-grain-of-the-month
Thanks for explaining all this, Lisa…very interesting! Can’t wait to try the honey whole wheat. Now Harvest Bread needs to throw you a few loaves for free for all the new customers they will be getting from you. 🙂
That sure would be nice perk Emily!! 🙂
Honestly Lisa, not what I wanted to hear! The bread I have been buying is ARNOLD!!! It does have whole wheat as first ingredient, but also has lots of other ingredients! Tricky, tricky! I am going to Eartfare today to do my shopping, but I have to say the bakery thing may be a stretch for me! I will have to do a little research to see if we have one close by that I can get my bread from…will let you know how it goes. Thanks
As long as you start paying more attention to the ingredients – that is the first step! I know going to a separate bakery is just one more errand to run, but unfortunately a lot of these changes are not going to be easier or more convenient. Just take it one step at a time though and decide what your priorities are. I am so glad you are reading and starting to think about this stuff because it is so important!
I talked to Mike about it & he was excited about the bakery. He’s Italian & loves good bread. He did some welding for a local bakery & said we could check it out. I felt so relieved that he was supportive. Some people look at you like you are crazy when you talk about this stuff. I went to Earthfare today & left overwhelmed & disappointed. Things were expensive & I didn’t know where to begin. Mike & I talked about it & we are going to make some definate changes, but as you said, we have to take it one step at a time! Thanks
Jamie I am so glad that the bakery sounds like it is going to work out based on what Brianna said – that is great news to get that checked off the list! And don’t feel bad because I also left Earthfare, Trader Joes and our local Harris Teeter frustrated and confused the first few times I was trying to change the way I shop- it is surprisingly hard to do! And I just had to laugh that you said some people look at you like you are crazy when you are talking about this stuff – I cannot even imagine what some people are thinking about me for going so far as starting a blog about it! LOL Obviously the good outweighs the bad 🙂 Hang in there!!
Lisa,
I sent my husband a link to your blog and he went to the Marketplace Kroger today to do our usual grocery shopping. We noticed we don’t have a Great Harvest close to Knoxville so he looked for good alternatives. He came home with Old Mill Bread Company Honey Whole Wheat. 5 Ingredients: Freshly Milled 100% Whole Wheat, Water, Honey, Salt, Yeast. The bakery is located at 432 N Cedar Bluff Rd. I want to go check it out, but I am glad they have the bread at Kroger. Do you know anything about this kind? The first thing I noticed is how very heavy the loaf is compared with a regular load of bread. It smells so good. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks for you blog.
Oh, and it was 4.59 a loaf.
Great find Brianna and thanks for sharing the details for the other Knoxville readers! That is so convenient that the bakery delivers to Kroger. Most other “freshly baked” grocery store bread is made from a premade dough that is sent in from a central location. Therefore it is not made from scratch in the store and still has all the weird extra ingredients and dough conditioners. You are so lucky Kroger has a great alternative – and yes our freshly baked loaf that we get is much heavier than the factory made stuff. Enjoy eating some real food! 🙂
@ Brianna-That is the company that my boyfriend did some work for!! He said it was located in Cedar Bluff & wondered if that Kroger sold their bread. Did you go to that Kroger? I wonder if the farragut one would also have it? Awesome! Thanks
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Lisa – I found another bread option for people out west – Sprouts Farmers Market is a small grocery (similar to Trader Joes) that has some great bread options that fit the bill! They have stores in TX, CO, AZ and CA.
http://sprouts.com/home.php
Thanks so much for the tip Amanda – I love hearing about everyone doing their bread research!!
Lisa -A couple other good alternatives for real bread:
Down Home Bakery at Charlotte area Farmers Markets (I know for sure they are at the Matthews Farmers Market) and they are also available at Switchin’ Kitchens at the Fountains at the corner of Ardrey Kell and Tom Short roads. Another good choice is Breadsmith – Earthfare now carries them and there is a bakery in Fort Mill. You can check out their products and ingredients at Breadsmith.com
If you are interested in making your own bread rather easily, a good book by local chef, Peter Reinhart is: Artisan Breads Every Day. After mixing with a stand mixer and doing a couple of “stretch and folds” he raises the dough in the refrigerator and you can bake it anytime in the next 4 days or so.
Thank you for all of the suggestions!! Keep the ideas coming!
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OK…Seriously?!
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
I cannot believe I have been buying what I thought was “good” bread. Was going to pack up my two children in the mini-van and hit 77 North from Rock Hill to Rea Rd. today but now we will have ourselves a little Tuesday field trip to the bread store since they are closed on Mondays. Whew..glad I checked.
Thanks so much for doing this blog…it really has changed the way we eat and I feel like I’m at least doing something right as a parent.
By the way, our King Arthur’s wheat flour is in the cupboard..does it need to go in the fridge? Shoot..what about real syrup? We are so used to preservatives at our hosue.
Funny comment! I am so glad that people are reading about this and making the appropriate changes. And yes, your whole-wheat flour should be kept in the freezer or at least the fridge. You should also keep your pure maple syrup in the fridge too.
Also, I buy several loaves of bread each time I go to Great Harvest and freeze the extras. They come out of the freezer beautifully and save me lots of extra trips there!
Have you ever checked out the website http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com
I have used their recipe with the King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour and have just added a bit more water than the recipe asks for, they suggested this on their website.
I also don’t use a baking stone just a simple round pizza pan to bake my bread on.
The bread tastes absolutely amazing, so much better than the store bought ones. My boys and husband prefer this bread over anything.
I even use the dough to make our pizza.
When you go on their website just search for the Master recipe.
I bought their book and love it. Told my husband all I want for my birthday is the other book they have with more healthy versions with grain and so on (although the one I make is healthy too since I use a different flour).
It really isn’t too hard to make a great tasting healthy bread and it doesn’t take much hands on time.
Thanks for the tip…I just feel so busy with all of the other cooking (and blogging) and have been really happy with the bread from our local bakery, but if I am ever in the mood to try making it at home I will take a look at this recipe!
Making the bread doesn’t take long at all, no kneading required at all. It’s just the rise time you have to calculate into it. It takes you 5 minutes of actually handling the dough to make the bread, that includes mixing the ingredients as well ;0).
So if anybody reads this and doesn’t have a bakery near by that is definitly a great choice. No breadmaker needed either :0).
Good to know…at some point I am definitely going to have to try making some! I am sure it will seem easier once I get used to the process.
What would you suggest for someone who doesn’t have a Great Harvest bakery nearby but doesn’t want to make their own bread? The closes on to me is somthing like 150 miles away 😦 And the thought of making my own bread is, let’s just say, not pleasant……
I have a couple of suggestions for you…
1. There might be another local bakery (that is not part of the Great Harvest chain) that makes real bread in your area. It might take a little research on your part, but if you do happen to find one that you could get to at least once a month you could buy several loaves and freeze them. I only go every other week and freeze the second loaf. It defrosts really nicely! Just make sure they make it from scratch and don’t receive dough from “corporate” like some of these other bakery chains out there.
2. I have not done this myself yet, but lots of people have told us that if you invest in a bread maker that it is so easy to make fresh bread at home. Apparently you just throw in 5 or 6 ingredients, turn it on and then hours later you have fresh, yummy bread. I think it would be worth a shot if you can’t find a local place!
What do you think of the Ezekial brand of breads? They have more than five ingredients, but the ingredients are as follows: Sprouted Wheat, Filtered Water, Sprouted Barley, Sprouted Millet, Malted Barley, Sprouted Lentils, Sprouted Soybeans, Sprouted Spelt, Fresh Yeast, Wheat Gluten, Sea Salt.
The bag says 100% whole grain bread, and I buy it in the organic freezer section.
I’m interested in your opinion! Thanks
Ezekial breads are definitely “whole grain” breads…so that is absolutely a much better option than typical store-bought breads. You are good to go with that choice!
Ive tried the Ezekial breads & honestly its like eating card board! My kids wont eat it, my husband wont eat it.And its expensive.But if u can handle it thats great 🙂
What do France, the US, Whole Wheat, Algeria, and Organic produce have in common? Oh Godddddddddddd !
Great article, thorough and refreshing to see a conscious consumer understanding what industrialization means. You have offered, unconsciously, the best advertisement to the Great Harvest Company, and heck, why not when we know they use noble ingredients, and indeed they need encouragement, yet I find their price VERY expensive (in your next article do a research on the cost/price of a bushel of wheat and work your way up the whole chain and see if $5 is a good buy or exaggerated, and to give you a hint a bushel of wheat which is 60 LBS is approximately $10 to $11 on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, so One Pound of wheat is about $0.183 as you can see one pound cost 18 cents, and you may tell us on your next article if $5 is justifiable and how do they “Great Harvest Company” get to that price). Another alternative to eat healthy food is MOVE TO FRANCE as I did! The first thing I did when in France was; I screamed OH GOD! not because of an orgasm but because of the first tasty bite of real whole wheat baguette ha ha! Then the whole food chain started to smell sweet: Tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, apricots, lettuce, eggs, etc. So not only the fresh produce and fruits tasted good, but they also look wonderful. In the states, Monsonto company based in Saint Louis, MO decided to alter genetically the whole food chain to reach three milestones; great look, longer shelf life, and resistance to harsh environment “weather, disease etc” voilà! and so much so for those brainy scientists and Ph.Ds. in food science, they forgot all about TASTE and REAL NUTRIENTS, the two most essential and basic needs. However, even in France there is an invasion of Spanish produce of all sorts and MOST are genetically modified or full of pesticides and taste and resemble the Monsonto style of fresh produce in the US “great look and tasteless”. My next destination is Algeria my native country where they still lack the giant industrial farming/production artillery and the whole food chain is what they call locally BIO which means organic food! And the prices are in cents and not dollars, one Lb of tasty rip tomatoes “you can smell it a mile away” is 55 cents and a whole wheat baguette is like 35 cents!
I encourage all of you to eat healthy when possible because it is not just about whole foods, but also about another overlooked and very important aspect which is DIGESTION! Many diseases are born out of genetically modified food or food full of Bovine Growth Hormone found in milk, meat, poultry and milk products, all are cancer trigger elements in the food chain and ones that cause early puberty in millions of children starting even at age of five, yes 5, you heard me!
I would like to end with a link to PBS report on “The Harvest of Fear, Should We Grow GM Crops?” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/
From the above report: Today scientists can produce a change quickly by selecting a single gene that may result in a desired trait and inserting that gene directly into the chromosome of an organism.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture lists 7,516 field tests on new GM foods currently underway, and God knows which will make the cut and end up looking at us as they rest on our plates.
Don’t have a Great Harvest Bread Co. where I live, but tried Ezekiel bread & it’s ok, but I like Food For Life sprouted wheat bread much better & Rudi’s organic 100% whole wheat bread is good too, much softer of a texture than Ezekiel & Food For Life. You don’t have to go to a health food store to get it, I get mine at my local HyVee grocery store in their health food section. It’s in their frozen food part, but Food For Life is pretty good. Makes great toast & french toast!!!
We eat Nature’s Own 100% whole wheat bread…Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour, water, brown sugar, yeast, wheat gluten, contain 2% or less of each: salt, veg oil (soybean or canola), dough conditioners, cultured wheat flour, vinegar, calcium sulfate, monocalcium phosphate, yeast food….what is yeast food? Guess I just always saw “stone ground WW” and said good choice. Thgouhts? I can’t afford $5 loaf bread. This bread has the Whole Grain 14g or more per serving stamp.
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