Thursday, October 25, 2001

A slice of heaven
By Kristin Campbell
Staff Reporter

The Israelites ate a version of it every day for 40 years while they journeyed through the desert. It has formed the main part of the average person’s diet for centuries.

Baking companies are solely devoted to its production.

Bread has been a staple food for years and it’s popularity will never die for several reasons. To name a few, bread is the base of the food pyramid and is available in seemingly endless varieties.

History

According to www.PageWise.com, bread dates back at least 4,000 years. Egyptian workers were often paid in loaves of bread and paintings in the pyramids show the dead were buried with loaves of bread to provide sustenance in the afterlife.

Greek merchants brought Egyptian flour to Greece, and bread-baking flourished.

After Rome conquered Greece and took over the bread industry, the first Baker’s Guild was formed in 150 B.C.

According to www.history-magazine.com, bread was subject to special laws because it was so vital to peoples’ lives. The site reported that as early as medieval times, bakers were subject to regulations in order to protect the consumer.

Bread took another variation during America. Cornbread was invented in the early days of colonial America as an easy substitute for more traditional bread, since corn was easy to grow and harvest, but wheat and millers were not readily available.

Flour mills became popular in the 1800s, which led to an increase of highly-processed flour and the production of white bread, which is less nutritious, PageWise.com reported.

Baking Process

Different types of bread undergo specific baking procedures.

Breadworks Flour Mill and Baking Company, on 5837 Camp Bowie Boulevard, specializes in soft-crust American hearth breads and offers a variety of breads, cookies, muffins, cinnamon rolls and sandwiches.

Renay Roark, Breadworks owner, said he makes bread the old-fashioned way by starting with commercial yeast, which is not powdered. First he crumbles the yeast into water, which turns the mixture into a sponge. After it sits for one hour, freash-ground grains from a stone mill are added by hand until the sponge reaches the right consistency.

Roark said the dough is then hand-rolled, kneaded and broken into two-pound sections. Yeast makes dough rise during a time called “proofing.”

Kristin Campbell/SKIFF STAFF Panera Bread offers many varieties of bread that are baked fresh daily in-house.

“We use a sophisticated eyeball to get the bread just right,” Roark said. “We make the bread all by hand and eyesight, very much like your grandmother would,” he said.

The dough is placed in pans and baked in 330-degree ovens. Roark said he sprays water on French bread, which is baked at 450 degrees, to make the crust crunchy.

Bread made without preservatives should stay fresh for about a week if stored at room temperature, he said. Refrigerating dries the bread out faster.

Kevin Brown, executive director at Panera Bread, said total preparation and baking time for bread exceeds 24 hours.

To make sourdough, the dough sits for at least 20 hours, he said. The dough is placed in molds and sits for at least three hours to allow the yeast to rise. The dough is then baked for an hour at 350 to 420 degrees.

Brown described baking as an enjoyable art.

“I can’t bake nearly as well as my bakers can,” Brown said. “Timing, feel and knowing how your oven bakes are constant variables.”

Nutritional Value

Contrary to a popular myth, bread is not fattening.

According to the Web site www.Woolworth.com, this idea developed as a result of recent diets that told people to avoid carbohydrate foods, especially bread. Without carbohydrates, the body temporarily loses some of its normal water and results in weight loss, the site said. However, when the body’s normal water supply is replenished, the weight also returns.

Jessica Moore, a junior history and political science major, said she eats what she wants and exercises to prevent weight gain. Everyone ought to allow themselves to eat food they enjoy, she said.

“People who are on no-carb diets annoy me,” Moore said. “I don’t know how they can survive without bread.”

Woolworth.com also reported that bread is a source of starch, complex carbohydrates, B vitamins and dietary fiber.

Mary Anne Gorman, a professor of nutrition and dietetics, said that although bread is a low-fat food, the butter, oils and toppings people add make it fatty.

“Whole grain breads are the best sources for nutrients and produce numerous health benefits,” Gorman said.

She said carbohydrates should comprise 58 percent of your daily food intake.

The American Dietetics Association advises that at least six to 11 daily servings of grains be from whole grains.

Mrs. Baird’s Web site reported that the whole wheat bread is comprised of the entire kernel — the bran, germ and endosperm. White bread is milled from only the endosperm. Whole wheat bread contains four times as much fiber as white bread, the site said.

Since nutrients are removed when the husk falls off, Roark said, white bread is not good for you.

“Bleached, enriched white bread might as well be ground cardboard,” Roark said. “It’s easy to make bread look good but it’s harder to make it taste good.”

Brown said sourdough, which is the base for 80 percent of Panera’s breads, has no added fat.

Rye and nine-grain breads are also very low in fat, but cinnamon raisin bread has the highest fat content.

Varieties and Popularity

Moore, a server at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, said she has customers who get cranky when she forgot to bring the complimentary bread to their table before the meal arrived.

“They complained because I forgot to ask if they wanted bread,” she said.

Moore said she loves bread, especially cinnamon raisin.

“I’m a carb addict,” Moore said. “God gave me the taste buds for bread.”

Kristin Campbell
k.a.campbell@student.tcu.edu