It is common knowledge that whole-grain flour is healthier than white flour, but what is whole-grain flour? This question may seem ridiculous, but read on – things are not always as they seem. The definition of whole-grain flour is quite simple but has become complicated (unnecessarily) by the modern industrial mills. True whole grain flour results from grinding the entire grain and not removing any parts of it from the resulting flour. The common grains used to make flour – wheat, spelt, rye, oats and barley – consist of three main components. The first is the protective outer skin that gives the grain its characteristic color and preserves the inner portion of the grain. Dried grains may be stored for years in silos and still retain their nutrients and viability as seeds for planting. When ground in the milling process, the outer skin becomes bran, a rich source of dietary fiber. Next is the base of the grain, the germ. When you plant it, this is where the grain sprouts roots. The germ is nutrient-rich containing numerous minerals, vitamins and natural oils. Finally the central portion of the grain, the endosperm, the largest component (in volume) of the grain, consists of 90% starch and 10% protein. From this simplified description (there are sub-parts to the above main components that are beyond the scope of this article), it becomes apparent that whole grains are a very healthy source of food, containing a large chunk of the nutrients necessary to sustain life. It's a no-brainer that bread made from whole grains ground into flour is also a very nutritious food source. It has been called the staff of life, since mankind for millennia has survived almost on bread alone. The reality unfortunately is that true whole-grain bread is not that easy to find today. The problems arise, as they most often do, because of commercial constraints. Modern mills are set up to mill flour from whole grains, but then to remove portions of the grain from the flour. These portions are removed by a series of siftings through different-sized sieves. The first component to be removed from the flour is the germ. Since the germ contains natural oils, unless refrigerated it goes rancid (much like butter). This would give flour a shelf life of less than two weeks out of the refrigerator. It would hike costs if the flour had to be delivered in refrigerated trucks and stored in the refrigerator in the supermarket. To lower costs and extend the shelf life of commercial flour to two months or more, the germ is simply removed. The next component removed is the bran. Bran, when ground, has very abrasive edges. These are like thousands of little utility knives in the dough, cutting the fragile strands of gluten created during kneading. Gluten is the “glue” that gives the bread its form and allows it to rise well. Bread made with flour containing bran (whole-grain flour) does not rise as high as bread without bran and is more dense in texture and not as light and fluffy. The industrial mills want to sell a “quality” product, flour that will produce dough that rises well and is aesthetically pleasing. So they remove the bran. After removal of both the germ and the bran, all that is left in the flour is the third component, the finely ground endosperm, commonly referred to as white flour, which as you will recall is 90% starch. So when you are eating bread or other baked goods made with white flour, you are basically eating empty calories, with none of the nutrients from the other parts of the grain to balance it, the fiber, the minerals, the vitamins and the natural oils. You have taken a very healthy food and denatured it, creating an unbalanced food. Some mills, after creating white flour in the milling process, take some of the removed bran and add it back to the flour, calling that whole-grain flour. Since it has no germ, shelf life is not a problem. All so-called “whole grain” flour found on the regular supermarket shelves, not refrigerated, contains only a portion of the original bran from the grain and certainly no germ. The mills know that they are removing vital nutrients from the flour so they supposedly supplement the flour at the end of the milling process with synthetic vitamins, calling this “enriched” flour. It is like taking out 20 or more nutrients and replacing five. Ironically the vast majority of the bran and germ removed in the milling process goes to animal feed and only a small portion to the health-food industry. The sheep and cows are eating the healthy parts of the grain, while the majority of humans are not. Unfortunately, the only place to buy true whole grain flour containing all parts of the grain today is in health-food stores, from the refrigerator. To my mind. denaturing flour is one the biggest hoaxes of modern society and it stems simply from ignorance. If we the public become more informed we have incredible consumer power to demand change and put things right, the way they should be, placing our health first and foremost, before the profit margins of the food companies. The writer, a master baker originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, lives in Ginot Shomron with his wife Sheryl and four children. He is CEO of the Saidel Artisan Baking Institute (www.saidels.com), which specializes in training and education in the field of organic, healthy, artisan baking and the inventor of Rambam Bread. He also lectures and works as a consultant in the fields of cereal chemistry, health and nutrition. Whole Wheat Bread • 2½ cups whole wheat flour • 1 cup water • 2 tsp. salt • ¾ cup of sourdough culture (see www.jpost.com/Food-Index/ In-the-Grain-Sourdough-for-dummies-317813 ) Mix briefly and leave to rest for 15 minutes for flour to fully absorb water. Knead for 15 minutes by hand. Shape into oval loaf and place in baking pan to rise for 1.5 to two hours. Bake at 250º for 35 minutes.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)