It is winter here in the north. The temperatures hover in the low 30’s and we often wake up to a blanket of snow. It is the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up by the fire and read. It is also the kind of weather that calls for a big pot of homemade soup and a slice of warm bread. Except that, apparently bread is public enemy number one now. Cottage cheese used to be, but it is in style again.

Bread has been given a bum rap. Who doesn’t love a slice of warm bread, fresh out of the oven, with a little butter slathered on top? Now people act like you are trying to poison them if you offer them a dinner roll. But the next morning they will eat a stack of pancakes. Hum…

Long ago, bread was considered the staff of life. It has been a staple of the human diet since biblical times. Back when bread was hearty. But slowly, starting in the early 20th century, white bread came into the picture. That is when bread transitioned from a whole grain product to a highly processed loaf of chemicals; all designed to decrease costs and increase shelf life. And people bought in fully. Factory made sliced bread became a huge convenience for people. After all, you have heard the sayings, “it is the best thing since sliced bread.”

A childhood with homemade bread

My mom made almost everything from scratch. We ate from my dad’s garden, our freezer was full of beef from a friend’s small cattle ranch, and my mom preserved peaches, pears and jam for the winter months. My siblings and I remember the big crock of “housewife pickles” sitting in the cupboard. We lived eating organic food long before it was in style. Ultra-processed food was rare at our home growing up. I am quite sure that is a large part of why my siblings and I are experiencing robust, health in retirement.

Every week, without fail, my mom made a huge batch of homemade bread. She would move through the kitchen with ease, tossing ingredients together, rolling and folding dough, while the local radio station played in the background. We had a couple miniature bread pans tucked away in the cupboard and sometimes I would get to knead a little chunk of dough and make my own mini loaf of bread. My mouth was drooling and my heart was bursting with pride when she pulled that little golden loaf out of the oven.

If we were lucky, bread baking day included warm rolls for dinner that night and cinnamon rolls, dripping with frosting, the next morning. My siblings and I clamored and argued over who got the cinnamon rolls with the soft, gooey centers… back before white flour became enemy number one.

Homemade bread was a treat hot out of the oven at home. Not so much in the brown sack lunches we carried to school the rest of the week. Oh, it was still delicious, but those chunky uneven slices of bread with leftover beef and a slice of cheese (not Velveeta) weren’t “cool.” Thin slices of Wonder bread were cool. My slice of homemade cake wrapped in wax paper was not as cool as a pre-wrapped Hostess cupcake either. I would try desperately to trade it for a Twinkie or Ding Dong. We did not know what we had back then. What I wouldn’t give to have a slice of my mom’s homemade bread today.

How did bread get a bad reputation?

Industrialization ruined bread, as it has done to many foods. Flour was refined, bleached and stripped of all of its’ nutrients and fiber. Then conditioners and preservatives were added, and the dough was “enriched” with some of the nutrients that were lost in the refining process. Time went on and people began craving this soft, white sliced plastic bread that would last on your shelf for weeks before it got moldy.

Then came the low carb diet craze and bread was viewed as one of the “bad” foods, thanks to factory produced sliced white bread. It is high in the kind of carbs that cause a quick rise in your blood sugar (one of the top culprits on the Glycemic Index). Common, factory produced white bread has too many calories and not enough fiber, vitamins and minerals. Of course, this is because processing of the wheat kernel took all of that out of it. Then they tried to put it back in. Ridiculous when you think of it.

Ways to still enjoy the staff of life

If you love bread but have been depriving yourself of it, you can stop. We do not need to eliminate bread from a healthy diet (unless you have celiac disease or a wheat allergy). There are several ways to include bread in your diet without guilt. The first option is to eat mostly whole grain. Whole wheat bread has retained most of the wheat kernel’s valuable nutrients and fiber. It causes a much slower release of sugar into the blood stream.

If you don’t like whole grain bread, consider sourdough instead. I am sure you have seen all of the beautiful loaves of homemade sourdough bread on the internet. It has become a popular hobby. While sourdough bread is made with white flour, the sourdough starter creates a lower glycemic index in the bread, which makes it a healthier option than regular sliced white bread.

Another consideration is to eat some protein when you have bread. I know, protein is all the craze now. But if you eat it with bread, the protein will help slow digestion which prevents that quick spike in blood sugar.

Also, I recently learned that freezing your bread before you eat it tends to lower the glycemic index. Apparently, the process of freezing it causes “starch retrogradation.” Bonus if you freeze it, thaw it and then toast it (more starch retrogradation). Good news for homemade bread since it does not have all of the preservatives in it to increase the shelf life. Just keep it in the freezer and pull out as needed.

The final key to eating bread is to enjoy it… in Moderation. Almost anything can be unhealthy for you if you eat too much of it. Life is short… enjoy the bread!