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White bread typically refers to
bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...
s made from
wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ''bre ...
from which the
bran Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the hard outer layers of cereal grain. It consists of the combined aleurone and pericarp. Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap). Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, ...
and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour. This milling process can give white flour a longer
shelf life Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a ...
by removing the natural oils from the whole grain. Removing the oil allows products made with the flour, like white bread, to be stored for longer periods of time avoiding potential rancidity. The flour used in white breads is often bleached further—by the use of
flour bleaching agent Flour bleaching agent is the agent added to fresh milled grains to whiten the flour by removing the yellow colour pigment called xanthophyll. It whitens the flour, which is used in the baking industry. Overview Usual flour bleaching agents are: *Or ...
s such as
potassium bromate Potassium bromate (KBrO3), is a bromate of potassium and takes the form of white crystals or powder. It is a strong oxidizing agent. It is a toxic and carcinogenic compound. Preparation Potassium bromate is produced when bromine is passed throu ...
, azodicarbonamide, or chlorine dioxide gas to remove any slight natural yellow shade and make its baking properties more predictable. This is banned in the EU. Some chemicals are also banned from use in other countries. In the United States, consumers sometimes refer to white bread as "
sandwich bread Sandwich bread (also referred to as sandwich loaf) is bread that is prepared specifically to be used for the preparation of sandwiches. Sandwich breads are produced in many varieties, such as white, whole wheat, sourdough, rye, multigrain ...
" or "sandwich loaf". It is often perceived as an unhealthy, bland, and unsophisticated menu item. White bread contains 1/2 of the
magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ...
found in
whole-wheat bread Whole wheat bread or wholemeal bread is a type of bread made using flour that is partly or entirely milled from whole or almost-whole wheat grains, see whole-wheat flour and whole grain. It is one kind of brown bread. Synonyms or near-synonyms ...
, and it is generally considered to be less nutritionally dense.


History

Ancient Egyptian aristocracy had access to white bread. In this image bread is depicted in Egypt in about 2,500 BC. Bread made with grass grains goes back to the pre-agriculture Natufi proto-civilization 12,000 years ago. But only wheat can feasibly be sifted to produce pure white starch, a technique that goes back to at least ancient Egypt. Because wheat was the most expensive grain to grow, and the process to sift it labor-intensive, white flour was generally limited to special occasions and the wealthy, until the mid-19th century. Then industrial processes eliminated the labor cost, allowing prices to fall until it was accessible to the middle class. In the US,
corn meal Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) or a cell membrane ground from dried corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'' ...
was the standard grain for bread until closing in on the 20th century, while in Europe it was other grains. But once accessible, white bread became very popular in industrialized countries for a number of reasons: * That it was traditionally for the wealthy made white wheat bread seem desirable. * It also was easier to see as pure and clean, at a time when some foods could be poorly made and adulterated. * And the lack of both coarseness and complex flavor profile made it a popular medium for the delivery of flavorful condiments. * It is more easily chewed and digested. This allows it to be a source of more
calories The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of ...
. It also does make some
micronutrient Micronutrients are essential dietary elements required by organisms in varying quantities throughout life to orchestrate a range of physiological functions to maintain health. Micronutrient requirements differ between organisms; for example, huma ...
s more digestible, some studies finding that the added nutrition in whole grains tends to pass through the body unabsorbed. For some body types and diets, white flour may have been a nutritional benefit. * Once it could be easily produced, it went from the most expensive to among the cheapest kinds of flour. * It can last longer. The wheat oil in whole grain breads can go rancid over time, spoiling its flavor. However, there was a backlash from the popularity of white flour, giving rise to whole grain alternatives popular to this day, such as
graham cracker A graham cracker (pronounced or in America) is a sweet flavored cracker made with graham flour that originated in the United States in the mid-19th century, with commercial development from about 1880. It is eaten as a snack food, usually ho ...
s and
corn flake Corn flakes, or cornflakes, are a breakfast cereal made from toasting flakes of corn (maize). The cereal, originally made with wheat, was created by Will Kellogg in 1894 for patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium where he worked with his broth ...
s, which (in their original whole grain form) have more fiber and
micronutrient Micronutrients are essential dietary elements required by organisms in varying quantities throughout life to orchestrate a range of physiological functions to maintain health. Micronutrient requirements differ between organisms; for example, huma ...
s. Eventually, the transformation of white bread from an elite to a common foodstuff became symbolic of the success of industrialization and capitalism in general, especially paired with the advent of machine
sliced bread Sliced bread is a loaf of bread that has been sliced with a machine and packaged for convenience, as opposed to the consumer cutting it with a knife. It was first sold in 1928, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry si ...
in the 1920s. White bread has remained the most popular type of bread in the US and much of the industrialized world, despite a generational cycle of backlash against it.


White bread fortification

While a bran- and wheatgerm-discarding milling process can help improve white flour's shelf life, it does remove nutrients like some
dietary fiber Dietary fiber (in British English fibre) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical composition, and can be grouped generally by t ...
,
iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...
,
B vitamins B vitamins are a class of water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in cell metabolism and synthesis of red blood cells. Though these vitamins share similar names (B1, B2, B3, etc.), they are chemically distinct compounds that often coexi ...
, micronutrients and essential fatty acids. The US government has mandated since 1941
fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere ...
of white flour-based foods with some of the nutrients lost in milling, like
thiamin Thiamine, also known as thiamin and vitamin B1, is a vitamin, an essential micronutrient, that cannot be made in the body. It is found in food and commercially synthesized to be a dietary supplement or medication. Phosphorylated forms of t ...
,
riboflavin Riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, is a vitamin found in food and sold as a dietary supplement. It is essential to the formation of two major coenzymes, flavin mononucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide. These coenzymes are involved i ...
,
niacin Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid, is an organic compound and a form of vitamin B3, an essential human nutrient. It can be manufactured by plants and animals from the amino acid tryptophan. Niacin is obtained in the diet from a variet ...
, and iron. This mandate came about in response to the vast
nutrient deficiencies Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...
seen in US military recruits at the start of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. This fortification led to nearly universal eradication of deficiency diseases in the US, such as
pellagra Pellagra is a disease caused by a lack of the vitamin niacin (vitamin B3). Symptoms include inflamed skin, diarrhea, dementia, and sores in the mouth. Areas of the skin exposed to either sunlight or friction are typically affected first. Over t ...
and
beriberi Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The two main types in adults are wet beriberi and dry beriberi. Wet beriberi affects the cardiovascular system, r ...
(deficiencies of niacin and thiamine, respectively) and white bread continues to contain these added vitamins to this day.
Folic acid Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing a ...
is another nutrient that some governments have mandated is added to enriched grains like white bread. In the US and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
, these grains have been fortified with mandatory levels of folic acid since 1998 because of its important role in preventing
birth defects A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, is an abnormal condition that is present at birth regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can ...
. Since fortification began, the rate of neural tube defects has decreased by approximately one-third in the US.Grosse, S., et al
Reevaluating the benefits of folic acid fortification in the United States: economic analysis, regulation, and public health
Am J Public Health. 2005; 95: 1917-1922.
Folic acid supplementation was mandated in the UK in September 2021, joining more than 80 countries in the world with this
public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...
measure.


See also

*
Brown bread Brown bread is bread made with significant amounts of whole grain flour, usually wheat, and sometimes dark-coloured ingredients such as molasses or coffee. In Canada, Ireland and South Africa, it is whole wheat bread; in the Maritimes a ...
, a bread that was considered undesirable in early-19th-century Europe * Chorleywood bread process, another common process for mass-produced bread * Flour treatment agent *
Graham bread Graham bread is a name for whole wheat bread that was inspired by the teachings of famous health reformer Sylvester Graham. History Sylvester Graham was a 19th-century health reformer who argued that a vegetarian diet, anchored by bread that wa ...
, an early reintroduction of an unbleached bread *
Maida flour is a white flour from the Indian subcontinent, made from wheat. Finely milled without any bran, refined, and bleached, it closely resembles cake flour. is used extensively for making fast foods, baked goods such as pastries, bread, several varie ...
, a bleached flour typically used to make a white bread in India *
Plain loaf A plain loaf, slices of which are known in Scots as plain breid (pronounced ), is a traditional style of loaf made chiefly in Scotland and Ireland. It has a dark, well-fired crust on the top and bottom of the bread. There is no crust on the ...
* Pullman loaf, bread baked in a lidded pan, responsible for square-shaped slices *
Rye bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat ...
, a bread that can be darker or neutral in color *
Sliced bread Sliced bread is a loaf of bread that has been sliced with a machine and packaged for convenience, as opposed to the consumer cutting it with a knife. It was first sold in 1928, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry si ...
, pre-sliced and packaged bread, first sold in 1928 *
Vienna bread Vienna bread is a type of bread that is produced from a process developed in Vienna, Austria, in the 19th century. The Vienna process used high milling of Hungarian grain, and cereal press-yeast for leavening. History In the 19th century, for ...
, baking processes that lead to lighter, less sour breads * Whole wheat bread, one common alternative to white bread


References


External links


"white bread unenriched" search results at FoodData Central




{{DEFAULTSORT:White Bread Wheat breads