Bread? Is it really bread?

🥖 Bread (The Real Thing)

In its simplest form, bread is made from just four ingredients: flour, yeast, water, and salt.

A skilled baker can make these four ingredients taste like heaven. Variations in grains, yeasts, fermentation processes, water temperatures, salts, and baking methods can transform a simple loaf into something extraordinary.

These four-ingredient breads are typically found in bakeries or in the specialty bread section of select supermarkets.

🛒 Supermarket Bread

Most packaged breads sold in supermarkets contain far more than the four basic ingredients needed to make real bread.

These extra ingredients and additives are used to extend shelf life, improve texture, color, and flavor, and make the dough easier to handle.

Before tossing a loaf into your cart, take a moment to read the label and ask yourself:

• “Should I be eating these ingredients?”

• “Should I be feeding them to my family?”

• “Are these ingredients helping me reach my health goals?”

🍞 Common Packaged Bread Ingredients

🧁 Sweeteners

Used to enhance flavor, activate yeast, and promote browning

Examples: sugar (sucrose), high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, honey, molasses, malt syrup, dextrose, glucose, fructose.

🧂 Fats & Oils: Improve texture, tenderness, and shelf life.

Examples: soybean oil, canola oil, palm oil, cottonseed oil, shortening (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated), butter or margarine, mono- and diglycerides, lecithin (often soy-based).

🍞 Dough Conditioners & Strengtheners: Make dough easier to handle and create consistent results.

• Examples: calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate, ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), azodicarbonamide (ADA), L-cysteine, potassium bromate, enzymes, DATEM, sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL), calcium stearoyl lactylate (CSL).

🧫 Preservatives: Prevent mold, bacterial growth, and spoilage.

Examples: calcium propionate, sodium propionate, potassium sorbate, sorbic acid, sodium benzoate, vinegar, or cultured wheat.

🎨 Coloring Agents: Enhance or standardize color.

Examples: caramel color, annatto extract, turmeric, malted barley flour.

🌾 Conditioning & Texture Agents: Improve softness, volume, and moisture retention.

Examples: vital wheat gluten, wheat starch, corn starch, modified food starch, xanthan gum, guar gum, carrageenan.

🧂 Flavor Enhancers & Acids: Adjust pH, enhance taste, or mimic sourdough flavor.

Examples: vinegar, acetic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, sodium diacetate, calcium carbonate, malt extract, “natural” or artificial flavorings.

🥖 Fortifying Nutrients (for “Enriched” Breads): Added to replace nutrients lost when flour is refined.

Examples: iron, niacin (B3), thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2), folic acid (B9), calcium.

⚠️ Bread Warnings

It’s worth learning what’s really in the bread we eat. Some ingredients commonly found in U.S. commercial breads are banned or restricted in other countries due to safety concerns.

🧪 1. Potassium Bromate

• Purpose: Dough strengthener and volume enhancer.

• Concern: Possible human carcinogen (IARC).

• Status: Banned in the EU, UK, Canada, Brazil; still allowed in the U.S.

🧪 2. Azodicarbonamide (ADA)

• Purpose: Bleaching agent and dough conditioner.

• Concern: Breaks down into chemicals linked to carcinogenicity in animals; also known as the “yoga mat chemical.”

• Status: Banned in the EU, Australia, Singapore; allowed in the U.S.

🧈 3. Partially Hydrogenated Oils (Trans Fats)

• Purpose: Improves texture and shelf life.

• Concern: Strongly linked to heart disease and inflammation.

• Status: Banned in the U.S. (since 2018) but small residues may remain.

🧫 4. Calcium Propionate

• Purpose: Mold inhibitor.

• Concern: May contribute to hyperactivity or gut irritation in sensitive individuals.

• Status: Allowed but being replaced by vinegar or cultured wheat in cleaner breads.

🧂 5. DATEM

• Purpose: Emulsifier and dough strengthener.

• Concern: Linked to possible heart muscle changes in animal studies.

• Status: Legal but considered ultra-processed.

🧬 6. L-Cysteine

• Purpose: Dough softener.

• Concern: Often derived from animal sources (feathers, hair).

• Status: Legal; synthetic options exist.

🧂 7. Mono- & Diglycerides / SSL / CSL

• Purpose: Keep bread soft and prevent staling.

• Concern: May contain residual trans fats.

• Status: Legal but markers of ultra-processed foods.

🧁 8. Artificial Colors

• Purpose: Enhance appearance.

• Concern: Some caramel colors contain 4-MEI, a potential carcinogen.

• Status: Legal with restrictions in the EU.

🍞 9. Added Sugars

• Purpose: Feed yeast and improve browning.

• Concern: Linked to metabolic disorders and insulin resistance.

• Status: Legal but discouraged in dietary guidelines.

🧪 10. Enzymes

• Purpose: Improve texture and volume.

• Concern: May come from genetically modified sources; often undisclosed.

• Status: Legal; labeling loopholes exist.

🌾🥣 Bread Flour — From Healthiest to Least Healthy

Flour quality makes a big difference in nutrition, digestion, and blood sugar balance.

🥇 1. Whole Grain Flours (Most Nutritious & Least Processed)

• Whole Wheat Flour: High in fiber and B vitamins.

• Sprouted Whole Grain Flour: Easier to digest; higher antioxidants.

• Whole Spelt Flour: Ancient grain, gentler on blood sugar.

• Whole Rye Flour: Supports gut microbiome and steady energy.

• Oat Flour: Helps lower LDL cholesterol.

• Buckwheat Flour: Gluten-free and heart-healthy.

🥈 2. Partially Refined or Mixed Grain Flours

• White Whole Wheat Flour: Lighter taste, still nutrient-dense.

• Multigrain Flour: Healthy only if all grains are whole.

• Stone-Ground Wheat Flour: Retains more nutrients; perishable faster.

🥉 3. Refined Flours (Highly Processed, Lower in Nutrients)

• Enriched White Flour: Lacks fiber and natural vitamins.

• Bread Flour (Refined High-Gluten): Chewy texture, low nutrients.

• Bleached White Flour: Chemically whitened, lowest in nutrients.

💬 Show Me The Dough

Bread has been a staple food for thousands of years — but not all bread is created equal.
When we choose real, whole-grain, minimally processed bread, we’re choosing nourishment, energy, and longevity.

Next time you shop, look for short ingredient lists and whole grain flours — because the best bread is still made from the simplest ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt.

PS: My go to supermarket packaged bread brand is Ezekiel.