Is your brown slice of bread dyed?
Most people know that white bread isn’t the healthiest option. So, at the supermarket, we sensibly reach for brown bread, because surely it’s much better for our bodies. But did you know that most brown bread isn’t any healthier at all?
The healthiest choice is to eat whole-wheat bread. The outer layer of the grain contains all the fibre and minerals. Your body needs these, and the fibre also helps you feel full for longer, so you don’t start snacking. That outer layer is retained in whole-wheat products, but it is removed when white flour is made. The bad news? In most brown bread, that outer layer is nowhere to be found.
No nutritional value
Supermarkets and bakers are very good at misleading you by colouring their bread brown. This isn’t done with paint or colouring, but by adding ingredients that give the bread a brown colour and a whole-wheat flavour. Often, that ingredient is toasted malt flour. So the bread tastes healthier, but malt flour adds absolutely nothing to its nutritional value. You might as well just eat a slice of white tiger bread.
Whole-wheat
So how do you choose the right bread? It’s actually very easy. Bread may only be called whole-wheat bread if it is genuinely made with whole-wheat flour. If the bread isn’t called whole-wheat bread, you can assume that malt flour has been used. Multigrain bread, rustic bread, hearth bread—they’re all delicious, but not a bit healthier than that white slice of bread.
Flour or wholemeal flour?
Not sure? Check the ingredients list. If it says wheat flour, you’ve got the equivalent of white bread. If it says (whole-wheat) wheat flour, you can take the bread home with confidence. With wholemeal flour, the outer layer hasn’t been removed; with white flour, it has. Often, the label will also specifically say whole-wheat, but in principle, wholemeal flour is the key term.
Ask the baker
At the bakery, I always ask. All the loaves there look perfectly wholesome and whole-wheat, but appearances can be deceiving—even at the bakery. When I ask, I can usually choose only one or two loaves from the entire bakery selection. And I’m still looking for a whole-wheat baguette; they don’t seem to sell those anywhere either. It’s a little inconvenient, but if you want to get enough fibre, you now know what you need to do.
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