Health Nugget – “Give Us Our Daily Bread”

“Give Us Our Daily Bread”

Matthew 6:11

The above title is a well-recognized phrase from a prayer recorded in the Bible. It’s not just any prayer. This one was recited by Jesus Himself and lists several petitions to our Heavenly Father. These few simple words tell us much more about life in the period of ancient Rome:

  1. Bread was a daily staple.
  2. It’s listed as the first petition, therefore, an issue of the utmost importance.

The text confirms that bread has been the food staple for thousands of years. We know from later history that lack of bread spelled trouble for the ruling class who could easily lose their power if their subjects lacked bread. Bread is often consumed at every meal in many cultures. Wheat is the world’s #1 cultivated plant by far.

Even in modern history, if the price of bread goes too high, food riots and revolutions can unfold. The Arab Spring in 2010 in part happened because bread prices spiked, and political unrest followed. The price of wheat on international markets, hence the price of bread, can spin the world into trouble, especially in the Arab world.

What is bread? Three simple ingredients: flour, water, salt. If we consumed these three ingredients separately, we wouldn’t survive for too long. Yet, these three simple ingredients baked into bread can sustain us indefinitely.

A little grain of wheat is a miracle of life. It contains the nutrients to sustain life: carbohydrates, protein, minerals, vitamins. They’re locked in the little kernel, which is not digestible for humans. It becomes digestible once it is ground into flour and then fermented, which is the art of bakery. Fermentation unlocks the nutrients. Natural bacteria will take care of the fermentation process. Where does the bacteria come from? From the air! Once you leave wet flour on the table, the bacteria from the air will start working its magic and the process of fermentation begins. It is called the natural starter.

All of a sudden, we have a very nutritious substance. Working with the natural starter is more difficult than commercially purchased yeast, but worth the effort. Fast-acting commercial yeast does not unlock all the nutrients, which results in digestion problems in many people.

Natural bacteria will cause a glutenous mass to form that sticks together, hence the word gluten, which is a wheat protein. As the bacteria works and creates gases, a loaf of bread becomes full of air bubbles. Interestingly, we like bread because of the air bubbles inside. They deepen the natural flavor of grain. The air bubbles also make bread voluminous, which gives us the feeling of being full even if in reality we haven’t consumed much. This feeling of fullness, physical satisfaction, has been so important throughout history when other food was scarce. Bread has been our staple for generations reaching back to ancient Egypt.

The Gluten Free Trend

Yet in our modern times, a gluten-free craze has engulfed the western food scene. Intolerance to gluten is being widely reported. Scientists at first couldn’t figure out the problem of how possibly so many people can be gluten-intolerant if we have been eating bread for thousands of years. Sure, there are a few people who suffer from the celiac disease who should not consume gluten, but that’s only one percent of the population.

This whole gluten-free trend started in the United States and a little misunderstanding helped the gluten-free industry to take off. The food industry is always looking for gaps in the market. Some marketer realized that the tiny population of people with celiac disease would also like to indulge in pastries and pasta, but had no gluten-free alternative. So a small gluten-free shelf appeared in grocery stores. An unsuspecting consumer sees a sign that reads “gluten free.” The consumer has no idea what gluten is, but thinks “Oh, gluten free, it’s probably better for me.” Suddenly, mainstream consumers for whom these products were never intended started creating a huge market out of ignorance. Food companies didn’t waste any time and enlarged their gluten-free portfolio. This gluten-free illiteracy can go to extremes, such as a bag of potato chips labeled “gluten free.” Potatoes have never contained any gluten in the first place. It is as if a spaghetti box were labeled “pineapple free.”

When researching websites of companies producing gluten-free products, one can hardly find any evidence or benefit of a gluten-free diet. Often, the strongest argument one finds on such websites is that many people are gluten-intolerant and don’t know it. Therefore, should all of us quit eating bread? An educated consumer can make his/her own conclusion for such logic.

There are people intolerant of peanuts, strawberries, and a wide variety of foods. It doesn’t mean that the rest of us can’t enjoy strawberries.

Chemical Cocktail

Yet still, is it somehow possible that an increased number of people are really intolerant to gluten? Scientists did discover one reason. It appears in the ingredients listed on bread packages.

As already mentioned, bread should contain just three ingredients: flour, water, salt. Bread purchased in the supermarket has 25–35 ingredients listed on the package. For two reasons:

  • Bread manufacturing has to be a fast process to be profitable.
  • Commercial bread has to last for weeks or months on the shelf.

Both goals can be achieved by using artificial fermentation starters and adding a myriad of chemicals to the process.

Raising dough the traditional way takes more time. Our grandmothers who made bread at home dedicated time and effort. Such bread we call today sourdough, which is how bread was historically made. Until about 100 years ago, no other bread than sourdough existed. Some independent bakeries still may bake bread this way, but the price will be premium. A supermarket consumer got used to packaged bread lasting for months for a negligible price.

Let’s not get confused, however. Packaged bread labeled “sourdough” is most likely not the real deal unless you’re sourcing your bread from a small independent baker who doesn’t use commercial yeast. Such bakeries are hard to come by.

Large factories’ profits would be gone if they took 2–3 days to make a loaf of bread. So they found ways to speed up the process. Commercial yeast will do wonders in minutes, a process that naturally takes long hours or days. The product has to last for months, and a load of chemical preservatives will assure a long shelf life.

This chemical cocktail and super speedy yeast take a health toll – health issues that people attribute to gluten, when in reality they’re consuming an artificial product that our grandmothers wouldn’t even call bread.

Commercial bread is made of white flour because it is shelf stable, nonperishable. We have removed all nutrients from bread by removing the outer layer of the grain which is needed for digestion. This is another reason why so many consumers experience an uneasy feeling in their stomach – there is no nutrition in modern “bread.”

Food scientists soon realized this mistake, so they found a way to put the nutrients back. Not by leaving the grain in its natural state, but by artificially adding back some minerals and vitamins. This product is called “enriched flour” which consumers will find listed on nearly every baked goods package.

Most of us are bread and pastry lovers. So where can we source these goodies in our chemical-laden world? Try our ancestors’ way. The Internet can come to the rescue! There are various YouTube channels and other resources that will teach you how to make your own bread with no commercial starters. Often there are local courses that will teach you this long-lost art. Once you master bread making, you’ll have a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Bake such bread with freshly ground whole wheat flour.

Do you think you are gluten intolerant? Unless you have been diagnosed with the celiac disease, taste such bread, made the natural sourdough way, which makes grains digestible, and see what your stomach and taste buds will say.

Food for Life – Whole Wheat Bread

In Genesis 1:29, we find the original diet for mankind, which is what we call today fruits, grains, and nuts. In Genesis 3:18, we see that, after sin entered the world, God added the green herb of the field to man’s diet. In Genesis 9, we read that God added flesh food to man’s diet. In Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, it is spelled out which animals are clean and may be eaten and which animals are unclean and may not be eaten. God’s children, even in the days of Noah, did not eat unclean animals, because only two of each unclean animal were taken into the ark, and if Noah had eaten either one, then that species of animal would not be with us today. Nowhere in Leviticus is mankind forbidden to eat plants that do not bear seed.

God attempted to bring his people back to a largely vegetarian diet in Moses’ time, but they rebelled, and so it was not done. (See Numbers 11 and 14 and The Ministry of Healing, 311–317.)

We do not have information as to exactly when mankind began using milk and eggs and other foods that could not be classified as either a flesh food or a vegetable. We do know, from the biblical record, that God’s people were using these foods in Abraham’s time and in Moses’ time.

There are several kinds of foods eaten today that are in this category. First, is common bread. Bread is made with yeast. Yeast is a substance of aggregated cells of minute unicellular sac fungi. It has been debated whether these minute fungi are plants or animal. In the presence of sugar, the yeast ferments the bread dough, making alcohol and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is what raises the bread. The alcohol has such a low boiling point that most of it is released into the air during baking. Ellen White calls bread the staff of life, so it is not an optional food. (Counsels on Diet and Foods, 315.)

Some years ago, there were men in the Middle East who were not reaching complete sexual maturity. An investigation revealed that they were experiencing a zinc deficiency. There is plenty of zinc in whole wheat bread, which they were eating, but the phytic acid in the bread dough was binding the zinc, so it was not being absorbed. They were not using leavened bread. When bread is leavened, the leavening action uses up some of the phytic acid, making the zinc in the wheat available for absorption. I know of no population group with a zinc deficiency, if that population group uses whole-grain, leavened bread. It is important to use leavened bread. (There are some disease processes that force a person to abstain from leavened bread, and special diets must be formulated for these people so they do not suffer from mineral deficiencies.)

Dr. John J. Grosboll, Director of Steps to Life, is also trained in the field of nutrition, having earned a Doctor’s Degree in Health Science and a Master of Public Health degree in Public Health Nutrition from Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California.

Whole Wheat Bread, Oil-Free

4 cups very warm water

3 Tablespoons yeast

1/4 cup honey

9–10 cups whole wheat flour

1 Tablespoon salt

In a large bowl, mix the first three ingredients together with a whisk. Add 3 cups flour and beat well. Add salt and enough flour to make pliable—not sticky—dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. Return dough to bowl, cover with a towel, and place in a warm location until double. Knead dough again for 5 minutes; shape into loaves and place in prepared pans. Cover pans with a towel and let rise 30–45 minutes. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 50 minutes.

Life and Health – Raisin Pecan Whole Wheat Bread

Bread is a universal language! Bread has played a vital role in history for thousands of years, and each country has its various types. In the Middle East we find the Pita Bread which has become so popular here. From Mexico we have the Tortilla, likewise popular. We find the Hunzas and Indians with Chapati; the Chinese with Pao Ping, and the Arabic with Balady and Tannouri. In the United States alone over 40 million loaves are produced by the bakers every 24 hours! interestingly we find that about a fourth of the world likes its bread baked without leavening—India, Iran, Armenia, and parts of Scandanavia.

With this interesting history we turn to our own beloved Spirit of Prophecy and read: “There is more religion in a good loaf of bread than many think.” CDF pg. 316. “It is a religious duty for every Christian girl and woman to learn at once to make good, sweet, light bread from unbolted wheat flour.” ST pg. 684. “Bread should be thoroughly baked, inside and out. The health of the stomach demands that it be light and dry.” MS 34 (1899) Does it seem possible in this day and age of modern invention and so much apparently “good” bread on the market, that this instruction could be a little antiquated? Do we really KNOW what is in the bread that we buy? One thing that is of vital importance to our health, is to begin at once to READ the labels of EVERYTHING we purchase and be knowledgeable concerning their contents. It might be quite shocking to you to know that in some “high fiber” bread the high fiber turned out to be cellulose derived from wood! Equally distressing to a vegetarian comes the knowledge that Mono and Diglycerides which add the incredible softness to your breads and baked goods are derived from animal sources, including the pig, unless otherwise stated.

A few years ago there appeared an article in one of the popular magazines labeled, “Expert Calls Bread Not Fit For Rats.” Another, “Bread Buyers, Beware!” Surely we cannot improve on God’s instructions to the Remnant! The good news is that bread is a necessity, from Bible times it has been the “staff of Life” and the Lord has told us what ingredients are the most healthful. Did you know that ONE piece of whole wheat bread contains as much fiber as FIVE heads of lettuce. And we are all aware of the necessity of fiber in our diet and the latest medical findings about low fiber diets and cancer. “White flour is not the best, its use is neither healthful nor economical. Fine-flour bread is lacking in nutritive elements to be found in bread made from the whole wheat.” MR pg. 300 “All wheat flour is not best for a continuous diet. A mixture of wheat, oatmeal, and rye would be more nutritious.” Letter 91, 1898 “Zwieback, or twice-baked bread, is one of the most easily digested and most palatable of foods. Let ordinary raised bread be cut in slices and dried in a warm oven till the last trace of moisture disappears. In a dry place this bread can be kept much longer than ordinary bread, and if reheated before using, it will be as fresh as when new.” MH pg. 300-302.

Oh, how I look forward to that glorious day when we shall eat the bread from Heaven, when Jesus Himself will take us to that table of pure silver, and we hear Him say, “Come, my people, you have come out of great tribulation, and done My will; suffered for me; come in to supper, for I will gird Myself, and serve you. And we shall see the Manna on that exquisite table, and eat of Angel’s Food. May God help each of us to be willing to give up all in this life that would hinder us from obtaining that immortal prize!

RAISIN-PECAN WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Mix Together:

3 Cups Whole Wheat Flour 3 Tablespoons Do-Pep

1 Cup Oat flour ¼ Teaspoon Vitamin C Powder

1 ½ Teaspoons Sea Salt

Blend IN PAN OVER STOVE:

2-3 Tablespoons Fruit Source Syrup or Honey with enough distilled water to equal 2 Cups. Warm this liquid to proper temperature for yeast to work.

Add this to the dry ingredients, stir well, and knead for 10 minutes.

Add 1 Cup Raisins, and l Cup Pecans, or Walnuts,

and knead thoroughly to distribute nuts and raisins evenly.

Allow to rise until double in bulk, push down and let rise the second time.

Then place in pans to bake and let rise double in bulk, and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

If you have an automatic Bread Maker, this is an ideal recipe.

Follow the instructions on last month’s recipe page.

Enjoy with us this delicious, healthful Bread!

Happy baking,
Marjorie Coulson