Why Whole Wheat is Way Better

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Also, some “secret” ingredients can coax spectacular flavor and performance from whole-wheat bread — without a lick of white flour. These delicious additions, which help harness the renegade qualities of germ and bran, are familiar and readily available: eggs, dairy products, potatoes, beans or bean flours, ascorbic acid or one of several “dough conditioners.” As a side benefit, most added ingredients also boost the bread’s protein quality to that of beefsteak by “complementing” the amino acid composition of the whole grain.

Sound complicated? It isn’t. Most whole-grain outlets have or can order specific grains — as long as you know which ones to ask for, and you just learned it!

Quick and Easy

Nobody seems surprised to learn that white bread is so bereft of nutrients that laboratory rats died on a diet of white bread and water. (In 1970, Roger Williams, a biochemist at the University of Texas, fed “enriched” white bread to rats, and within 90 days two-thirds of them were dead, the others sick.)

Yet people are astonished to learn that the whole operation of grinding flour and baking nutrient-rich breads at home can be an easy daily task — about three minutes, on average, for milling and a few minutes more to dump ingredients in the bread machine, if you use one. And home-milled flour does far more than return mouth-watering flavor to everyday food. It also protects against heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer, eases constipation, and provides a secure (and nutritious) food source in case of natural or human-made disasters.

But isn’t this extreme? Why can’t you just buy whole wheat flour from the supermarket?

What’s wrong with commercial flour?

If you’re relying on grocery store packaged flour and commercial products — whether white or “whole wheat” — you definitely should switch to milling your own, and here’s why:

When compared to freshly ground whole-wheat flour, white flour is way less nutritious. Even white flour that has been “enriched” still shows significant losses in 15 of 22 nutrients. Under the U.S. government’s mandatory “enrichment” program started in May 1941, certain vitamins and minerals that are deemed potentially deficient in the American diet are added to flour and related products. In fact, white flour contains more of these synthetic nutrients than were present in the original grain. No attempt, however, is made to replace the most important component lost in milling — insoluble fiber. Few people realize that the “whole wheat” used in many commercially packaged products (with the exception of such companies as Bob’s Red Mill, King Arthur Flour and Arrowhead Mills) is processed exactly like white flour. The nutrient-rich, darker-colored bran, germ and endosperm are mechanically separated then recombined into “whole wheat” according to a formula that varies by brand but that rarely mimics Mother Nature’s balance.

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