White vs Wholemeal Bread

Bread has been consumed by man since prehistoric times. Evidence suggests that early man made flatbread from starch extracted from plant roots by spreading it on a flat rock and cooking it over a fire. When agriculture was practiced later, the roots were replaced with grains.

The most common grain used in making the flour for bread is wheat, but rye, barley, durum, and corn flour is also being used. From flat unleavened bread, it evolved into leavened bread when uncooked dough was exposed to airborne yeasts.

Today, bread is the staple food in Europe, North America and other parts of the world. The process in making bread varies; some people want their bread sweet, while others want their bread a little salty. There are breads that have fillings of fruit or meat and vegetables.
There are many types of bread, namely:

� Brown bread, which is made with endosperm and 10% bran.
� Wholegrain bread, which has an added amount of whole grains.
� Granary bread, which is made with flaked and malted grains.
� Rye bread, which is made from rye grain and is popular in Europe.
� Unleavened bread, which does not have yeast.
� Sourdough bread, which is made with dough set aside from the previous day.
� Quick breads, which contain baking powder and soda. Examples are pancakes, waffles, muffins, banana bread, and carrot cake.
� White bread and Wholemeal bread, which are the main types of bread.

White bread is bread made from milled wheat flour that only contains the central core of the grain. The flour is refined through milling, which is a process that removes oil containing bran. The process makes the bread stay fresh longer and allows the bread to have a longer shelf life. The flour used in white bread is also bleached with potassium bromate or chlorine dioxide gas.

Milling removes the fiber, iron, B vitamins, and other nutrients from the flour used in the making of white bread. To offset the loss of these essential nutrients, the government has mandated that all products using white flour must be fortified with folic acid, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and iron.

Wholemeal bread is made from wholemeal flour which means that the whole grain is used to make the flour. No nutrient is removed during the milling of the flour used in wholemeal bread. It contains the bran, germ and endosperm which provide fiber, B vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and phytochemicals.

Wholemeal food products like wholemeal bread are packed with these essential nutrients that can help in keeping the body healthy and safe from heart diseases and cancer. It is also referred to as whole grain bread.

Summary
1. White bread is made from flour that only contains the core of the grain, while wholemeal bread is made from flour that contains the whole grain.
2. White bread flour is stripped of essential nutrients during milling, while wholemeal or whole grain bread flour contains all these nutrients.
3. The flour used in white bread is also bleached with potassium bromated or chlorine dioxide gas, while the flour in wholemeal bread is all natural.
4. White bread has a longer shelf life than wholemeal bread.

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