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I've always reserved breadmaking for actual bakers or people who had hours of disposable time. I fall in neither of these camps. But there's another fundamental layer to eating unprocessed that I never really gave much thought to - the flour. Since so much of what we eat is made of flour, we're eating ultra-processed foods, often unknowingly.
The book Unprocessed taught me a lot about the importance of wheat, where it's sourced (local is best!), and just how industrialized wheat is. It's what the industry calls "modern wheat."
According to Grainstorm Heritage Baking in Ontario, Canada, "for 10,000 years, we cultivated wheat, stored it, milled it, and consumed it. The system worked, and it nourished civilization. Then, in the industrial era, we changed things."
It continues, "We have mutant seeds, grown in synthetic soil, bathed in chemicals. They're deconstructed, pulverized to fine dust, bleached, and chemically treated to create a barren industrial filler that no other creature on the planet will eat."
Due to my naivete on this subject, I was shocked. So I proudly abandoned loaves from the bread aisle in the store and headed toward the bakery. Surely the freshly baked bread would be better, right? I sauntered to the bakery, so pleased with myself, ready to find my freshly baked bread. As I scrutinized ingredient label after label, I was hard-pressed to see a list of less than 10. Most loaves had upwards of 24 ingredients, and most were unpronounceable. (See chemically treated barren industrial filler above.)
I found a loaf with six ingredients for $6.49. Yowza. Is it technically six if the "unbromated unbleached enriched wheat flour" itself contains five ingredients?
Knowing that at its core, bread is made up of four ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast. Given our family's heavy reliance on it, I realized I needed to start making my own bread. It was time to get some flour and do this thing.
Not so fast.
Unprocessed taught me a lot about the industrial grain milling process that gives consumers that beautiful bag of fluffy white flour. But did you know that all-purpose flour from the grocery store is rancid when it gets into your pantry due to long-term storage and travel time? If you ever dare to taste it, you'll notice it's sour. Ew. In contrast, freshly-milled flour has no taste at all.
With that, the Scorpio in me swore off all store-bought flour forever (you're dead to me!), and, in typical fashion, the pendulum swung entirely in the other direction. Not only was I not going to buy store-bought flour, but I came embarrassingly close to buying a hand-crank grain mill and hunting for wheat berries online so I could grind my own flour.
Luckily I came to my senses and learned that there are still a few local grain mills in my area. I chose Carolina Ground Flour. While it tests my patience since the product is made fresh to order and is shipped, it's been well worth the investment in a local business. And since there are so few small mills across the country, I derive satisfaction by supporting them. Not only that, I saved a lot of frustration not trying to hand crank wheat berries in my kitchen.
The day the flour arrived was so exciting, and I felt a world of possibilities open up thanks to a small brown bag sitting on my counter. The enneagram 7 in me thought of the zillion things I could make, getting ahead of myself as usual.
This first stop in my journey was a big one. Understanding the basis for most of what we eat was eye-opening for me. Now, I'm a busy mom, working full-time and do all of the things, so I'm not baking bread every day. I still buy the $6.49 bread from the bakery. While it's not perfect, it's better than what we had, and progress is something to feel good about.
I make bread on Sundays as part of my weekly staples. (Check out my post on my first bread baking experience.) Fortunately and unfortunately, it's so good that it doesn't last past Sunday night. When time frees up one day, I'll add another session mid-week. While it's not super time-consuming, I find it meditative, and I don't want to squeeze baking it in between Zoom calls. I enjoy the process and giving it the attention it deserves.
Take a moment to find local mills in your region and let me know what you find! Flour is the basis of so much of what we eat, and when we eat processed foods, we unknowingly consume highly-processed flour. This simple switch could make a big difference!
Do you think that you could make the switch to less processed or homemade bread in your house? Share in the comments!
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