Please send questions Revised: 2/24/05 - kj
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You Are Here: IC Network : Fresh Tastes : September 2002 Breads of Life As immigrants from all over the world poured into the American continent during the last two centuries, they brought with them their bread traditions. This included not only varieties of yeast-raised breads, but also unleavened breads from India, Greece and the Middle East. Americans put their own twist on the imported bread recipes, often incorporating New World grains such as corn or even vegetables. As America changed
with time, so did our bread. Unlike our great-great-grandmothers' tradition-bound
baking, today Americans have an amazing selection of specialty bread products
to choose from. One of the latest trends in bread marketing is toward
exotic grain combinations and "ethnic" breads. This trend is
actually a bonanza to allergenic individuals and to IC patients. For people
who cannot tolerate wheat for instance, there is bread made from spelt,
oats, barley, amaranth and others. The trick is to find these products.
While the variety breads are now making inroads in the major supermarket
chains, the specialty stores, small bakeries, and local delis are still
often the best places to find these interesting breads. Be adventurous!
Trying different flavors is a great way to keep your diet from becoming
monotonous. There are only a couple of pitfalls to watch out for... and
here's why.
As bread baking
became big business, recipe decisions were directed increasingly
by financial considerations and the necessities of large scale mechanical
production. Bleaches made the flour whiter. Chemical preservatives
were developed and added to bread to increase its shelf life. Dough
conditioners were added to make the dough easily workable by machinery.
Humectants were added to make the bread hold onto more water and
seem more substantial. Yeast nutrients were added to puff up a small
loaf with so much air that it looked larger on the market shelf.
The additive-laden bread has little real ingredients and no taste
or texture? Not a problem-- there are additives to fix that too.
Additive-free breads Finding
and using additive-free breads can be a challenge: they do get moldy quicker,
are more expensive and are often inconvenient to find and purchase. In general,
locally baked specialty breads are less likely to contain preservatives
than nationally or regionally marketed brands. (Transportation needs often
dictate the amount and kind of preservatives in bread).Check your phone book for local bakeries or specialty grocery stores that bake in-house. Don't hesitate to call around and ask questions about their products before you make a trip out of your way. Here are the names of a few chains that sell preservative-free breads: Bread and Circus, Corner Bakery, Trader Joe's, Wellspring Markets, Whole Foods, Wild Oats. While they are a bit more expensive, additive-free breads are well worth the trouble if it means you can include the nutritional benefits of grains in your diet without triggering a bladder flare-up. If you have to go out of your way to shop for additive-free bread, buy more than one loaf at a time and freeze the ones you won't use right away. (Freeze bread loaves in double plastic bags to prevent them from drying out). When you want to use one, thaw it at room temperature in the unopened bag. When the drops of moisture have disappeared from the inside of the bag, the bread is ready to use. Thawing in the microwave is risky-- it may not work well. The crust of the bread forms a natural protective cover that seals in freshness, so you can store your bread at room temperature using paper bags to help maintain a crispy crust, or plastic bags if you prefer a softer crust. If you find you can't eat up a whole loaf before it molds, store some or all of the loaf in the refrigerator. Just be sure to seal it in an airtight container to prevent drying out. To refresh your bread, wrap it in foil and warm it in an oven set at 375 degrees F. for four or five minutes. Then open up the foil and let it heat for another minute or so. Sliced bread develops mold quicker than unsliced bread, so it may be useful to slice the bread as you need it and store the loaf whole. (A serrated bread knife is important to keep delicate breads from squashing when you slice them.) Here are a few types of interesting and bladder-friendly breads sold at small bakeries, and the typical ingredients found in them:
Although you
can use all-purpose flour for many breads, bread flour is better
if you can obtain it. All-purpose flour is a mixture of hard wheat
and soft wheat (i.e., semolina and durum). Bread flour on the other
hand is mostly made from hard wheat which has a higher gluten content.
It's hard wheat that yields the sticky gluten and gives bread its
texture. Potatoes, another bladder-friendly food, can be added to
bread to give the loaf a dense body and keep it moist.(The lowly
potato, a native vegetable of the Americas, is a recent addition
to bread recipes. Mashed potatoes were originally added to American
bread recipes during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to
stretch out supplies of wheat flour during times of food shortages).
Potato
Bread 1 pkt (1/4 oz.)
dry active yeast Peel the potato
and chop into pieces about an inch across. Cover with water (at
least 2 or 3 cups) and boil until very soft. Drain the potatoes
reserving the liquid. Puree or mash the potatoes until smooth, adding
a bit of liquid if necessary. Set the potatoes and cooking water
aside to cool until the water is lukewarm. Measure 3/4 cup of the
cooking water (strained to remove any potato chunks). Combine in
a small dish the potato water and the dry yeast. Stir to completely
dissolve the yeast and set aside for about 10 minutes.
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Bread,
in one form or another, has been with us since the dawn of agriculture.
For today's IC patient though, a loaf of bread can either be a tasty
addition to a bladder-safe diet, or it can be a pain--literally.
To understand why bread can be both friend and foe to our bladders,
it helps to know that the bread we see in supermarkets today bears
only a passing resemblance to what our great-great-grandmothers
baked. 
In
the 1700's immigrants from Northern Europe made yeast from buttermilk
whey or the dried flowers of the hops plant. (The same flowers used in
beer-making). Housewives would even grow their own plants in garden plots
for use in yeast-making. The hops acted as a natural antibiotic, encouraging
yeast but keeping bacteria and harmful organisms from growing. Unlike
the commercially produced yeast of today, home grown yeast contained many
species, each giving the baked product a slightly different flavor. Our
modern prepared dry yeast by contrast, only contains one or two robust
species. These species have been specifically bred for our hurry-up modern
culture where time is valuable. The commercially produced yeast of today
makes bread rise twice as fast as did the home grown yeasts of past centuries
(a frustration factor for cooks who try to recreate very old bread recipes).
By the early twentieth century, modern dry yeast was readily available
in stores. Rural yeast-growing gradually became a lost art.