Graham bread

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Graham bread
A standard Austrian graham roll

Graham bread (in Austria mostly in the form of Grahamweckerls ) is according to the American minister Sylvester Graham (1794-1851) called bread made of fine whole wheat - meal of wheat .

history

The special bread was originally baked in a loaf pan after spontaneous fermentation without the addition of leavening agents ( yeast or sourdough ) and salt . Graham developed it in 1829 as an alternative to the then common white bread . At the beginning of the 19th century, dark bread was considered backward and rural. Bread made from white flour was a status symbol for the middle class and was usually not baked at home, but bought in the bakery. The light color, however, was usually not the result of a low degree of grinding , but rather the bleaching of darker flour with alum and chlorine , which reduced production costs. In the 21st century, Graham baked goods are mostly made with compressed yeast, with or without pre-dough , as the spontaneous fermentation results in little, insufficient loosening of the baked goods .

Graham believed that a firm bread made from crushed flour was more nutritious and healthier. He took the view that additives destroyed the wholesomeness of bread and increased sexual pleasure . There was no scientific basis for the latter; yet the view was widespread at the time.

It is now known that the bleaches initially used are harmful. The raising agents are only partially harmful to health. In the USA , but not in the EU , azodicarboxamide , for example, is permitted as a leavening agent and dough improver. The health-promoting effect of graham bread was based primarily on the omission of certain chemicals and only to a small extent on the use of wholemeal flour or on the absence of leavening agents. In Germany, the bleaching of flour is completely prohibited. In Graham's time, finer ground grain was also part of the bleached white bread of the time. The Flour was developed later.

Web links

Commons : Graham bread  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A man like dry bread derstandard.at, January 28, 2011.
  2. ↑ Waldemar Ternes , Alfred Täufel, Lieselotte Tunger, Martin Zobel (eds.): Food Lexicon . 4th, comprehensively revised edition. Behr, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-89947-165-2 . .
  3. ↑ Is it true graham crackers were invented to cure the dread fever of lust? , accessed July 17, 2014.
  4. ↑ When Subway customers chew on the yoga mat ( memento from February 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), onwirtschaftsblatt.at , accessed on May 31, 2016