Tim and I recently watched a Netflix original docuseries, Cooked, directed by Alex Gibney and author Michael Pollan. They've apparently done other great things. I personally had never heard of them before, but I did enjoy this docuseries. There are four episodes featuring how food is cooked using earth, air, water and fire. They're all very interesting. We were most interested in the Air episode as it talks about bread making and more specifically bread fermentation.
Bread fermentation is when yeast and bacteria inside the dough convert carbohydrates to carbon dioxide causing gas bubbles to form, which has a leavening effect on dough. (http://www.thescienceofbreadmaking.com/fermentation.html) . You have to give the bacteria and yeast time to naturally and properly do their jobs in order to get the nutrients within into a processible state for our digestive tracts. The food industry has done a fantastic job of shortening this process for our busy schedules and tight budgets, but at what cost.
A few years ago the big health push was to eat whole grains. So we all started to eat whole grains, but didn't see any real differences. Now everyone talks about staying away from gluten ie. grain products: wheat, barley, rye, etc. My big question has always been - how can the food, bread, that has been the staple of so many cultures for centuries all of the sudden be causing so many problems? Cooked explained it this way - it's not the gluten it's the lack of fermentation. A process which has been manipulated by the food industry. Michael Pollan suggests that anyone with a gluten intolerance would be just fine eating bread that has been properly fermented. A good sour dough for example.
Personally, I feel very proud to be offering bread that heals and helps our bodies. We use a preferment to leaven all our artisan breads and we take the time to let our bread properly rise. I love to eat things that are so yummy and to know they really are healthy for me is a great bonus too.
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