In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey (37 page)

when
Turkey
Red
was
near
its
peak
Ibid., chap. 2.

high-extraction
flour
is
common
in
Europe
In Europe, there are grades of flour that denote how much mineral content they contain, which is a proxy for bran (for minerals reside in the bran) and also the extraction rate. To figure the mineral content, a sample of flour is incinerated. The remaining ash, made up of minerals, is then measured. In France, these flours can be found as type 80 (0.80 percent ash, corresponding to an 82 to 85 percent extraction rate) or type 110 (1.1 percent ash, or roughly 85 to 90 percent extraction). In Germany, a flour classified as type 1150 (1.15 percent ash, or a roughly 90 percent extraction) is also between white and whole wheat flour. In the United States, whole wheat flour may be roller milled; that is, separated and then mixed back together to approximate the ratio in the original kernel. Using stone ground flour will likely ensure that you’re getting the entire kernel—that is, a 100 percent extraction—in a milled product, rather than one that is reconstituted. To get close to bolted wheat, you can mix two-thirds white flour with one-third whole wheat flour.

A
wake-up
call
Melinda Smale et al., “
Dimensions
of
Diversity
in
CIMMYT
Bread
Wheat
from
1965
to
2000”
(CIMMYT, 2001).

Aside
from
corn
leaf
blight
Jochen C. Reif et al., “Wheat Genetic Diversity Trends During Domestication and Breeding,”
Theoretical
and
Applied
Genetics
110.5 (2005): 859–64.

pool
of
genetic
resources
National Research Council,
Genetic
Vulnerability
of
Major
Crops
(National Academies Press, 1972).

semidwarf
wheat
varieties
Susan Dworkin,
The
Viking
in
the
Wheat
Field
(Walker and Co., 2009). See chap. 2. For yield figures, see Rodomiro Ortiz et al., “Climate Change: Can Wheat Beat the Heat?,”
Agriculture,
Ecosystems
&
Environment
126.1 (2008): 46–58.

less
suited
to
dry
land
areas
Smale et al., “Dimensions of Diversity.”

“a
narrowing
of
genetic
diversity”
M. L. Warburton et al., “Bringing Wild Relatives Back into the Family: Recovering Genetic Diversity in CIMMYT Improved Wheat Germplasm,”
Euphytica
149.3 (2006): 289–301.

“replaced
the
landraces”
Ibid.

97
percent
of
all
spring
wheat
Smale et al., Dimensions of Diversity.

By
1993,
the
National
Academy
National Research Council,
Managing
Global
Genetic
Resources:
Agricultural
Crop
Issues
and
Policies
(National Academies Press, 1993).

In
developing
countries
such
as
India
Ortiz et al., “Climate Change.”

conventional
breeding
techniques
The specific technique they use is marker-assisted breeding, which uses molecular genetics to identify plants with specific traits bred conventionally. This is distinct from genetic engineering techniques used to create a genetically modified organism.

more
diversity
than
before
the
Green
Revolution
See Warburton et al., “Bringing Wild Relatives Back into the Family,” and Smale et al., “Dimensions of Diversity.” Also see Jorge Dubcovsky and Jan Dvorak, “Genome Plasticity a Key Factor in the Success of Polyploid Wheat Under Domestication,”
Science
316.5833 (2007): 1862–66; Maarten van Ginkel and Francis Ogbonnaya, “Novel Genetic Diversity from Synthetic Wheats in Breeding Cultivars for Changing Production Conditions,”
Field
Crops
Research
104.1 (2007): 86–94.

more
than
168,000
different
CIMMYT, “Genetic Resources at CIMMYT,” private communication from CIMMYT press officer, 2013.

The
practice
by
farmers
Perhaps the most eloquent defense of in situ breeding has been made by Gary Paul Nabhan,
Where
Our
Food
Comes
From:
Retracing
Nikolay
Vavilov’s
Quest
to
End
Famine
(Island Press, 2008).

“More
and
more
land”
Hakan Özkan et al., “Geographic Distribution and Domestication of Wild Emmer Wheat (Triticum dicoccoides),”
Genetic
Resources
and
Crop
Evolution
58.1 (2011): 11–53.

In
2013,
wheat
researchers
Kansas State University, “Resistance Gene Found Against Ug99 Wheat Stem Rust Pathogen,” June 27, 2013, www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/jun13/sr3562713.html. See also Sambasivam Periyannan et al., “The Gene Sr33, an Ortholog of Barley Mla Genes, Encodes Resistance to Wheat Stem Rust Race Ug99,”
Science
341.6147 (2013): 786–88.

these
grasses
have
been
ignored
In a CIMMYT paper spelling out the need for robust wheat collections, the state of landrace and wild wheat cultivars was described as “poor.” The paper stated that these collections should be given priority. See CIMMYT, “Global Strategy for the Ex Situ Conservation with Enhanced Access to Wheat, Rye and Triticale Genetic Resources,” September 2007.

recently
been
defined
Anna Sapone et al., “Spectrum of Gluten-Related Disorders: Consensus on New Nomenclature and Classification,”
BMC
Medicine
10.1 (2012): 13.

Norwegian
researchers
in
2005
Øyvind Molberg et al., “Mapping of Gluten T-cell Epitopes in the Bread Wheat Ancestors: Implications for Celiac Disease,”
Gastroenterology
128.2 (2005): 393–401.

“This
suggests
that
modern
wheat
breeding”
Hetty C. van den Broeck et al., “Presence of Celiac Disease Epitopes in Modern and Old Hexaploid Wheat Varieties: Wheat Breeding May Have Contributed to Increased Prevalence of Celiac Disease,”
Theoretical
and
Applied
Genetics
121.8 (2010): 1527–39.

gliadin
proteins
transferred
Molberg et al., “Mapping of Gluten T-cell Epitopes in the Bread Wheat Ancestors.”

While
some
studies
have
found
that
einkorn
On einkorn toxicity to celiac patients, see Carmen Gianfrani et al., “Immunogenicity of Monococcum Wheat in Celiac Patients,”
The
American
Journal
of
Clinical
Nutrition
96.6 (2012): 1339–45. For a wider discussion, see the editorial by Eric V. Marietta and Joseph A. Murray, “Testing the Safety of Alternative Wheat Species and Cultivars for Consumption by Celiac Patients,”
The
American
Journal
of
Clinical
Nutrition
96.6 (2012): 1247–48.

These
modified
grains
Javier Gil-Humanes et al., “Effective Shutdown in the Expression of Celiac Disease–Related Wheat Gliadin T-cell Epitopes by RNA Interference,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107.39: 17023–28.

It
is
not
even
clear
how
much
whole
grain
The definition of whole grains remains a “guidance statement” from the FDA, without impact if a manufacturer chooses to ignore it. It was written in February 2006. The statement says: “Cereal grains that consist of the intact, ground, cracked or flaked caryopsis, whose principal anatomical components—the starchy endosperm, germ and bran—are present in the same relative proportions as they exist in the intact caryopsis—should be considered a whole grain food.”

Chapter 6:
A Rye Journey to Berlin

freshly
ground
whole
grains
were
the
richest
nutritionally
Andres F. Doblado-Maldonado et al., “Key Issues and Challenges in Whole Wheat Flour Milling and Storage,”
Journal
of
Cereal
Science
56.2 (2012): 119–26.

known
as
altrus
: Ginsberg and Berg, Inside the Jewish Bakery, p. 59.

Peter
Reinhart
Peter Reinhart,
Peter
Reinhart’s
Whole
Grain
Baking:
New
Techniques,
Extraordinary
Flavor
(Ten Speed Press, 2007), pp. 39–45. For greater detail on the biochemistry, see Gobbetti and Gänzle, eds., Handbook on Sourdough Biotechnology, chap. 8, “Sourdough: A Tool to Improve Bread Structure.” The “starch attack” incidentally is less of an issue in wheat, because amylase is largely deactivated by heat before wheat starch gelatinizes. But it still can occur, especially if the flour has an excess of amylase during fermentation.

Cereal
scientists
suggest
Milling the bran to a finer consistency frees up enzymes, ferulic acid, glutathione, and phytates, all of which impede gluten bonds. See Doblado-Maldonado, et al., “Key Issues and Challenges in Whole Wheat Flour Milling and Storage.” See also Martijn W. J. Noort et al., “The Effect of Particle Size of Wheat Bran Fractions on Bread Quality—Evidence for Fibre-Protein Interactions,”
Journal
of
Cereal
Science
52.1 (2010): 59–64.

the
benefits
of
whole
grain
fiber
Joanne L. Slavin et al., “Plausible Mechanisms for the Protectiveness of Whole Grains,”
The
American
Journal
of
Clinical
Nutrition
70.3 (1999): 459s–63s.

Coarsely
ground
grains
magnify
Kenneth W. Heaton et al., “Particle Size of Wheat, Maize, and Oat Test Meals: Effects on Plasma Glucose and Insulin Responses and on the Rate of Starch Digestion in Vitro,”
The
American
Journal
of
Clinical
Nutrition
47.4 (1988): 675–82. See also David S. Ludwig et al., “Dietary Fiber, Weight Gain, and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Young Adults,”
JAMA:
The
Journal
of
the
American
Medical
Association
282.16 (1999): 1539–46.

white
sourdough
bread
raises
Anita Mofidi Najjar et al., “The Acute Impact of Ingestion of Breads of Varying Composition on Blood Glucose, Insulin and Incretins Following First and Second Meals,”
British
Journal
of
Nutrition
101.3 (2009): 391.

These
fibers
are
known
as
“prebiotics”
Interview with Michael Gänzle on exopolysaccharides. For the benefits of prebiotics, see Leo Stevenson et al., “Wheat Bran: Its Composition and Benefits to Health, a European Perspective,”
International
Journal
of
Food
Sciences
and
Nutrition
63.8 (2012): 1001–13.

short-chain
fatty
acids
Slavin et al., “Plausible Mechanisms for the Protectiveness of Whole Grains.”

One
study
published
in
the
spring
of
2013
Jens Walter et al., “Holobiont Nutrition: Considering the Role of the Gastrointestinal Microbiota in the Health Benefits of Whole Grains,” Gut Microbes 4.4 (2013): 340–46. A 2012 study in Europe of more than 470,000 people over eleven years did find an association between fiber consumption and lower cancer risk. See Neil Murphy et al., “Dietary Fibre Intake and Risks of Cancers of the Colon and Rectum in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC),”
PloS
one
7.6 (2012): e39361. A large U.S. study did not find a correlation between fiber intake and lower cancer risk but it did find one with whole grains. See Arthur Schatzkin et al., “Dietary Fiber and Whole-Grain Consumption in Relation to Colorectal Cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study,”
The
American
Journal
of
Clinical
Nutrition
85.5 (2007): 1353–60.