Diet bread

[bubbysoo]

I would like to make diet/low cal bread at home. I've been trying to discover what the difference between diet and regular bread. The ingredients seem to be the same. Someone told me that commercial diet bread has more air in it?! Anyone have any ideas about making diet/low cal bread at home?

[Will]

I've never even heard of such a thing. As it is, bread (at least the typical bread that people would make at home) is pretty healthy, no? A wetter dough will typically give an airier crumb structure, if that's what you're looking for.

I think if you're concerned about weight and / or health, using as much whole grains as possible or as is palatable to you would be a good start.

Edited January 11, 2011 by Will (log)

[Jenni]

I've heard of diet bread. I was under the impression that the slices were merely smaller and "airier" so basically you just get less bread per serving.

[Mjx]

At its simplest, you need flour, leavening, and water to make bread; a bread made with just these will contain the fewest possible calories per gram. The calorie count per gram goes down (a bit), as the fibre content of the flour goes up, but as Will and Jenni pointed out, you can also add more air (not as easy at home as in an industrial facility), which becomes harder to do, as the amount of fibre present increases.

Adding fibre to a simple flour and water dough is probably the your best bet, though, since--even in a bread with no added fibre--there's an upper limit to how much air you can incorporate into your dough. If you hate fibre-rich bread, this would have the additional (if questionable) advantage of making you feel less inclined to eat it.

I adore bread, and am one of those who gains weight really easily from even small amounts of carbohydrates, but I can't bring myself to turn the consumption of one of my favourite foods into a combat zone: I just try to save bread for an occasional, smallish treat, and eat the kinds I like.

[tmriga]

I remember diet bread. Can't remember the brand name. The slices were definitely cut thinner, but the thing that turned a lot of people off about it was that it contained cellulose fiber.

Theresa

[HungryC]

Squishy supermarket white bread has lots of sugar in it; simply switching to a non-sugared loaf will yield a savings in calories. Ditto with breads like challah (eggs) and focaccia (oil). But, lean breads have a sturdy, baguette-like texture. So look for (white slicing loaf) recipes using nonfat dry milk (aka DMS or baker's milk) without any added oil/butter or eggs. And slice it thinly, of course.

[Toliver]

Assuming the ingredients are the same, I believe it is just sliced thinner.

Less calories per (thinner) slice.

[Lisa Shock]

It was sliced thinner, but also contained cellulose (aka wood) fiber.

[Mjx]

It was sliced thinner, but also contained cellulose (aka wood) fiber.

I have a vague recollection of this, and remember wondering why, since fibre from food sources (e.g. grains, other seeds) isn't a source of calories anyway, it just bulks things up. Now I'm guessing cellulose is just cheaper than other forms of fibre, or perhaps paler, so the bread doesn't look like whole meal bread.

[AmritaBala]

Actually, the main culprit in bread which makes people "gain weight" is white processed flour

I recommend trying something like Ezekiel bread out. It's a little pricey but it contains absolutely zero amounts of flour in it and is made from sprouted grains! It tastes just like whole wheat bread but has to be kept in the freezer because there aren't any preservatives and whatnot in it

However, if you're intent on making your own, there are quite a number of recipes out there.

http://www.rawtimes.com/r-essenebread.html - would be an example.

Edited February 16, 2011 by AmritaBala (log)