For Healthy Bread

Question: How does baker’s bread compare nutritionally with home-baked bread? Lois J. Masters, Condon, Oregon Answer: A one-pound loaf of white, commercially processed bread contains 1220–1247 calories, while whole wheat contains 1093–1102 calories. An average slice of white bread weighs about 23 grams and contains 62 calories. Home-baked bread is usually heavier and contains proportionately more calories.

Enriched baker’s bread would be nutritionally superior to home-made unenriched bread, but no one challenges the superior taste of home-baked bread—and most is baked with enriched flour. To improve nutrition, it has been recommended that 16 percent soybean flour be added to home-baked bread flour to give it a better balance of amino acids. If this were done, the bread would serve as a primary source of protein as well as of carbohydrates. Dr. Dean C. Fletcher, director, Section on Food Science, American Medical Association, and his wife, Ann