An Honest Loaf, by Dr. Royal Lee – 1956

Food for thought: An Honest Loaf, by Dr. Royal Lee – 1956

Sidebar: In this article, I thought Dr. Lee truly gave us some food for thought with the clamor about gluten sensitivity lately.

Today, we find patients that are extremely sensitive to gluten, but as I went through this article it definitely made me stop and think, “How has gluten sensitivity become such a major issue?”

I’m sure Dr. Lee, like many of us, had a particular fondness for bread, and especially for coming home from school to a house filled with the aroma of fresh baked bread that he would slather with fresh raw butter. (Now my mouth is watering.)

This was probably the basis for him to develop the Lee Flour Mill. This handy little flour mill allowed him to satisfy that craving and share it with others, as Dr. Leo Roy described in his first meeting with Dr. Lee who shared his enjoyment of an honest loaf of bread with him.

Dr. Lee, 1956

I was invited to speak at the recent annual meeting of the American Academy of Nutrition, in Los Angeles California. I brought to the attention of the 60 some doctors attending the meeting, that the National Chairman of the Association of flour millers stated that the reason bakers did not make more whole wheat bread was that the public did not “like the taste” of whole wheat bread.

I agree that the taste of whole wheat bread made with commercial whole wheat flour is not very appetizing, compared to the freshly ground whole wheat flour I’m used to. Why? The oils which all whole wheat flour contains are extremely vulnerable to rancidity.

But this is not mentioned. Fresh whole wheat flour is as perishable as milk, and I doubt that anyone would ever mistake sour milk for fresh milk – yet that is exactly what these commercial interests would have us believe: that there’s no difference.

Wholesome Bread

The only wholesome whole-wheat bread is that made from wheat that has been ground into flour by a stone type mill and then baked within a few hours of its conversion into that tasty homemade loaf of bread.

You must get such flour from a supplier, who grinds wheat daily, or get a small mill and grind your own. Wheat should be grown in heavily irrigated soil that has not been depleted of its mineral content and preferably fertilized with natural fertilizers. Fresh ground wheat will cost you more than the lower quality wheat, but it is actually one of the cheapest forms of nutrition you can find when properly farmed and ground. The fine flavor alone will prove its worth.

For Best Results

In baking whole wheat bread, it is important to use as much fluid (water or milk) in the dough as possible. The finer the wheat flour is ground, the more fluid is necessary; the softer the dough, the lighter the loaf.

Too much yeast causes rapid rising, making less flavorful bread – the yeast enzymes must have time to work. Bread can be made without yeast, if you allow 24 hours for rising. Keep an active starter in your refrigerator.

Butter should not be used in bread making as a shortening. It inhibits the yeast to a variable extent, so you never can predict what will happen. Good quality, cold-pressed peanut oil, corn oil, olive oil or even coconut oil is preferable in Southern Florida, i.e. coconut bread from the Caribbean.

As A Case in Point

Bread made from freshly ground flour and baked on the same day that it is ground is delicious, and you do not have to go very far to prove the point. I recall an incident where one of the national millers was telling the same story (how people would not eat whole wheat bread) and at the same time, this same man was being served FRESH ground whole wheat bread for lunch (without him being aware of what it was). His exact statement was: “That is the best bread I have ever eaten.”

This matter of taste instinct is not very hard to test with animals that have not been “educated” to the perverted tastes of white flour that has been refined, etc., because these animals will eat the whole wheat flour and apparently relish it, whereas, the bleached or commercial varieties, have little or no appeal to them if they have a choice.

It is well known among millers, that rats in the warehouse will use a selective process in determining