In which I justify eating white bread (but it has to be good)

What’s the point of writing about white bread in this glorious summer season of corn and tomatoes and melons and cucumbers and eggplant and on and on?

I’ve been feeling guilty about my consumption levels of white bread and I’ll tell you why in a moment. 

But first, why am I eating white bread at all, especially when there is so much other good stuff to eat? Part of my guilt process is to seek self justification. I’ve been digging deep and trying to figure out why bread is in fact an important part of my diet.

Here’s the answer, and I won’t pretend that it’s valid. It’s just true. For breakfast today I ate some beautiful cantaloupe melon. For lunch I had a salad of lettuce and tomatoes and cucumbers from my garden with a light homemade dressing that included some Dijon mustard and canola oil (yes, I’ll give you the recipe, but hang on).

As you might imagine, all those fruits and veggies were delicious but also very acidic. Which is fine as long as you eat some starch to soak it all up. Ergo: bread.

But white bread? Not whole grain? There are times when I can get fresh bread that is made nearby by someone I know, and in those situations of course I buy the delicious crunchy whole grain bread. But here’s the thing, and don’t get mad at me for telling you this: A lot of whole grain bread is made with grains that have been crushed and separated in the same way as they are for white flour. 

Then the healthy parts of the wheat are added back in but they’re not quite as lusty and healthful as they would have been if the grain had just been left intact in the first place. I found a very good, concise description of this online at a very thoughtful and interesting food website, www.contemporaryfoodlab.com (which is not related to Kenji Lopez Alt and his Food Lab).

We are living in an age now of white bread hatred and general carb hatred. I’m good with that; most people do in fact eat too many processed white flour products and snack too easily and too thoughtlessly on pretzels, chips, cakes and cookies. The same is true of carbonated beverages with refined sugar. 

Having confessed that I overindulge on white bread, let me now scold you and remind you that a diet heavy in refined white flour and refined sugar products is going to make you overweight and will probably mess with your digestion. 

I’m generally pretty moderate about my refined product intake but lately I’ve been overindulging. One reason is that I’ve been shopping at the magical Costco. I know, you’re losing faith in me now: White bread? Costco? Let me just say that Costco has amazing fresh fruit and organic produce and wild caught fish that’s super high quality and incredibly tender and delicious meat, all at very low prices. 

Unfortunately, Costco also sells exceptionally good baguettes and country French bread. I keep buying bread and heating it up and of course eating it; it’s wonderful with salad. 

And I keep eating pasta lately, because it goes so nicely with beet greens and tomatoes and basil and eggplant and salad. White rice, too, which might as well be white bread. 

When I woke up this morning I realized that this has to stop. But first I did a thorough internet search just to confirm that cutting back would be a good idea. Yes, it is. White refined food products won’t kill you but they also will interfere with your plans to have a flat belly and slim thighs. 

Read your food labels carefully, though. In a moment of anti-white bread hysteria as I left the house this morning I decided that I should eat some of those nice wheaty McVitie’s digestive crackers with my acidic lunch and breakfast. They were delicious and I’m snacking on them now as I write this. 

But in fact, they have more calories and sugar in them than the Costco white French bread. And as one medical website pointed out in an article I read today, one mistake people make is that they skip obvious things like good-quality French bread and then are hungry later and snack on things like McVitie’s crackers. 

So the health page message here is threefold: Cut back on your refined white flour and sugar products, especially the ones you eat as snacks (because you’re not paying attention to them and you’ll eat more than you realize); read the labels and compare them so that you’re not feeling virtuous for a food that’s in fact high in calories and sugar and fat (labels are extremely tricky); and if you want to eat some bread or pasta with your lovely garden produce, you should go ahead and do so but try to find the best quality bread possible and eat your bread and pasta in moderation. 

The Costco French bread (not to be like their marketing department) has a pretty good clean list of ingredients and it’s parbaked fresh in the store, so it’s fresh. 

Watch out for most mass-produced white breads from the grocery store; in addition to having lots of synthetics and preservatives, they often are made with what’s known as super gluten, which makes the bread rise faster but which gums up your system. 

Here’s the salad dressing, it’s from my friend Ann Berman. Take a small jar. Put in, say, 2 tablespoons of good quality Dijon mustard (I like a brand called Roland; it’s inexpensive but in my opinion it’s better than the most popular national brand). 

Pour in a couple teaspoons of white vinegar (Ann insists that the least expensive vinegar is the best; I’ve also been happy using rice vinegar). Stir it up.

Add a little water to thin it out. Add about a half cup of canola oil (yes, it’s better with the canola but yes you can use olive oil instead). 

Shake it all up. Adjust the flavor. Don’t worry about adding salt and pepper.