Multi-Grain Bread Ingredients

Real multi-grain bread is made with a variety of whole grains. Supermarket bread that is labeled "multi-grain" is sometimes made with refined white flour and isn't true multi-grain bread, so check ingredient labels, or make your own bread so that you can be familiar with the ingredients. The components in multi-grain bread give it an earthy, nutty flavor and texture that distinguishes it from other loaves.

Flour

Flour is the most crucial ingredient in a multi-grain loaf. To be nutritionally beneficial, the first ingredient in multi-grain bread should be 100 percent whole-wheat flour or another type of whole grain. "Many people see multi-grain or 12-grain and they confuse that with whole grain," says Bonnie Liebman, director of nutrition for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Bonnie Taub-Dix, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, agrees. "Just because it says wheat on the label doesn't mean it is 100 percent whole wheat," she says. Bread manufacturers often market brown bread or bread with several different grains as being "whole wheat" or "multi-grain," but to get the benefits of high fiber and other nutrients, choose a bread that contains whole grains as the first ingredient, rather than refined or enriched flour, bleached flour or refined wheat flour.

Yeast

Yeast is what makes bread rise. When combined with warm water, it converts natural sugars in the bread's flour to carbon dioxide, filling the dough with air pockets that expand and then burst in a hot oven. These pockets give the bread a light, airy texture.

Multi-grain loaves are heavier than loaves made with white flour or refined flour (even though both are made with yeast), because the whole grains in multi-grain bread have more substance and weight to them. A whole grain contains three parts: bran, germ and endosperm. A refined grain has been stripped of the nutritious bran and germ and contains only the endosperm.

Vital wheat gluten, an ingredient in many multi-grain breads, contains added protein and helps the bread rise along with the yeast.

Salt

Salt is an essential part of any yeast loaf and helps give the loaf flavor. It also enriches the flavor of the natural whole grains in a multi-grain bread. Without salt, a multi-grain loaf would be dense and flavorless.

Peter Reinhart, author of The Bread Baker's Apprentice and Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Bread, says, "It's intuitively obvious that whole grains are the way to go when it comes to carbs, but it's hard to beat white flour breads when it comes to taste . . . I really am hoping that people will choose the healthier option not out of obligation but because it tastes good to do so."