“Turkey met white flour in the 1950s and since then, modern mills have started to be built. The failure of the stone mills to respond to the demand and the popularity of the breads made from white flour led to the refining of wheat and industrial production. But the peeling of the wheat husk needed for our bodies and the separation of the wheat extract has caused many diseases in terms of health.”
Necati POLAT
Board Member - Agricultural Engineer
Çınar Gıda Grubu
Nature is full of miracles; we see this miracle in the bread which is made by combining flour, water and yeast. In fact, bread has been the main source of food for thousands of years. As well as being a source of food, it is considered as such a blessing that when it falls on the ground, we kiss it and put it to a high place. However, bread has never been as notorious as in recent years. A large segment of society from the dietitians to the doctors, from the professors to the journalists, from the politicians to the professors is talking about bread and trying to make personal gains. Unfortunately, few are asking how to produce healthy and high quality bread and how to bring quality bread to our dining tables.
About 50 or 60 years ago, there was a wide range of wheat types produced in Anatolia such as Üveyik, Kızıl buğday, Davas, Karakılçık, Güzelpınar, Kundura, Kavulca, Siyez, Cumhuriyet and so on. During the years when we started university, the average wheat yield in Turkey was 80-100 kilograms per decare. Nowadays, we see that the yield reaches between 500 and 1000 kilograms per decare. The increase in our population, combined with the ambition of people to earn more, increased the number of improvement works, and high-yield varieties of wheat were uncovered. Although these types of wheat are called “genetically modified wheat”, it is impossible to agree with this assertion. Wheat is a product that can be only be improved.
IMPORTANCE OF YEAST IN BREAD PRODUCTION
Turkey met white flour in the 1950s and since then, modern mills have started to be built. The failure of the stone mills to respond to the demand and the popularity of the breads made from white flour led to the refining of wheat and industrial production. But the peeling of the wheat husk needed for our bodies and the separation of the wheat extract has caused many diseases in terms of health. However, the wheat extract is rich in minerals and vitamins and has many uses ranging from mother’s milk to the delay of aging. Speaking of the wheat extract, I’d like to mention about a statement by one of our teachers: “Societies feeding on bread without extract will have difficulty in having 3 children”.
To produce nourishing bread, it is necessary to have whole grain flour and fermentation. Sourdough and yeast are widely used in the making of bread. Besides these, yeast varieties such as local chickpea yeast and flower yeast are also used. In fact, we can get different types of bread by changing the yeast that we put in the dough. Yeasts already exist under natural conditions. Even the microorganisms in the air can be used in the preparation of the first yeast; if you mix the flour with water and wait a few days you get sour yeast. The bread you make with it is sour and makes you feel full. All these bread varieties are extremely nutritious and they are different from and richer than those breads made from protein contents. It has been reported that gluten sensitivity that has been quite popular in recent years is caused by wheat proteins and fermentation allows these proteins to be burned and transformed. Therefore, fermentation actually removes the natural components that can cause problems for people. Just like predator insects used in the biological struggle in nature.
SUGGESTION “DO NOT EAT BREAD” FAILS
Prof. Dr. Vural Gökmen from Hacettepe University’s Faculty of Food Engineering Department has scientifically proved that the main reason for the ineffectiveness of “do not eat bread” campaign in society is the Melatonin hormone in bread as suggested by his two-year study. Fermentation of bread causes the formation of the hormone of happiness, which we call the Melatonin hormone.
The main problem of bread making in Turkey is that too much bread is produced. This problem is caused by the fact that 8-10 million loafs of bread are wasted on a daily basis, and an uncontrolled sector causes poor quality and non-hygienic production. Scientists and authorities must contemplate this, and they have to start working on how this amount of waste can be earned to the economy. Otherwise, we will waste an amount of bread daily consumed by Greece.