Have you also heard that sugar is hidden in bread? What's the truth behind this rumor? We took a close look at it.
While people used to bake bread at home, today most people buy their bread in supermarkets. Here it is produced in large bakeries, where one thing above all applies: produce cheaply, sell expensively.
For this to be possible, the dough has to be fast and suitable for mass production. Instead of flour, spices and water, many additives go into the supposedly healthy bread. So when you buy a wholemeal bread, it doesn't have to be really healthy.
If you take some time while shopping and study the ingredient list of breads in the supermarket, you will quickly notice that sugar is hidden in pretty much every loaf of bread.
Even in the so healthily touted wholemeal bread.
Either hidden under terms such as E 150 (for caramel) or directly as sugar, inverter sugar syrup, beet syrup, the additive is written on the list of ingredients.
Table of contents
Why is there sugar in bread?
There are several reasons why the food industry adds sugar to bread dough. From the taste to the color to the juiciness of the bread, trickery is used wherever possible.
Sugar binds water
Sugar has an ability that keeps bread moist for a long time - the sweetener can bind water.
Supermarkets can add more water to the bread dough without it becoming sticky and soft. Since bread is always sold by the kilogram, this is good business for bakers and supermarkets. Because there is no cheaper additive than water.
But sugar also ensures a longer shelf life. It removes water from microorganisms and deprives them of the basis for their growth. However, bread contains too little sugar for this effect to occur.
If you're wondering how many more grams are okay, check it out here: "How much sugar can I eat a day?"
Paint for the crust
Have you ever baked your own bread and wondered why it differs in color from supermarket products? This is very often due to the fact that the purchased bread contains sugar.
In technical language, the effect is called Maillard reaction, it provides the golden brown to brown color of the crust. The more sugar is added, the more sugar is likely to be present.
The Maillard reaction is a complex chemical reaction that forms dark colored roasted aromas. This reaction normally takes place between reducing sugars and proteins, but can be accelerated by high temperatures. Frying, roasting or cooking in the oven, for example, create the conditions for the Maillard reaction.
Chemists will now shake their heads because household sugar is not a reducing sugar. Yes, that is true. But in this case, it is not the household sugar that is involved in the reaction. It is the individual building blocks of household sugar - glucose and fructose.
When the bread dough ferments, enzymes such as invertase come into play. They break down the sugar into its individual building blocks.
In a sugared dough, you can therefore find more reduced sugar molecules. In baking, they provide a beautiful crust color because the sugar molecules form brown roasting substances with the wheat protein.
But you can get a nice brown crust even if there is no sugar in the bread. Namely with:
- Milk: The milk sugar (lactose) is a reducing sugar. So yeast plait and milk roll become brown because of the milk and not because of sugar.
- Baking maltAnyone who regularly bakes bread has certainly heard of baker's malt. This is nothing other than maltose - i.e. malt sugar.
Taste
Meanwhile, pretty much all foods from the supermarket contain different types of sugar at the same time.
This not only has the advantage that the color is more beautiful and the shelf life is increased. We are so used to sugar that many foods no longer taste good when we eat them without sugar.
Ready-made sauces, dressings, ketchup and even bread contain sugar.
Attention: Sugar is hidden in these foods!
Behind which terms is sugar hidden in bread?
There are very few breads that actually consist only of flour, water, leaven and salt. But if you take it very carefully, even these breads contain about 5 % sugar. And this is often not even shown separately.
How can that be? Where does the sugar come from if there is no sugar in wholemeal flour? For this, you need to know that enzymes are used in many recipes.
They provide the thick, brown crust, a moist dough and the shelf life. If you want to banish sugar from your diet altogether, you have to keep your eyes open and look for amylase and xylanase.
Amylase
This enzyme has been noticed by anyone who chews a piece of bread for a very long time. This is because it is responsible for the bread becoming sweet over time.
During baking, amylase breaks down the starch into individual sugar molecules. This not only makes the bread taste sweeter, but also browns the crust.
Amylases in bread break down the polysaccharides, leaving behind monosaccharides.
Xylanase
If you want to extend the shelf life of your bread and get a nice, dark brown crust at the same time, xylanase is just what you need. This enzyme breaks down arabinoxylan - one of the components of wheat bran - into xylose.
This sugar then reacts with proteins, contributing to a darker color of the crust during baking.
Xylanase helps break down mucilage formed during milling. Long-chain sugar is broken down into simple sugar to affect the elasticity of the dough.
But so is the problem when bread contains sugar in the form of enzymes?
Both enzymes do the work for our body. Normally, these two processes should only take place in our stomach, where the sugar serves as food for the intestinal bacteria. The enzymes pre-digest the bread and ensure that the sugar can immediately go directly into the blood.
For the body, it is therefore as if sugar has been added to the bread. If you want to avoid sugar in your bread, you should bake it yourself and stay away from ready-made baking mixes.
Why is it not necessary to mention the enzymes?
Enzymes are proteins that are sensitive to high heat and are destroyed by it. When you bake a bread dough, the bread inside becomes so hot that all the enzymes present are killed.
Enzymes are considered processing aids and not additives. Therefore, they do not have to be mentioned in the list of ingredients.
Nutrition experts warn against the many "pre-digested" foods that have enzymes added to them.
Our body is used to breaking down food into its components on its own and then slowly releasing it into the body - this is especially true for sugar. Enzymes take this work away from it, which can lead to problems in the long run.
Those who have a very sensitive stomach will notice that they feel worse after certain breads than after others.
Throughout the EU, the use of enzymes does not have to be mentioned on the packaging. So we consumers don't even know that we are eating bread with sugar.
Where can I buy bread without sugar?
Most likely not in the supermarket. But look at the nutritional table, if a few percent of sugar is listed here and there is no sugar in the ingredients list, then there are enzymes in the bread dough.
A good tip for "clean" bread without sugar are organic and natural bakeries.
Delicious and sugar-free: quick buckwheat bread!
Our conclusion
Pretty much every baked good contains sugar in some form. Even those we don't suspect it from. The fact that bread contains sugar has mainly a great benefit for the industry. The breads have a longer shelf life, can be produced more cheaply and get a nice crust.
The sugar molecules react with proteins and contribute to the crust becoming darker during baking. So if you want to avoid sugar in your bread, you should become a bread baker yourself.
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