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 In the European part of Russia, the most common product is bread. What is bread? You can give a lot of answers, depending on from what position this product is viewed.
Poet E. Mezhelaitis said: “A loaf of bread is a real piece of the sun on my land”. Well, poets are allowed to speak figuratively. But why, suddenly, a very serious scientist KA Timiryazev, forgetting about the "pseudoscientific" language, wrote no less poetically: "A piece of well-baked bread is one of the greatest inventions of the human mind."
And they also say: “bread is materialized labor”, “bread is the head of everything,” “bread is a noun,” “bread is a symbol of human labor” ...
Of course, the following definition will also be correct: "Bread is the main food product of the population of many countries, obtained by baking sour or unleavened dough specially prepared from wheat, rye or corn (their combinations are also possible)." This quote is from a cooking guide. In medical books it is said: "With bread a person gets carbohydrates, proteins, fats, mineral salts and vitamins."
And all this is correct, and all these poetic and prosaic definitions are accurate, important, necessary. For it is bread and salt (more on it later) that dear guests are greeted, bread and salt is presented to the newlyweds before the start of their independent life, with bread, only bread, but not with meat, milk, fish, and even more so with fruits and vegetables, they connect the well-being and wealth of both an individual family and the entire nation. "Bread-father" is the same stable phrase in our Russian language as "Volga-mother".
 The roots of such respect, undoubtedly, should be sought in the depths of the gray centuries. You can be sure that if bread was invented in the middle of the 20th century or if 15,000 years ago, when, according to excavations, its systematic use in food began, the abundance of products not only in quantity, but also in terms of assortment would correspond to the modern for which it would not acquire such a unique meaning. But let's not complain that this did not happen. Bread raised and nourished us, and we honor it deservedly.
In ancient times, bread was also considered the best healing remedy for many diseases. In Asia and Ancient Greece, they believed that eating stale bread is healthier than freshly baked bread. And for pains in the stomach, for example, they "prescribed" a very simple medicine - to lick the stale crust. By the way, even today, with some gastrointestinal disorders, doctors prescribe a short refusal to eat, which is quite similar to licking a crust.
Today, according to culinary experts, no less than 600 types of bakery products are baked only in a factory and semi-factory way. Go to an ordinary city bakery and you can easily count 30-40 items. In cooking, add another ten, one and a half. In a cafe or restaurant - the same amount. And if we take into account the breads that are baked in Central Asia (lavash, Asiatic churek), in the Caucasus (shots, trichtinuli, manauri, kukhtiani, valipuri), in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Romania, Italy, France, Norway ...
But in order to get bread, you must have at least flour. And flour is what the grain turns into, which has been at the mill. In short, this is a pounded grain, from which the “clothes” - the shells - were removed and from which the “soul” - the embryo - was taken away. But just like rice, it is in the shells and the embryo that the main value of the grain lies. The higher the grade of flour, the more thoroughly it is purified and finer ground, the less vitamins, protein and other biologically active substances it contains.
As you can see, the improvement in taste "cost" the flour almost 3% protein, the loss of half of the fat, a 10-fold decrease in the fiber content and 3 times the mineral salts.
 If we were talking about mushrooms, poppy seeds (there is a proverb - “Poppy hasn’t given birth for seven years, but there was no hunger”), oranges or cranberries, no one would have paid attention to these losses. But the bottom line is that this is bread, that this is a product that we eat regularly, 200-500 grams daily, and in addition, we prepare various other products from flour - noodles and noodles, pasta and horns, pancakes and dumplings ... And then these percentages turn into very significant losses. Of course, it is not at all necessary to completely abandon confectionery products from "white" flour or bake bran bread. But you need to know ...
Undoubtedly, measures are being taken on a national scale to improve the quality of both flour and bread. Thus, rye flour is enriched with vitamins B2 and PP, and wheat flour, in addition, with vitamin B1. Some types of bread add milk powder (protein bread), fats. And it is absolutely impossible to list what is added to buns, cakes, challah, etc. True, certain types of bakery products are improved without adding to flour, but taking something away from it. So, for patients with diabetes and obesity, flour with a reduced carbohydrate content is produced.
Speaking of bread, one cannot pass over in silence such a variant of it, or, if you like, a link of further transformation, like a biscuit. And I mean not so much rusks for children, dietary, lemon, coffee, etc., as rye Bread rusks cooked on a baking sheet in the oven. And so that the biscuit is a little fried.
Those who were born before the war have a special attitude towards breadcrumbs. But even now, when there is plenty of bread and all kinds of rolls, try to fry crackers for fun. What kind of smell will go through the apartment, how the children will be excited (they didn’t know the war, they have this excitement not because of memories, but only because of the smell), how greedily and with pleasure they will eat a whole piece of bread. But only bread must be taken in a mold, a brick. And not burnt.
So that's a biscuit. This is not stale bread dried at room temperature - biochemical studies have confirmed significant differences between the two. Staling of bread is a complex physicochemical process associated with the destruction of starch colloids. This process takes place even in conditions of high humidity and depends on the age of the bread, that is, we can say that stale bread is old bread, although it does not always have time to dry out by this time.
 Stale bread is much worse absorbed by the body, its nutritional value is sharply reduced. In contrast, crackers not only do not lose nutritional value, but even increase it, acquiring along the way and healing properties. Who does not know that in case of diarrhea and other intestinal disorders, doctors recommend tea not with a roll or bread, but with breadcrumbs. In the absence of appetite and some types of gastritis, especially in children, rye crackers are largely conducive to healing. At the same time, of course, the factor that there is very little water in the rusk and when chewing it, saliva is abundantly released. In saliva, right? as you know, contains some bactericidal (killing microbes) substances and enzymes that break down food products. In addition, the stomach reacts to the secretion of saliva, which also begins to intensively produce digestive juices. However, it is impossible to assume that it is only a matter of irritation of the mucous membrane with dehydrated bread, because similar salivary and sokogonny reactions occur in response to many other stimuli (for example, bitterness), but it is still a biscuit that is recommended.
Of course, none of the most fragrant and cute-looking rusks can replace bread (yes, this is not required, except for some extraordinary situations), but you should not completely forget about them, you should not ignore them.
Such a frequent, or rather, constant consumption of bread and flour products places very high demands on them, not only in terms of the content of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, but also in terms of the content of mineral salts. And before considering in more detail the negative aspects that arise in this case, let us recall what mineral salts are and what role they play in the body.
Vladislavsky V. - About your food, man
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