Choose healthy breads for those sandwiches

While white bread may be good for growing children and young adults, it is more difficult to digest than whole wheat bread or multigrain. In the supermarkets today one can choose from a variety of breads, including garlic and pumpkin bread. There is also a wide variety of other “bread” options like bagels, muffins, wraps and pitas.

When it comes to choosing bread, here’s what you need to know: whole-wheat flour contains the entire grain, including the bran, germ and endosperm. That way, you get all the health benefits that are naturally part of the grain. Wheat flour doesn’t contain the bran or the germ, so it’s less nutritious than whole-wheat flour. Enriched wheat flour contains added nutrients that were lost during processing, often including thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin D, iron, folic acid and calcium. Even though these nutrients are added back, the flour still doesn’t contain the bran or the germ and isn’t as good for you as whole-wheat flour.

Stone-ground simply describes how the flour was milled. Although it may sound healthy, stone-ground flour is basically the same as wheat flour. It’s nowhere near as good as one hundred percent whole-wheat flour.

When it comes to the cheese, grilling is also a good way of keeping the curds and getting rid of the fat. Just cut in one inch squares and place in a purex dish into the microwave for 90 seconds, then drain the fat before placing in the chosen bread with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, carrots and sweet peppers. This sandwich contains all the necessary ingredients to give you a healthy start to the day. Heating a sandwich before eating enables quick and easy digestion, while toasted bread is better than untoasted.

Now while it is quite easy to buy bread and fill it with all the right ingredients to make a sandwich, it may be wise to consider baking your own bread at home and keeping it in the pantry for the week ahead.

Here is a recipe for a moist and mildly flavoured pumpkin bread recipe that you can embellish with ingredients like pecans or walnuts, chocolate chips, or dried fruit of any kind.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons lowfat buttermilk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1 large egg
1 large egg white
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat the inside of a loaf pan with canola cooking spray or light margarine and dust lightly with some white flour; set aside. In large mixing bowl on low speed, combine canola oil, buttermilk, sugars, pumpkin, egg and egg white and beat until completely blended, scraping bowl after about 20 seconds. In medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, ginger and salt. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, beating on low speed only until just combined, scraping bowl toward the end. Spoon batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean (about 50 minutes). Let it cool for ten minutes then invert pan and transfer the pumpkin bread to a wire rack to cool completely, if desired. Serve warm or cold.