Wholemeal bread
Wholemeal and wheatmeal breads are popular. In New Zealand wholemeal breads must have 90% or more wholemeal flour in the recipe used, and wheatmeals any level of wholemeal flour mixed with white flour.
Processing of these differs in two ways from that of white bread. During mixing the amount of water added to make an optimum dough consistency needs to be increased because the bran in the wholemeal absorbs more water. The dough is weaker because the bran particles break up the strong protein bonds in the bread dough, and this weakens the dough structure. This means the dough could collapse when it rises. Extra protein, called gluten, is added to make the dough stronger and stop it collapsing.
Wholemeal bread contains higher concentrations of minerals and vitamins than white bread as it retains the bran and germ of the wheat.
It is an excellent source of dietary fibre, containing twice that of white bread and more than multigrain breads.