Recent anti-gluten propaganda has encouraged even some of the most die-hard carb fans to sidestep the bread basket. We all know that gluten is terrible, right? It makes you tired, messes with your digestion and makes you bloated - or so we're told.
But there's a grass-roots movement in America of farmers who think gluten's getting a bad rep. Their belief is that gluten really isn't that bad for you - after all, humans have been eating and digesting gluten for centuries. The culprit, they say, is how manufacturers process gluten, and how it comes to be the bread we're served in supermarkets and bakeries.
It's worth noting that there isn't a form of gluten that coeliacs can tolerate, but that's not who Spence Farm, the famers, are hoping to convince. They're hoping to reach the third of US citizens who claim they have a gluten sensitivity, despite only 1% of that population being diagnosed as coeliac.
In a nutshell, the bread we eat today doesn't really do justice to grains. Modern-day bakers are in a rush to make bread, so rather than allowing it to ferment and rise naturally over several days, they use leavening agents to speed up the process. This means the starches and proteins in the bread (like gluten, which is a mixture of two proteins) don't have time to break down before baking. The bread you're then left with is harder to stomach.
The Spence team say they're pursuing 'identity-preserved grains' - crops that have fallen out of favour with the public over time, but aren't meddled with so much and are more natural. They told Munchies “[One of our goals] is to try to rediscover some of these old, ancient varieties that have incredible properties—whether it be taste, workability, texture—just trying to rediscover something, because so many of the modern hybrids lack so much,”
Their two hopefuls include einkorn and emmer, which they're hoping they can turn into flour that can be used to bake bread.
One of the farmers, said, “In growing the einkorn and emmer, our hope is that we can reintroduce folks who have sensitivity to gluten to some really powerful breads.”
Time will tell whether or not the Spence team can make it work - they're praying for a good season for their crop. For all the sourdough-phobes out there - change could be coming.
