From IBS to gluten intolerance: your guide to enjoying bread responsibly
We eat an average of a kilo of bread a week. But when it leads to wind, pain and inflammation, the enjoyment of eating bread turns to agony. In this article, I explore what makes bread easier to digest, how you can eat it even if you have irritable bowel syndrome or coeliac disease, and how you can keep it fresh for longer.
On average, Swiss people eat 50 kilos of bread a year – and Germans eat 55. That’s reason enough to take a deep dive into some dough. Because bread doesn’t agree with some people as well as others. The most common problems are irritable bowel syndrome and coeliac disease. But even if you have these conditions, you don't necessarily have to do without bread as long as you keep a few things in mind.
Slow and steady wins the race: key information for IBS sufferers
People with irritable bowel syndrome aren’t usually able to enjoy bread. The reason for this is sugar molecules called FODMAPs (fermentable oligo-, di- and monosaccharides and polyols). These sugars can’t be broken down properly in the small intestine of people with IBS and reach the large intestine undigested. They then contribute to large buildups of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane, which lead to flatulence and cause severe pain. As sufferers particularly struggle with symptoms after eating wheat bread, it was long assumed that wheat was the cause of the issue. Bread made from ancient grains such as einkorn, emmer or spelt is (or seemed to be) easier to digest for people with IBS.
A study by the University of Hohenheim finally revealed the real reason why breads made from alternative wheat are easier to digest: it’s not the types of grain that make a difference; it’s how they’re prepared – more precisely how long the dough is rested. Proving dough for longer can reduce its FODMAP content and therefore minimise irritable bowel symptoms. In the study, all doughs had the highest levels of FODMAPs after one hour. After four hours, however, even the wheat dough, which previously had the highest levels except for einkorn, only had 10 per cent of its original FODMAP amount.
Bread made from ancient grains is more likely to be sold by small, traditional bakeries, which often use slower dough preparation techniques than large bakeries. They let their dough prove for several hours or even overnight for slow fermentation and a better flavour. This also makes the bread easier to digest, but, again, it’s not primarily due to the grain; it’s down to the reduced FODMAP content in the dough.
So, in the case of irritable bowel syndrome, the decisive factor isn’t the type of grain; it’s the proving time of the dough.
You don’t have to give up bread if you’re coeliac
Another condition that forces people to give up traditional bread is coeliac disease. It’s an autoimmune disease where consuming gluten causes a harmful reaction in the small intestine. Gluten is a protein found not only in wheat, but also in barley and rye. In people with coeliac disease, the immune system mistakenly identifies gluten as foreign and attacks the cells lining the small intestine, causing inflammation and damage.
Symptoms of coeliac disease vary from person to person and can include gastrointestinal discomfort such as abdominal pain, diarrhoea, bloating and nausea. Other signs include fatigue, weight loss, anaemia, skin rashes, and abnormal bone metabolism. Left untreated, coeliac disease can lead to long-term complications such as malnutrition, osteoporosis and other autoimmune diseases. The only way for people with coeliac disease to manage their condition is to follow a gluten-free diet. However, they don’t have to do without bread, as long as it’s made with gluten-free flour. Alternatives include corn and rice flour, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, potato flour and teff.
Even if you’ve decided that it’s best to bake your own bread so you can use your chosen grain and control the proving time, there’s still the matter of which raising agent to use.
Raising agents: yeast makes bread soft and fluffy
Raising agents play a crucial role in bread baking and give bread its fluffy, airy structure. There are different types of raising agents, but yeast is the most common.
Yeast: Yeast is a microbial fungus that converts carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Dry yeast and fresh yeast are both used in bread baking. It ensures efficient fermentation of the dough, making it rise quickly and creating fluffy bread. Fermentation usually takes one to two hours. As you’ve already learned, however, not giving the dough much time to rise isn’t good for its digestibility. You can let yeast dough prove for longer to reduce its FODMAP content.
A special type of bread dough is sourdough,
a natural leavening agent made from a mixture of water and flour and fermented by lactic acid bacteria and yeast. The fermentation takes longer than with pure yeast, usually several hours to several days. That’s why sourdough is easier to digest – especially in terms of FODMAP content – than pure yeast dough, which has only been allowed to prove for a short time. Sourdough breads have a sour taste and a firm crust. They’re also often easier to digest because fermentation increases the availability of nutrients. Sourdough breads also stay fresh for longer than yeast breads due to their acidic environment.
Bake your favourite bread yourself
Now you've got the taste for it, you can bake your own bread at home. Our expert Simon Balissat has tried it several times – with tasty results:
If you want to or have to avoid wheat, I’ve already mentioned that there’s a wide variety of alternative grains. You can find out more here(/de/page/es-muss-nicht-immer-weizen-sein-die-vielfalt-der-getreidearten-28897).
And to make sure you can enjoy your baked goods for as long as possible, here are a few tips for storing them correctly.
What’s the best way to store your bread?
Once you’ve found the right bread for you, you obviously want it to last as long as possible. The two main problems you want to avoid are mould growth and drying out.
Plastic bag: Storing your bread in a plastic bag can accelerate mould growth. The humid environment and trapped air stop the moisture in the bread escaping, meaning that it stays soft for longer, but spoils faster. The bread can also take on an unpleasant plastic taste.
Coated paper bag: Bread from the baker usually comes in these bags. They allow some air circulation, making them better at regulating moisture than plastic bags. This slows down the formation of mould and bread stays fresh for longer. However, it can dry out faster in a coated paper bag. So, if you store your bread like this, you should eat it sooner rather than later and not leave it lying around for too long. Linen or cotton bread bags are similar, protecting their contents from mould growth via air permeability.
Bread bin: A wooden or metal bread bin is an ideal solution for storing bread. It enables sufficient air circulation and prevents mould formation while also protecting bread from drying out for longer. Bread bins create enough humidity to keep their contents fresh and tasty for longer.
Fridge: Due to the cool environment, mould doesn’t grow as quickly in the fridge. However, the cold draws out moisture, which in turn causes bread to dry out faster. So, if you put your bread in the fridge, you should wrap it well to avoid it drying out and prevent it from taking on the smell of other fridge contents. A plastic bag (with the pros and cons mentioned earlier) or a small bread bin that fits in the fridge is most suitable for this.
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Science editor and biologist. I love animals and am fascinated by plants, their abilities and everything you can do with them. That's why my favourite place is always outside - somewhere in nature, preferably in my wild garden.
