Think practicing the Mediterranean Diet means bread is off the menu? Not so fast. Learn about what you need to look for in Mediterranean Diet bread and discover the best bread for Mediterranean Diet, including recipes to make your own.
The Mediterranean Diet is year-over-year the number one diet. If you were to look at the Mediterranean Diet pyramid, you’ll see bread is included. And that word, diet can be pesky—for many, it implies a way of temporary eating for weight loss, but defined differently, it is a longterm eating style and that’s how we are going to use the term here.
On Wheat Pita and Flatbreads
At grocery stores, you can find lavash and pita breads aplenty—definitely breads eaten in the Mediterranean are part of healthy eating. To adhere to a Mediterranean Diet, turn the bag or or packaging over and look at the ingredients. You’re looking for whole wheat flour in the list. Wheat flour is a bit of a misnomer as it doesn’t necessarily mean the flour has all of the parts of the wheat in it and may have had the bran and germ removed. Only whole wheat flour includes the whole grain—endosperm, bran, and germ. Two ideas: Try whole wheat pita with hummus . Wheat pita can also be sliced up and toasted into chips that can be served with dip (or included in the Lebanese salad, fattoush). Top a sheet of whole wheat lavash with labneh, cucumbers, dried figs, pickled red onion, and smoked salmon. Or, salad topped whole wheat lavash.
Best Flour for Baking Mediterranean Diet Bread
Whole grains are an integral part of the Mediterranean Diet. They’re high on the list of Mediterranean Diet foods for good reason. Bread, made from whole grain flour, still has the bran and germ intact. So, if you’re baking, choosing a whole grain flour instead of all-purpose flour, which is a refined grain flour is a good swap. Spelt flour can be used as a one-for-one substitute for AP flour. Whole wheat flour has more protein in it and works better for making bread as protein helps with developing more gluten. It also has more fiber in it. Sometimes you’ll see only bread flour used, or a mix with whole grain flour, since bread flour contributes to a lighter, fluffier bread like this Trail Mix Bread. Rather than focusing on regular bread, the Mediterranean Diet pyramid uplifts wheat bread or wholemeal bread with more health benefits than one made with refined grains.
Frozen Bread
If you are not in the baking mood or don’t have the time, Ezekiel bread, kept in the frozen food aisle would be a good choice as it’s loaded with seeds and whole grains and high in fiber. The Ezekiel bread brand is kept in the freezer and toasted in the oven rather than thawing it — you can use this kind of bread any way you would use regular bread. It’s a wheat bread with extra benefits. Frozen bread might sound different at first, but you’ll find that toasting a really good whole grain sourdough bread at 350F for 7 minutes yields a great texture. We sometimes will visit bakeries when we travel and bring home loaves of wheat bread, sourdough bread and other kinds that we store as frozen bread.
Bread Recipes
Adding Sun-Maid and Orchard Choice California Dried Figs to whole grain bread introduces fruit into the equation and the health benefits that are concentrated when figs are dried. Hopefully you have a better idea now of how whole grain bread can be part of a balanced Mediterranean Diet. Bake a loaf of Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread with Figs, Caramelized Onions, and Thyme . Or, bake a boule of Sourdough Whole Grain Bread with Mission Figs for more experienced breadbakers.
