whole rye bread OK every day..?

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whole rye bread OK every day..?

Postby Hal » Sat Jan 09, 2021 2:59 pm

Hi all. Is whole rye bread OK for every day sandwiches? Is there a special low-oil 'whole rye bread' or is all whole rye bread OK for every day? Thanks.
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Re: whole rye bread OK every day..?

Postby VeggieSue » Sun Jan 10, 2021 5:59 am

I see nothing wrong with eating the same whole grain every day if you enjoy it. Many of us eat oatmeal every day, or brown rice, and even whole wheat bread. Like with wheat breads, make sure the label says "whole" rye.

Now, finding an oil free rye bread is a problem. I have never found one. In fact, the only oil-free breads I *have* found commercially are the frozen Food for Life brand Ezekial and the packaged Dave's Killer Breads, only the green and yellow label ones, though. But we're also supposed to be buying packaged products that are made without salt, and if they do have salt, the per serving sodium level on the label is less than or equal to the calories. The only one I ever found is the Ezekial Lower Sodium one. Some people have said they can get an oil-free whole wheat packaged lavash at Whole Foods, but I've never seen it, and they never mention if the sodium level is acceptable. Bread products usually have more salt than potato chips, so read those labels!

Oh, wait a minute! Just before I pressed the Submit button I remembered that Ann Esselstyn (Dr Esselstyn's wife) uses rye bread in all her videos where she makes sandwiches! She uses Mestermacher rye bread:
https://www.mestemacher-gmbh.com/produc ... /#tab-id-2

I then remembered I have half a loaf of this stuff in my freezer! These loaves are about 8 inches long (this is the bread's width) and 3 or so inches wide. It's very thinly sliced - each slice is about 1/4 of an inch thick. The bread is hard and dry and pretty much flavorless, according to not just me but my husband, too. Ann Esselstyn usually suggests triple toasting it so it's even harder and dryer, and her daughter Jane compares it to a roof shingle. But Ann ignores her husband's (and Jeff Novick's) guideline about the sodium level. Each slice of this bread is 180 calories but 240 mg sodium.

If you like thin, dry slices, but want to ignore the sodium guideline, the Mestermacher is the way to go. But I have never seen a rye bread that meets both the no oil and the lower sodium guidelines made commercially. If you have a bakery where you can order a no-salt added, oil free rye bread, or want to make your own, then you're all set to go.

My own opinion? If you have access to an oil-free rye bread but the sodium level is a bit high, go right ahead and buy it, just be careful with the rest of your food throughout the day so your daily sodium total is under 2,000 mg. It's more important the bread be oil (and other fats, like lecithin) free. I would not buy a bread that had any fats in it, because that is Dr. McDougall cardinal rule that he shouts from the rooftops.
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Re: whole rye bread OK every day..?

Postby Hal » Wed Jan 13, 2021 7:47 pm

Thanks, VeggieSue. I'm looking for the ultimate every day sandwich bread so i can add a daily sandwich to the menu. Incidentally, i was watching an Esselstyn cooking video Anne used this for her sandwich and thought it looked like the kind of 'bread' that i once tried but quickly decided had too much fat, based on the 'slick' texture, especially after heating or toasting. I know they are strictly no oil so i found it interesting. Maybe they use a special brand of rye bread.
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Re: whole rye bread OK every day..?

Postby VeggieSue » Thu Jan 14, 2021 5:24 am

Hal wrote: I know they are strictly no oil so i found it interesting. Maybe they use a special brand of rye bread.


Ann shows the package in a lot of the lectures on what to eat on Dr. Esselstyn's program, and it's always that Mestermacher Rye. Whenever the Esselstyn program (The doc's, not Rip's) post official recipes, that's the brand mentioned, like here: http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/sample- ... t-reverse/ OK, there it just says the brand but not specifically the rye. Some of the other Mestermacher breads do have oil, so, of course, read labels. But in one of the recipes Rip posted for Engine 2/Plant Strong,
https://plantstrong.com/plant-strong-re ... ben-on-rye
he says this:
8 slices rye bread (we like Mestemacher brand)


Maybe it looks oily because of all the toasting it gets kind of a shine to it? It's a really dense bread, like the old-world bakeries used to make, and I assumed that's why the company sells it in those really, really thin slices. When toasted even once it really is as hard as a shingle, and Ann always wants to triple toast it, one of the reasons Jane says she eats like a goat.

I do keep looking and asking at bakeries, but have never found another place with acceptable rye bread. None of our local bakeries take special orders, like no oil, but maybe you can. I notice nobody else chimed in with a suggestion so I guess nobody else found one yet, either. I do miss a good rye bread. That few times I had it years ago I made it myself in my bread machine. Not as good as the store bought breads of my youth, but good enough at the time.
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Re: whole rye bread OK every day..?

Postby MINNIE » Sat Jan 16, 2021 10:23 am

I'm lucky to live near some artisan bakeries that make oil-free sourdough rye. But those are a bit expensive.

For a cheaper alternative, I also like the oil-free pumpernickles like Mestermacher -there are several different similar brands.

It is just rye, yeast and water (but do check the label) . It make a nice sandwiches, is available in mainstream stores and isn't too expensive. Also, it keeps better than some other breads and is OK to freeze.
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Re: whole rye bread OK every day..?

Postby Hal » Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:17 pm

That sounds like a good plan, Minnie. Thanks, all.
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Re: whole rye bread OK every day..?

Postby michaelswarm » Mon Jan 18, 2021 8:59 pm

Thanks for this post.

Inspired by the question, yesterday I baked a loaf of deli rye bread. (50-50 rye-whole wheat + onion powder + caraway seeds). Today I adapted my basic burger dough to make pastrami (flavor = tomato paste + smoked paprika + black pepper + mustard seed + cilantro seed + garlic powder + onion powder + pilincillo). For lunch made sandwiches with rye, “pastrami”, sauerkraut and yellow mustard.

I’m sure the recipes can be improved with repetition. While this might appear complex, these are just tweaks to existing routine recipes for bread and burgers.

Never would have thought 10 years ago when switching to WFPB that I would be making pastrami sandwiches!
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