Yeast Free Bread…Real Food For Health written by Lynn Gordon of French Meadow Bakery™

What are yeasts?

John Willard Rippon, PH.D., said in his book Medical Mycology: The Pathogenic Fungi and the Pathogenic Actinomycetes:

“Yeasts (including Candida albicans) are mild mannered creatures incapable of producing infection in a healthy individual. They only cause trouble in persons with weakened defenses.. ..the severity of the disease will depend on how weak a persons resistance is, rather than any disease-producing properties exhibited by the fungus….because of its rapid ability to make itself at home in mucous membranes (the medical term is colonize) and take advantage of many types of host alterations, the clinical manifestations of candida infection are exceedingly variable….Candida albicans accounts for the vast majority of diseases caused by the yeast.”

William Crook, M.D., defines what yeast is in his book The Yeast Connection: A Medical Breakthrough:

“Yeasts are single cell fungi which belong to the vegetable kingdom. And like their cousins the molds, they live all around you. And one family of yeasts, Candida albicans, normally lives in your body and more especially in your intestines and other parts of your digestive tract.”

Yeast germs normally lives on the mucous membranes, along with billions of friendly germs. The dark recesses of the digestive tract and the vaginas are the perfect environment for yeasts. Unfriendly bacteria, allergens, and viruses also find their way into these and other membrane-lined passageways, including the respiratory tract. However, when the immune system is strong, these unfriendly bacteria aren’t able to penetrate into the deeper tissues or blood stream. When the system is weak and vulnerable, the opposite occurs thus creating illness.

When yeasts multiply in the body, the put out toxins which circulate through the system causing hundreds of symptoms which often times lead to serious illness. When the yeast multiplication occurs, this weakens the immune system. Other factors such as nutrition deficiencies caused by poor diet and/or inability of the body to absorb essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, complex carbohydrates, vitamin minerals also weaken the immune system.

Common symptoms of a weak immune system are fatigue, depression, headaches, and the development of yeast or fungus infections on the nails, skin, or vagina. Allergies and becoming more susceptible to infections such as those of nose, sinus, ear, throat, bronchial tubes, and bladder are also common symptoms.

Twentieth century diets which are rich in sugar, bakers yeast, and birth control pills encourage yeast growth. Naturally leavened bread, commonly referred to as yeast-free bread, is easily assimilated by the body and does not promote yeast growth.

Yeast-free breads are growing in popularity due to the fact that they are being recommended by health care professionals to their patients that have yeast-connected health problems as described previously.

Bread is The Staff of Life, our daily sustenance. What are the characteristics of this alternative yeast-free bread? Natural, traditional bread must be leavened in a natural traditional way. Bakers yeast is not a natural and traditional leavening as is generally believed today. The natural leavening process requires a long fermentation time. By mixing wheat and water to make a dough, and letting this dough rest at least twelve to twenty-four hours in a temperature controlled environment, the dough develops from the exposure to all the microorganisms in the air.

Jacques de Langre, director of the Grain and Salt Society stated that the natural leavening agents provide a better strain of bacteria to the human system than the Lactobacillus acidolphilus which is derived from cows milk. These friendly bacteria help control candida. On the other hand, bakers yeast is a pro-candida organism. Why not ignore the leavening altogether?

There are many good qualities of unleavened bread, but there is a big catch-22 factor. Wheat, the primal grain, contain phytic acid or phytin, a natural ingredient that is associated with poor digestion, anemia, and nervous disorders disorders to name a few. The natural group of leavening microbes (microorganisms in the air) in naturally leavened/yeast-free breads eliminate 100% of the phytin; breads baked with bakers yeast contain 90% of the harmful acid.

Unleavened bread leaves even more phytin on hand for the unsuspecting eater. Natural leavening is a multi-faceted phenomenon. When the multiple forms of airborn microbial life contact the warm, moist environment of kneaded dough, processes of fermentation are initiated.

Complex carbohydrate molecules are broken down into simple sugars. When these complex carbohydrates are broken down they become very digestible and can be easily assimilated and properly eliminated by the body.

The yeast-free variety of bread is also more nutritious. The long proofing time breaks down the the bran of the grain, releasing valuable minerals which are dissolved in the rich dough, hence producing a healthful and tasty bread.

150 years ago, microbiological science isolated and cultured one particular yeast, the special Saccharamyces cerevisae, commonly known as bakers yeast. It was discovered that this tiny character caused a rapid and uniform raising of the dough, which was therefore much more predictable and controllable than the natural leaven method. This bacteria stimulated unnatural growth. The new cultured yeast made it possible to to raise a new loaf in 1 hour compared to the 24 hour process the naturally leavened yeast-fee bread required. Little did they know that they were causing an unnatural imbalance in the intestinal flora of all who consumed their daily bread.

The rising popularity of naturally leavened yeast -free bread is not only for health reasons but for reasons of quality and taste as well. To lovers of good bread, there is nothing to compare with naturally leavened whole grain breads. Yeast free breads have a good keeping quality (1 month refrigerated) and when bread is warmed it tastes as though it was just baked.

For centuries man has been nourish on naturally leavened (yeast-free) bread. In the search for health for ourselves and our families, let us seek out this true bread – Bon Appetit!

Transcribed from the Sept/Dec 1994 Mountain Ark Catalog.