Does the recipe produce flat bread? 
Posted on 11/08/2003 12:04:57 PM PST by carlo3b
Breadmakers feel pain from Atkins diet
By DAVID SHARP
The Associated Press
11/8/2003, 1:18 p.m. ETPORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Some bakers around the country are seeing a similar drop in business: With millions of people trying the diet created by the late low-carb guru Dr. Robert Atkins, overall bread sales are flat or down slightly, while bread-bashing seems to be at an all-time high.
A sign in Stephen Lanzalotta's bakery reads, "Senza il pane tutto diventa orfano." In Italian, that means, "Without bread everyone's an orphan."
But fewer customers are buying his European-style breads and pastries these days — thanks to the Atkins diet, many regulars are cutting back on carbohydrates. Lanzalotta says the low-carb diet has contributed to an estimated 40 percent drop in business at his shop, Sophia's.
Some customers have even stopped by to apologize.
"They'll say, 'I'm sorry. I haven't been in for six months because I'm on the Atkins diet,'" said Lanzalotta, whose muscular arms are a testament to long hours spent kneading dough.
The National Bread Leadership Council, which says 40 percent of Americans are eating less bread than a year ago, has scheduled what it calls a summit this month in Rhode Island focusing in part on low-carb diets and how to educate the public that breaking bread is still part of a healthy lifestyle.
"It's too bad that we just can't eat all foods in moderation. But no, we have to do something dramatic all the time," said Judi Adams, president of the Wheat Foods Council and a registered dietician, referring to the Atkins diet. "We have to look for this magic bullet."
Estimates of the number of Americans on low-carb diets vary widely, from 5 million to 50 million. Their boycott of bread has exacerbated a sluggish sales trend that was in place before low-carb diets became popular, said John McMillin, a food industry analyst with Prudential Equity Group Inc. in New York.
When Lanzalotta opened his bakery, bread accounted for 75 percent of sales. Now it accounts for just 15 percent. He boosted his dessert offerings and began offering sandwiches to try to make up the difference. He also adapted by selling artwork, including his own paintings.
At Standard Baking, co-owner Alison Pray said sales are nearly flat after previously growing 10 percent to 15 percent a year.
Pray sees plenty of couples stopping by, but often only one partner is eating. The other is cutting carbs.
She's a bit incredulous when customers ask if she produces anything consistent with the Atkins diet. "This one person asked me, 'Can you make a low-carbohydrate bread?' I said, 'I wouldn't know how to do it,'" she said.
Others are adapting. At Anthony's Italian Kitchen, owner Tony Barassa said his customers are ordering Syrian wraps without the wrap and panini sandwiches without the panini. They're also ordering meatballs without the spaghetti.
On Atkins, people can eat cheese, eggs and meat as long as they strictly limit carbohydrates and avoid refined carbs like white flour. White bread, pasta, potatoes and other carbo-loaded foods are blacklisted. The diet was once scorned by the medical establishment, but recent studies have shown that people lose weight without compromising their health.
The Wheat Food Council's Adams, who is based in Colorado, believes low-carb diets are just another fad. And she wonders if they're really helping.
She noted that the nation's obesity rate has continued to grow as flour consumption has declined. Wheat flour consumption has dropped by about 10 pounds a year per person since 1997, she said, calling Americans' tendency to eat too much of everything the real problem.
"We eat 300 more calories a day than we did in 1985," Adams said. "We supersize everything. We eat constantly."
Big Sky Baking Co. in Portland appears to have avoided the worst of the low-carb fallout because its whole wheat bread is the kind recommended for carb-cutters who can't resist a slice every now and again.
Owner Martha Elkus recognizes that times are changing. "The food pyramid has been turned upside down," she said.
Bread bakers aren't the only ones hurting. The pasta industry, the tortilla industry, bagel makers and even brewers of beer have taken their lumps for having too many carbohydrates.
The Tortilla Industry Association held a seminar last spring titled, "An Industry in Crisis: The High-protein, Low-carb Diet and Its Effects on the Tortilla Industry." The National Pasta Association has a "Diet Matters" section on its Web page that focuses on low-carb diets.
Joshua Sosland, executive editor of Milling and Baking News in St. Louis, said it's difficult for consumers to find good information amidst all of the hype that served to overshadow the science behind the diets. Often overlooked is the fact that bread and grains remain an important part of the federal government's diet guidelines.
"Here we have about the most healthy thing in the diet," Sosland said, "and it's being treated like it's poison."
Bakers are changing their products even as they seek to get out the message that bread remains part of a healthy lifestyle.
Flowers Foods' low-carb bread, "Nature's Own Wheat 'n Fiber," has proven to be the company's most successful new product launch to date, said Mary Krier, spokeswoman in Thomasville, Ga.
George Weston Bakeries Inc. has launched "Carb Counting" bread under its Arnold label that carries the Atkins seal. Maine-based Lepage Bakeries has introduced Country Kitchen "Lower Carb" wheat bread.
Panera Bread, a fast-growing chain that offers soups, salads and sandwiches in addition to bread, is also making changes to meet the evolving tastes of its customers. The company is testing three whole-grain breads with fewer grams of carbohydrates per slice.
"Our view of it is not to resist (the low-carb trend) but to recognize it as a real niche," CEO Ron Shaich said.
I did try the low carb bread. Once. That was enough for me. Maybe they should make cigarettes with the same kind of recipe. That would make people quit smoking!
One thing I notice among fellow normal-carbers such as myself on these threads. Many of them are looking for "low-carb" substitutes of foods they just shouldn't be eating in the first place. Ice cream, pies, cakes, cookies, candies, etc. I find it easier just to give that stuff up once and for all.
Whoa, thats quite an important bit of knowledge. Thanks so such for sharing your unique insight.. Hitting my forehead with my palm, how could I have ever believed otherwise.. :)
Zesty Italian Lemon Cookies Tall taste with low cholesterol.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
- 3 large egg whites
- 1-3/4 cups sugar
- 1 tsp. lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. almond extract
- 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1-1/2 cups chopped nuts or dried fruit
1) Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder and almond extract until smooth.
2) Add the flour and nuts or fruit, and stir just until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
3) Drop tablespoon-size lumps of dough on a greased baking sheet.
Bake until the cookies are lightly browned, 10-12 minutes.
Let them cool completely and store in an airtight container.Per serving: calories 274, fat 8.6g, 27% calories from fat, cholesterol 0mg, protein 5.9g, carbohydrates 45.5g, fiber 2.2g, sugar 30.4g, sodium 29mg, diet points 6.3.
Kneeding the dough begins the Gluten process, and pretty much controls the amount. Gluten begins to form as soon as flour is moistened and stirred. Gluten in bread baking needs to be developed to give the bread a strong structure that can withstand the strength of yeast activity, sometimes over an hour or two.
Gluten also acts like a net, catching and holding the air bubbles developed in the dough. These bubbles are later enlarged by the carbon dioxide, a by-product from the yeast, which causes the baked good to rise. I hope that helps!
But I feel the same way. Believe me, I would love to go back to eating bread, pies and pasta and even "junkier" foods like Twinkies, Oreos, tortilla chips and one of my favorite candies which was those caramels with the creme centers. If I knew I could eat those without gaining back the weight I worked so hard to lose, I would eat them. And with the holiday season coming up, I would love to imbibe in the egg nog and the home-baked cookies and the jelly-filled macaroons and all that other stuff. But I am going to get through this season without touching any of it - no problem. My recent memories of being fat are still too strong to slip back to old ways. Also, all my family and friends are waiting for me to put the weight back on. "The hardest part about losing weight is keeping it off" is on everybody's lips. So this is motivating me to keep it off once and for all to prove all the naysayers wrong.
So this holiday season, I will have to be content with extra nuts and cheeses and of course some fine wine and beers. Those my body can handle.
Does the recipe produce flat bread?
I think I dropped off your low-carb ping list. Please slow down so I can jump back aboard.
You know, this is one of the Big Debates within the low-carb community.
For myself, I don't care too much about finding a low-carb ice cream, or low-carb pretzel or bread, etc. I don't miss carbs too much. But then again, once in a while I do, and over time those once in a while's add up to where I feel I should be able to indulge in the tastes I used to love and not worry about falling off the wagon. But everybody's different and YMMV.
For the country at large, I doubt that the major agribusinesses would be able to change en masse to exclusively extremely-low-carb products even if they wanted to. But if they could get it so that the average potato chip, Doritos, ice cream, Cheerios, spaghetti, and pizza dough had 1/2 to 2/3 the carbs they have today, then the country's obesity problem as a whole would simply fade away.
With all the refinements they're discovering to low-carb recipes & ingredients, and the inevitable genetically engineered lower carb plants, I think that kind of incremental change is doable, and probably a more reasonable goal to hope for in the long run.
p.s. CONGRATULATIONS on your minus 100 lbs! WOOHOO! We want new pix!
Yikes! What's with all the sugar?
Carlo, I have a question: I don't do much baking, and what little I do is usually around the upcoming Holidays. I tried baking cookies with Splenda once, and it didn't turn out too bad. But could you give us a few pointers about baking with Splenda vs. sugar?
Thanks!
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