{{Short description|Type of bread inspired by Sylvester Graham}} {{use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Graham bread | image = Graham6.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = | alternate_name = | country = United States | region = | creator = | course = | type = Bread | served = | main_ingredient = Whole-wheat flour | variations = | calories = | other = }}
'''Graham bread''' is a name for whole wheat bread that was inspired by the teachings of health reformer Sylvester Graham.<ref name="TasteAtlas">{{Cite web |title=Graham Bread {{!}} Traditional Bread From United States of America |url=https://www.tasteatlas.com/graham-bread |access-date=2024-05-25 |website=TasteAtlas |archive-date=May 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240525174429/https://www.tasteatlas.com/graham-bread |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-05-26 |title=Graham Bread, Temperance Reformers, and America’s First Fad Diet |url=https://blogs.lib.umich.edu/beyond-reading-room/graham-bread-temperance-reformers-and-america%E2%80%99s-first-fad-diet |access-date=2024-05-25 |website=blogs.lib.umich.edu |language=en}}</ref> The ingredients for Graham bread include Graham flour, milk, molasses, yeast, and salt.<ref name="TasteAtlas" />
== History == Sylvester Graham was a 19th-century health reformer who argued that a vegetarian diet, anchored by bread that was baked at home from a coarsely ground whole-wheat flour, was part of a healthful lifestyle that could prevent disease.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The History, Natural History, and Biogeography of Graham Bread |url=http://www.alabamaheritage.com/8/post/2018/09/the-history-natural-history-and-biogeography-of-graham-bread.html |access-date=2024-05-25 |website=Alabama Heritage |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Iacobbo-2004">{{Cite book |last=Iacobbo |first=Karen |url=https://archive.org/details/vegetarianameric0000iaco |title=Vegetarian America : a history |last2=Iacobbo |first2=Michael |date=2004 |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0275975197 |location=Westport, CT |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|21, 29}}
In 1837, Graham published the popular book ''Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making'', which included a history of bread and described how to make Graham bread, though the passage is absent of any exact measurements and instead calls upon the baker's "good judgment." It was reprinted in 2012 by Andrews McMeel Publishing, as a selection of its American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection.
Like Graham crackers, Graham bread was high in fiber and made from graham flour free from the chemical additives that were common in white bread at that time<ref>{{Cite web |title=Graham Bread or Brown Bread |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/file-uploader/Cook%20History-Jan%2014-Graham%20Bread.pdf |access-date=May 25, 2014 |website=National Museum of American History |archive-date=June 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617014705/https://americanhistory.si.edu/sites/default/files/file-uploader/Cook%20History-Jan%2014-Graham%20Bread.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> such as alum and chlorine. He argued that these chemical additives were unwholesome.<ref name="Iacobbo-2004"/>{{rp|25–26}}
==See also== *Brown bread, a bread that was considered undesirable in early 19th century Europe *Whole wheat flour *Flour bleaching agent *Health food *Horsebread, a medieval European coarse bread that may have additionally contained the husks or chaff of the grains as well as legumes *Maida flour, example of a bleached flour used in India
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://shakermuseum.org/learn/shaker-studies/enfield-shaker-recipes/enfield-shaker-graham-bread-recipe/ Enfield Shaker Graham Bread Recipe] - Enfield Shaker Museum {{American bread}}
Category:American breads Category:Whole wheat breads {{bread-stub}}