This section is from the book "Food - What It Is And Does", by Edith Greer. Also available from Amazon: Food: What it is and Does.
The range of bread-substitutes is as great as the varieties of bread. These are not only many but come from everywhere and even from many ages of the living of humanity. They are nevertheless of only three general types and can all be so grouped. These are :
Simpler, thinner flour-foods, as buckwheat cakes and fritters of all types, batter cakes and batter-covered foods.
Sweetened flour-mixtures more delicate than bread and usually very palatable, such as all cakes, cookies, and many puddings.
Enriched flour-?nixtures more crisp than bread, due to increased fat (butter or lard). Often these are more appetizing than digestible. Such are pastries and even crackers (except cereal crackers that are simply hard-baked cereal-flour-and-water- or milk-mixtures).
Note in the table below the differences in crackers, cake, and breads. Which has most fat? least water? most protein, ash, carbohydrates?
Water | Protein | % IN | Carbohydrates | Fat | Ash | ||
43.6 | 54 | Brown Whole wheat Graham Rye White | 47.I | 1.8 | 2.1 | ||
38.4 | 97 | 497 | •9 | 1.3 | |||
35.7 | 8.9 | Bread | 52.1 | 1.8 | 1.5 | ||
35.7 | 9. | 53.2 | .6 | 1.5 | |||
35.3 | 9.2 | 53.1 | 1.3 | 1.1 | |||
19.9 | 6.3 | Cake | 63.3 | 9. | 1.5 | ||
6.8 | 9.7 | Crackers- | Cream | 69.7 | 12. | 1.7 | |
4.8 | "•3 | Oyster | 70.5 | 10.5 | 2.9 | ||
5.9 | 9.8 | Soda | 73.1 | 9.1 | 2.1 | ||
(From Food Bulletin No. 142, United States Department of Agriculture) (Rearranged)
Since these foods are all largely flour, they take the place of one another in the diet; that is, no two of these are eaten together. When two are eaten at the same meal, less of each should be than when alone. Cake or pie as dessert makes less bread with such a meal desirable. Cake and pie usually cannot, however, directly take the place of bread.
 
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