carbohydrates

[CharlesHarris]

Kommißbrot,[1] is a dark type of German bread, baked from rye and other flours, historically used for military provisions.[2]
Kommissbrot is a dark bread made from rye and wheat flours as a sourdough. It has a firm but not hard crust, and because it is normally baked in a loaf pan, it only develops a crust on the top.[2] It's noted for its long shelf life.[3] It was used as military provisions in World War I, when sawdust was sometimes added to compensate for shortages of flour,[6] and in World War II.[5][7][8] A study by M. Gerson in 1941 concluded that kommissbrot covered the daily requirements of vitamin B1.[9] In World War II, Ersatzbrot (replacement bread) made of potato starch, frequently stretched with extenders such as sawdust, was often given to prisoners of war. This practice was prevalent on the Eastern front and at the many Nazi labour and death camps.

Nineteenth century scientists were able to justify the addition of sawdust to ordinary bread by claiming not only its nutritional value but its digestibility. The subject of ‘sawdust bread’ got quite a bit of journal space at the time on account of the possibility of it assisting the feeding of the poor at little cost to the rich during times when wheat prices were high.

Extract from the Proceedings of the New York Agricultural Society in 1868.

“Pereira says, "When woody fibre is comminuted and reduced by artificial processes, it is said to form a substance analogous to the amyloceous (starchy) principle and to be highly nutritious." Schubler states that "when wood is deprived of everything soluble, reduced to powder, subjected to the heat of an oven, and then ground in the manner of com, it yields, boiled with water, a flour which forms a jelly like that of wheat starch, and when fermented with leaven makes a perfectly uniform and spongy bread. …

Tomlinson, in his Cyclopedia, asserts that in Norway and Sweden sawdust is sometimes converted into bread for the people by a similar process; and the newspapers have stated, lately, that Norway was reduced to the necessity of using sawdust bread. So we see that woody fibre, practically as well as theoretically, is nutritious, and that heat will develop this nutriment. Heat will develop it into starch, and the action of an acid is necessary to turn it into sugar. The gastric juice supplies this acid, and after the proper application of heat, can dissolve woody fibre or starch, and probably convert it into sugar before it becomes nutritious. Starch is an element of respiration, and supplies animal heat, and, according to Liebig, the surplus contributes to the formation of fat in animals. ….And it is highly probable that even the trunks of trees, when so reduced, are nutritious.”