Bread, in Aajonus's framework, occupies a very narrow and conditional role in the Primal Diet, not as a desirable food, but as a sometimes-necessary form of cooked starch for people who cannot yet function without it. His position on bread evolved over time, and he was explicit that his thinking changed. He began by recommending sourdough bread as the best available cooked starch option, then later revised this position to favor boiled brown rice instead. Bread is never presented as a health food, a raw food, or something to pursue for nutritional benefit. It is addressed primarily in the context of people who require some cooked starch to manage hormonal excess, neurological imbalance, or digestive insufficiency, and even then, it is presented as an inferior choice compared to properly prepared cooked grain alternatives.

The subject of bread comes up in at least three distinct contexts in Aajonus's teachings:

1. As a cooked starch that "some people need", necessary for those who cannot thrive without any cooked starch at all, particularly for harnessing excessive hormones 2. As a pizza crust base, in the context of making raw-ingredient pizza at home 3. As a surface for applying fermented or raw foods, such as putting fish butter or other preparations "on toast"

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Aajonus explains that for certain people, some cooked starch is biologically necessary. His reasoning: raw starches, in his framework, are not digestible by the human body without cooking. He stated directly:

The cooked starch functions in the body not primarily as nutrition, because in his framework, the cooking destroys the nutritional value, but as a physical buffer or harness for excessive hormones. He explained that excessive hormones circulating in the body can cause:

• Severe imbalances
• Anger
• Irritability
• Closed-mindedness
• Rigidity
• "All kinds of nasty behavior"

The cooked starch, particularly when eaten with an equal amount of butter, acts to absorb and bind these excessive hormones, preventing them from causing behavioral and physiological havoc.

In Aajonus's view, cooked starch, including bread, does not provide meaningful nutrition. It passes through the system largely without being absorbed, particularly when eaten with the required equal amount of butter. He states:

This is the mechanism he relies on: the fat load prevents the starch from being broken down and entering the bloodstream as toxic cooked sugar. Instead, the starch acts as a physical carrier for the hormones and then exits the system.

The specific physiological role of cooked starch, including bread, is described in terms of harnessing excessive hormones. Aajonus described this as applicable to people who are producing more hormones than their system can utilize, and those hormones, without being absorbed into the starch matrix, will circulate and cause severe imbalance. The cooked starch acts as what he metaphorically called a magnet or sponge for these excessive hormones.

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Aajonus explicitly named sourdough bread as the best form of bread he formerly recommended:

His description of what makes sourdough acceptable in this context is its minimal ingredient profile: water, flour, and sometimes yeast, nothing else. This strips it of additives, preservatives, and other adulterants. The fermentation process of sourdough, while not making it a raw food or a fully digestible food, does provide some degree of predigestion that sets it apart from standard commercial bread.

However, Aajonus explicitly revised this position:

He does not elaborate in the available passages on precisely what mechanism makes sourdough "not good for the system" beyond the fact that it is a cooked starch. The implication is that even sourdough bread, despite being the best available option among breads, still carries the inherent problems of all cooked grain products, destruction of enzymes, denaturation of proteins, formation of cooked sugars, and disruption of digestive bacteria.

Aajonus's updated recommendation replaced sourdough bread with boiled brown rice:

Key specifics he provided about the rice-based replacement: - Brown rice only, not wild rice - Good raw rices, the starting material must be quality grain - Boiled in good water, water quality matters - Pyrex container, not a metal pan - Eaten with an equal amount of butter, the fat pairing is mandatory

So the trajectory is: sourdough bread was the former recommendation → revised to say it is okay but not good → boiled brown rice in Pyrex with equal butter is the current better recommendation.

Aajonus also addressed bread specifically in the context of pizza crust. When asked about pizza as a favorite dish, he outlined a raw-topping pizza approach using a bread crust as the base. He was pragmatic about this:

He described two options: 1. Make your own bread crust, without fat, and without necessarily using yeast since leavening is not required for the purpose 2. Buy one, but with a specific warning attached to commercial options

In one passage, the use of toast (bread that has been baked or toasted) is referenced specifically in the context of applying fermented fish preparations:

This is described in the context of a traditional fermented fish butter preparation, a highly fermented, traditionally prepared animal-fat product placed on top of toast. In this context, the toast serves as a vehicle or delivery surface rather than as a food being consumed for its own nutritional value.

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Aajonus issued a specific warning about commercially purchased bread, particularly in the context of buying a pizza crust:

He does not elaborate extensively in these passages on the full chemistry of bleached flour, but the framing is clearly negative, "fortified and bleached flour" is presented as an inferior and problematic product compared to making your own. The word "fortified" in Aajonus's framework is typically associated with synthetic vitamins added back after processing destroys the originals, which he viewed as toxic or at best useless.

While Aajonus does not provide an extended lecture on unbleached flour in these passages, the contrast he draws makes clear that if one is going to make bread at home, unbleached flour would be the assumed starting material, since the problem he identifies with commercial bread is specifically that it is made from bleached and fortified flour. Making your own bread allows you to control the ingredients and avoid those adulterants.

For sourdough specifically, the acceptable form has: - Water - Flour - Sometimes yeast - Nothing else

Any additions beyond this minimal formula would take the bread outside of the acceptable range Aajonus described. The simplicity of the ingredient list is what made sourdough the best available commercial bread option before he revised his recommendation.

In Aajonus's recipe book, an "Italian Sauce" is documented, this is relevant because in Italian culinary culture, bread is closely associated with such sauces. The recipe consists of: - 5 ounces stone-pressed olive oil - 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary - 1 tablespoon finely chopped basil - 1/4 garlic clove, pressed (optional)

The preparation: stir all ingredients together in an 8-ounce jar for 1 minute, cap, and let stand in a cupboard for at least 3 days. Do not refrigerate at any time. This sauce is allowed to develop over time at room temperature rather than in the refrigerator, which allows the flavors and mild fermentation to develop properly.

For flavoring a full bottle of olive oil, the quantities of rosemary, basil, and garlic are tripled and added to the bottle, again with a minimum 3-day standing period.

This Italian sauce context is relevant because in the Primal Diet, if bread or toast is used as a vehicle (as in the pizza or toast references), raw sauces and raw toppings are the appropriate accompaniments.

Aajonus references France extensively, not specifically in relation to bread but in relation to the cultural framework around fermented and soured dairy products. His time living in France, off and on for three years, is documented, and he consistently observed that the French: - Did not use sweet cream, everything was soured - Sourced dairy from outdoor farmer's markets - Had no concept of sweet cream being digestible - Ate rich foods (cream, butter) with their meals

The "French" references in the sources relate primarily to dairy culture, French Mayonnaise recipe (in the recipe book), and French Vanilla Ice Cream, these are raw food preparations that happen to carry French naming conventions, not bread-based products.

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Aajonus was emphatic about the fat pairing requirement when eating any cooked starch, including bread. The mechanism he described is absolute:

This is not a suggestion or a preference, it is the biochemical rationale for why cooked starch can be tolerated at all. Without the equal-amount butter pairing: - The cooked starch gets absorbed into the bloodstream - It enters as cooked, toxic sugars - Those sugars cause damage to tissues - Candida and other fungal organisms proliferate in response to those sugars

With the equal-amount butter: - The fat creates a barrier to absorption - The starch passes through the system without being broken down into absorbable sugars - The starch performs its hormonal-harnessing function without depositing toxic byproducts

In the same passage, Aajonus draws an analogy to cheese, he uses cheese as an ionic magnet in the digestive system to attract and bind toxins that the body is trying to eliminate. The cooked starch functions analogously: it is there to perform a function (harnessing excessive hormones), not to be digested. The equal-amount butter ensures it is not digested.

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Aajonus described a specific approach to making raw-ingredient pizza using bread as the base. The full protocol as described:

Crust Options: 1. Make your own, without fat, without necessarily using yeast 2. Buy one, acknowledging it will likely be from bleached and fortified flour

Topping Approach, Multiple Proteins: > "You can make it with fish. There are all different kinds of things you can make it with. You can take slices, very thin slices of filet mignon. That will break up easily and put little strips of them on there."

The concept is that the raw proteins, fish, thinly sliced filet mignon, are placed on top of the baked or purchased crust. The crust provides the structural base while the toppings provide all the actual nutrition in their raw state.

Baking/Toasting the Crust: > "You can make your own bread and go ahead and toast that or bake it."

The crust itself is cooked (baked or toasted), but all toppings are raw. This is how Aajonus adapted the pizza concept to the Primal Diet framework.

In the context of discussing traditional fermented fish preparations, highly fermented animal fats described as extremely rank and salty, Aajonus referenced toast as the appropriate surface:

This use case is for strongly fermented, traditional preparations where the toast serves as a neutral carrier. The fish butter or fermented animal fat preparation is described as being put "on toast" in the same way traditional cultures served it.

From the recipe book, the Italian Sauce that would logically accompany bread or pizza-style preparations:

Italian Sauce, 2 Servings: - 5 ounces stone-pressed olive oil - 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary - 1 tablespoon finely chopped basil - 1/4 garlic clove, pressed (optional)

Method: Stir all ingredients together in an 8-ounce jar for 1 minute. Cap and let stand in cupboard for at least 3 days. Do not refrigerate at any time.

Scaling up for a full bottle of oil: Triple the quantities of rosemary, basil, and garlic. Add to bottle of oil. Let stand for at least 3 days.

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One of the most significant historical points in these passages is Aajonus's open acknowledgment that his recommendation changed. He did not hide this revision:

This represents a clear evolution in his thinking, from sourdough bread as the best cooked starch option to boiled brown rice in Pyrex as the superior alternative. The reason given is not fully elaborated in the available passages, but the direction of his reasoning consistently points toward: sourdough is acceptable but not optimal, and the rice option is better because it avoids the specific problems associated with milled flour products.

Aajonus identified the commercial bread industry's standard practice as a problem:

The framing here is important: "usually", meaning it is the default, the standard industrial practice, not the exception. Buying bread commercially almost guarantees exposure to bleached and fortified flour. The alternative, making your own, is the only way to control the inputs.

In the newsletter passage, Aajonus described a specific body odor associated with consuming chemically produced tomato sauces of the type used in pizza parlors and Italian restaurants:

This is not specifically about bread or sourdough but about the entire commercial Italian food ecosystem, pizza, pasta sauces, restaurant Italian food, as a category of chemically contaminated processed food. The implication for anyone eating commercial Italian-style bread products (pizza dough, garlic bread, etc.) is that the sauces accompanying them are just as problematic as the bleached flour.

Aajonus identified a systemic contamination problem in all commercially purchased grains, which includes the grain used to make flour for bread:

The repeated washing removes the natural microbial communities that would allow fermentation to proceed properly. Even sourdough made from commercially purchased and repeatedly washed grain flour would be starting from a compromised base material, the organisms that should be present to enable true sourdough fermentation have been removed or destroyed.

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