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bread
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What is bread?
Bread is a baked food made from moistened, kneaded, and sometimes fermented flour or meal. A major food since prehistoric times, bread has been made in various forms using a variety of ingredients and methods throughout the world.
Flatbread, the earliest form of bread, is still eaten, especially in much of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The grains used in flatbreads include corn, barley, millet, buckwheat, wheat, and rye.
Raised bread originally relied upon spontaneous fermentation, but bakers eventually used yeast to produce fermentation. Specific yeast strains have been developed with useful bread-making qualities, including stability, rapid fermentation capacity, and the ability to withstand high temperatures, all permitting production of a uniform product.
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What are the main ingredients used to make bread?
The primary ingredients that give most baked goods their look, feel, taste, and texture are flour, water, and leavening agents. Other ingredients, such as eggs, milk, salt, shortening, and sugar, modify these attributes.
Wheat flour is unique because its protein forms an elastic network when mixed with water, trapping gas and creating a solid, spongy structure when baked. This protein is known as gluten. The type and quantity of gluten determine a flour's suitability, which is influenced by the wheat's genetics, growing conditions, and milling process.
Leavening agents aerate the batter with gas bubbles. This may occur through chemical reactions, the distribution of atmospheric or injected gasses in the batter, or yeast or bacterial fermentation.
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How is bread made?
Bread is a baked food made from moistened, kneaded, and sometimes fermented flour or meal. Though the first bread was likely made with crushed grain and water baked on heated stones, the Egyptians discovered that fermenting wheat doughs produced a light loaf.
Modern bread making relies on specific yeast strains for fermentation. Wheat and rye flours are preferred because they produce the necessary gluten. Other ingredients include liquids like milk or water, shortening, salt, and sugar. Commercial bread production involves mixing all ingredients at once (straight-dough method) or mixing some ingredients to form a sponge before adding the rest (sponge-dough method). The dough is then divided, placed in pans, allowed to rise, and baked in a traveling tray oven.
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What are some different types of bread?
Bread comes in many forms, from flatbreads to raised breads. Flatbreads are the earliest form of bread and are still common in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Examples of flatbreads include:
- Naan A popular type in India
- Injera A spongy flatbread common in Ethiopia and Eritrea
- Pita bread Served throughout much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East
- Tortillas and arepas Small flat cakes important throughout much of Latin America
Raised breads include white bread, rye bread, and whole wheat bread. Other types of bread include sourdough and focaccia.
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Why does bread rise when it is baked?
Bread rises during baking due to leavening, a process that introduces gas bubbles into the dough. This can occur through yeast fermentation, where yeast consumes sugars and releases carbon dioxide, or from chemical reactions using reactants like baking soda. The gluten in the flour forms an elastic network that traps the carbon dioxide gas, causing the dough to expand. The gas expands with heat, creating the characteristic airy texture of bread.
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How is bread used in different cultures around the world?
Bread assumes diverse roles across cultures, varying in preparation, ingredients, and significance.
Flatbreads, like tortillas and arepas in Latin America, and roti in India, are staple foods made from grains such as corn, wheat, or millet. In Ethiopia and Eritrea, injera, a spongy flatbread made from teff, wheat, or sorghum, is a common dish.
Raised breads, such as challah, a traditional Jewish bread, are often served on the Sabbath and holy days. During the Jewish Sabbath, it is customary to serve two loaves of challah, which commemorates the double portion of manna that was provided by God.
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bread, baked food product made of flour or meal that is moistened, kneaded, and sometimes fermented. A major food since prehistoric times, it has been made in various forms using a variety of ingredients and methods throughout the world. The first bread was made in Neolithic times, nearly 12,000 years ago, probably of coarsely crushed grain mixed with water, with the resulting dough probably laid on heated stones and baked by covering with hot ashes. The Egyptians apparently discovered that allowing wheat doughs to ferment, thus forming gases, produced a light, expanded loaf, and they also developed baking ovens.
On July 7, 1928, inventor Otto Frederick Rohwedder’s automatic bread-slicing machine debuted commercially at the Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri, marking the first time consumers could purchase bread already portioned into individual cuts. Despite early shopper reluctance driven by the loaves’ disheveled appearance, the convenience ultimately proved persuasive enough that by 1929 Rohwedder’s manufacturing operation was running at full capacity to meet demand, and within another year pre-sliced bread had reached a national audience through the Wonder Bread label.
Types of bread
Flatbread, the earliest form of bread, is still eaten, especially in much of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The principal grains used in such breads are corn (maize), barley, millet, and buckwheat—all lacking sufficient gluten (elastic protein) to make raised breads—and wheat and rye. Millet cakes, naan, and roti (crisp whole-meal cakes) are popular types in India. Teff, wheat, or sorghum is used to make injera, a spongy flatbread common in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Chapati is a popular wheat flatbread in much of East Africa, and wheat pita bread is served throughout much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. Corn is used to make the small flat cakes such as tortillas and arepas, which are important throughout much of Latin America, and in Brazil small cakes are made from cassava.
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Sourdough is made by combining flour and water and then setting it aside for a period of a few days. During this time, yeasts that are naturally present in the air combine with the mixture and begin to ferment, which creates the sour flavor noted in its name.
Although across much of Asia the preference traditionally has been for the consumption of rice, as a grain, Western breads became increasingly popular in the latter half of the 20th century. In Japan, for example, the bread-baking industry, using processes developed in the United States, expanded rapidly after World War II, and baguettes are popular in Vietnam. Today various types of bread are consumed in Asian and European countries. Raised black bread, for example, is common in Germany, Russia, and Scandinavia; it is made chiefly from rye. Lighter rye loaves, with wheat flour added, are popular in the United States.
Raised wheat breads include a wide variety of forms. Simple white bread, made from finely sifted wheat flour, includes long, narrow, crusty loaves like baguettes. Braided challah, a traditional Jewish yeast-leavened bread made with eggs, is commonly served on the Sabbath (Shabbat) and certain holy days, such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Whole wheat bread is made from unsifted flour containing much of the outer and inner portions of the wheat kernel normally removed for white flour. Italian focaccia can be made as a flatbread or with yeast.
Other forms of raised breads include rolls and buns, chemically leavened quick breads, and yeast-leavened sweet goods that are rich in sugar and shortening. In Britain, hot cross buns, a type of sweet bread with spices added, traditionally were consumed at the end of Lent. Other types of sweet or spiced breads, such as plum bread, Chelsea buns, the Welsh tea bread bara brith, and lardy cake, include dried fruit, either incorporated into the dough or sprinkled on top.
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Methods of bread making
Although raised bread originally relied upon spontaneous fermentation, bakers learned to produce fermentation with yeast. Specific strains have been developed with useful bread-making qualities, including stability, rapid fermentation capacity, and the ability to withstand high temperatures, all permitting production of a uniform product. Only wheat and rye flours produce the necessary gluten to make raised loaves, and wheat gluten is more satisfactory for this purpose. Other ingredients include liquids, such as milk or water, shortenings of animal or vegetable origin, salt, and sugar.
During World War II the U.S. government banned sliced bread to conserve packaging materials and labor. The plan failed to achieve what it set out to and was abandoned within weeks.
Improvements in the commercial production of bread include better temperature control, handling methods, fuels, and refrigeration. Modern commercial bread making is highly mechanized. Mixing is performed by the straight-dough or sponge-dough methods or by the continuous-mixing process. In the straight-dough method, frequently used in small bakeries, all ingredients are mixed at one time. In the sponge-dough method, only some of the ingredients are mixed, forming a sponge that is allowed to ferment and is then mixed with the remaining ingredients to form the dough. The mixed dough is divided into appropriately sized pieces, deposited in bakery pans, and allowed to rise. The pans then pass through a traveling tray oven, baking the bread. The continuous-mixing process eliminates many individual operations.