BreadRecipe.net

Not Quite Everything You Need To Know About Bread
What we know as bread can actually come in many different shapes, sizes and flavors and often what we think of as cake may actually be bread. How can this be? There are many ways of making bread but they are all based on the same principle of making a dough and then usually adding yeast to make it rise  As you learn more about the different features and characteristics of dough based foods you will find yourself able to make better quality products.  Here we look at bread and see if we can add our own special touches to create a special taste and design.

What is Bread?
Bread is a basic food prepared by cooking a mixture of  dough made of flour and water with salt. In the West we usually bake the dough but other cuisines frequently fry, steam or bake the bread dough on a hot skillet. It may be unleavened or leavened too which means it has had yeast added and allowed to rise.

Salt, flour, fat and yeast are the basic ingredients of bread recipes but bread may have other ingredients such as eggs, sugar, milk, spice, fruit like raisins, nuts, vegetables like onion and seeds like poppy seeds included in the dough. Bread is among the oldest prepared foods in the world and may even be the very first food ever prepared by mankind. Leavened bread can also be traced back to prehistoric periods.

More About Bread

Fresh bread is well known for the aroma, taste and texture but it is important to maintain its freshness and bread that has dried or stiffened past its ideal state is referred to as stale bread. In modern times bread is frequently arrives wrapped in a plastic or paper film and often comes ready sliced. It is best stored in a semi-airtight container such as a breadbox to keep it from drying out and going stale. If bread is kept in moist and warm environments it is very likely to show mold growth which usually appears as green spots that grow larger hour by hour. Bread that is kept at low temperatures inside a refrigerator will still grow molds after several days but the activity of the mold growth is slower compared to bread kept at room temperature. Bread that is kept in a warm and dry environment  will quickly begin to turn stale due to retrogradation.

The crumb is how culinary experts and bakers describe the soft, inside part of the bread and thios should not be confused with small pieces of bread falling from a loaf which we also call crumbs. The outside suface of a loaf of bread which is harder and may be crisp is called the crust.

Serving Bread
Bread is ready to serve as soon as it has finished being cooked. Bread is usually eaten by being held in your hands but may also be eaten using a knife and fork. It can be eaten on its own or together with other foods and sauces like gravy, olive oil and sardines. It is frequently eaten as a sandwich with cheese, vegetables or meat contained between two slices of fresh bread. Slices of bread can also be toasted under a grill and served with a topping on a plate or a filling if used as a toasted sandwich.

About the Crust
The crust of the bread is harder and firmer than the inside of the bread because that part is more exposed to the heat during the cooking process. It becomes browned and hardened from caramelization of the proteins and sugars under the intense heat at the surface of the bread. The nature of the bread crust varies depending on the type of bread and the way that it has been baked. Commercial bread is baked using jets the steam pointed towards the bread to cook it and make the crust. Some bread crusts are very unpalatable, particularly among children though they are often the tastiest part of the bread. Crusts always have a different color to the insides of the bread due to the caramelization occurring during cooking.

Making And Baking Bread
You only need an oven to make bread nut these days a lot of us prefer to use a breadmaking machine to make the process of bread making almost automatic. With a good breadmaking machine you can simply put the ingredients in the machine, press a few buttons and a few hours later, or the next morning if you prefer, you go to the kitchen and have fresh baked bread ready and waiting for you to enjoy. It does not get much simpler to make your own bread than this.

Discovering the Different Kinds of Bread

All over the world there are differentl types of bread. These have been developed over hundreds of years and each has its own particular features and characteristics. Bread is eaten in different ways in different places and some people will choose a certain type of bread as their favorite depending on what they are used to and how they use bread in their culture. Having an understanding of the qualities of each type of bread will help you learn the best ways to prepare them and avoid problems.

The Different Types

Bread is the staple food in many societies around the world but in many Asian societies steamed bread or noodles or rice will be the most common daily food.  The typical loaf of bread we eat is usually made from a wheat flour dough which has been cultured with yeast and allowed to rise before being baked in an oven. Because of the high levels of glutenfound in common wheat, it is the most common grain used to prepare the dough for baking bread. There are other alternative breads made from the flour of other grass based grain species such as emmer, durum, spelt, maize, rye, oats and barley.

The common wheat grain is usually the one chosen for baking the white bread we are mostly familiar with these days. There are other types of wheat-grain which produce a good quality black bread. Spelt bread is widely consumed in European countries and it is said that spelt was the most common bread flour used in Roman times. Emmer bread is a staple food in the Middle East while Canadian bread is known for its healthy consistency and high protein content.

Knowing the Different Types of Breads
The white bread we have become so used to is created from a flour that has been produced from only the center part of the grain, called the endosperm. Brown bread that we are told is a healthier option for us is made using around 10% bran and the endosperm. Sometimes brown bread may be produced using a coloring agent like caramel to give it that wholesome looking brown color. You may see this described as wheat bread. For wheat germ bread the bread has added wheat germ to give it more flavor while wholemeal bread uses the entire wheat grain including the bran and the endosperm. Wholemeal bread is also known as whole grain or whole wheat bread.

More Types of Bread
Wholegrain bread is very similar to wholemeal bread or to white bread that has had whole grains added to boost it’s fiber content. Roti is a whole wheat bread which is often consumed in South Asia. Another well known Roti variant is called Naan bread which we may often eat with curries. Granary bread is made using granary flour which is a brown or malted white flour with whole grains and the wheat germ. Unleavened bread is a type of bread that is made without using yeast to make the bread rise. Rye bread is created with a flour that uses the rye grain at various different percentages. One benefit of rye bread is that it has higher fiber content when compared to the majority of other bread types.

Breads types known as quick breads are chemically leavened breads. These usually have both baking powder and baking soda added, together with a selection of alkaline ingredients and acidic ingredients. Some examples of these types are muffins, pancakes, waffles and Boston brown bread.

Bread In Different Cultures
There are so many different varieties of bread from many different cultures around the world. Chapattis, pitas, biscuits, naan, bagels, tortillas, brioche, baguettes, puris, lavash and pretzels are all different types of bread products that have developed around the world. Tortillas are a staple food in Mexico where you may also come across pan dulce and bolillo which are commonly eaten by Mexican peoples at breakfast. In the Philippines pan de sal is a popular rounded bread while in Spain you will often find bread referred to as pan. Peru has sweet bread which may be eaten together with hot chocolate and butter.

Many Scottish people eat a plain bread which is tall and thin and the French like to eat pan bread as toast and also use it for making stuffing. The Italians have many different types of bread recipes and usually like to eat large loaves and breadrolls with many other flavored types of bread being available.