Bread

:For other uses, see Bread (disambiguation).

Breads across different cultures

There are many variations on the basic recipe of bread, including pizza, chapatis, tortillas, baguettes, pitas, lavash, biscuits, pretzels, naan, bagels, puris, and many other variations.

Related Topics:
Pizza - Chapati - Tortilla - Baguette - Pita - Lavash - Biscuit - Pretzel - Naan - Bagel - Puri

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• In the British Isles and the United States, the most widely consumed type of bread is soft-textured with a thin crust and is sold ready-sliced in packages. It is usually eaten with the crust, but some eaters or preparers may remove the crust due to a personal preference or style of serving, as for high tea.
• In France, such bread is known as pain de mie and is used only for toast or for making stuffing; standard bread (in the form of baguettes or thicker breads) has a thick crust and often has large bubbles of air inside. Some fancy breads contain walnuts, or are encrusted with poppy seeds.
• White bread is made from flour containing only the central core of the grain (endosperm).
• Brown bread is made with endosperm and 10% bran.
• Wholemeal bread contains the whole of the wheatgrain (endosperm and bran).
• Wheatgerm bread has added wheatgerm for flavouring.
• Wholegrain bread is white bread with added wholegrains to increase the fibre content.
• Granary bread is brown bread with added wholegrains.
• Stottie cake is a thick, flat, round loaf. Stotties are common in the North East of England. Although it is called a cake, it is a type of bread.

Bread in Germany

Germans are crazy about bread. There is no country in the world with comparable numbers of different kinds. About 300 types of breads and approximately 1200 different types of pastry and rolls are produced in about 17,000 bakeries and another 10,000 in-shop bakeries.

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80 million people consume around 1,100,000 Tons of bread, 5,024,000,000 rolls and 454,000,000 pretzels per year. This is a world record. Bread belongs to almost every meal. A German breakfast typically consists of sliced bread or Brötchen (rolls) with either cold cuts, cheese etc. or jam, honey and other sweet toppings. For supper it is usually just cold cuts and cheese. Bread is not considered a side dish and is considered important for a healthy diet.

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Germany's top nine in bread are:

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• 1. Rye-wheat ("Roggenmischbrot")
• 2. Toastbread (white bread)
• 3. whole-grain ("Vollkornbrot")
• 4. Wheat-rye ("Weizenmischbrot")
• 5. White bread ("Weißbrot")
• 6. Multi-grain ("Mehrkornbrot")
• 7. Rye ("Roggenbrot")
• 8. Sunflower seed ("Sonnenblumenkernbrot")
• 9. Pumpkin seed ("Kürbiskernbrot")

Especially the darker kinds of bread like Vollkornbrot or Schwarzbrot are typical of German cuisine. Germans miss those kinds the most when staying in foreign countries. Internationally well known is Pumpernickel which is steamed for a very long time, it is one kind of dark bread from Germany but not representative.

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Most German breads are made with sourdough, Germans believe it makes bread more healthy than yeast. Whole grain is preferred for high fiber. Germans use almost all available types of grain for their breads: wheat, rye, barley, spelt, oats, sorghum, corn and rice. Some breads are even made from potato flour.

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French Style Baking

The French are renowned for their artisan breads. By using the four basic ingredients of water, flour, yeast, and salt, the French have mastered the art of creating complex breads that widely vary, despite the fact that each loaf contains the mixture of the same ingredients. French law dictates that for ?French? style breads, only the four above-mentioned ingredients may be used, along with ascorbic acid and rye flour. By manipulating rising times, kneading techniques, and with the use of specialty brick ovens, the French breads are as varied and unique as the regions in France.

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