Bread basics

Since prehistoric times, bread has been a staple food in virtually every society. As early hunter-gatherers settled into agricultural societies, they learned how to transform various grains into bread.  Read on to learn more about your favourite type of bread.

Over the centuries, every society developed its own unique types of bread. This simple food required only stones to grind grain into flour or meal, water or another liquid to mix it into dough, and a means of baking or cooking it.

The huge variety of baked goods available to us at our supermarkets and bakeries today — different-shaped loaves of white, wheat, rye, pumpernickel, sourdough, and multigrain breads, bagels and muffins, croissants and matzos, tortillas, pita, and chapatis, among many others — represent a dietary melding of doz­ens of diverse cultures.

The simplest and oldest breads are flat, or unleavened; they are made by mixing flour or meal with water and then baking, frying, or steaming. Examples include matzo, tortillas, chapatis, and some types of crackers. The addition of yeast, baking soda, or other leavening agent to the flour-and-water mixture allows the dough to expand, or rise, and gives the bread a lighter, finer texture than unleavened types.

The type of flour used and the manner in which it and the other ingredients interact give the various kinds of breads their unique textures and flavours. In many industrialized countries the most popular breads are made from wheat flour, which produces a product with a light texture.

When wheat flour is kneaded with liquid, the gluten proteins absorb water to form an elastic dough that traps gas from the fermenting yeast; bubbles of carbon dioxide are formed, resulting in the light texture.

Rye and some other flours contain varying amounts of gluten, but none come close to that of wheat — which is why breads made from other grains tend to be heavy and coarse. To make a lighter-textured bread from rye, barley, or other grains, some wheat flour is usually added to the dough.

Flavour and texture are also influenced by the type of liquid mixed into the dough — plain water, milk, beer, and fruit juice are common choices. Sugar or honey may be added to "feed" the yeast and make the bread rise at a faster rate; it also results in a moister product. A small amount of salt is needed to strengthen the gluten and to temper the rate at which the yeast multiplies.

Butter or other fat is often added to flavour commercial breads; it also makes pastrylike breads, such as croissants, rich and flaky.