bread

bread Baked dough made from cereal flour, usually wheat, although rye, barley, and other cereals are also used. Normally leavened by fermentation of the dough with yeast, or addition of sodium bicarbonate. Soda bread is an Irish speciality, made with whey or buttermilk, and leavened with sodium bicarbonate and acid in place of yeast, although yeast may also be used. Frozen bread dough was first introduced in 1962 by Bridgford Foods Corp. after a baker stored already mixed dough overnight in a freezer and found that it could be defrosted and baked well.

Unleavened bread is flat bread made by baking dough which has not been leavened with yeast or baking powder. Matzo is baked to a crisp texture, while pitta and chapattis have a softer texture.

Aerated bread was made from dough containing water saturated with carbon dioxide under pressure, rather than being leavened with yeast. The aim was to produce an aerated loaf without the loss of carbohydrate involved in a yeast fermentation (7% of the total ingredients). The resultant loaf was insipid in flavour and the method went out of use.

Wholemeal bread is baked with 100% extraction flour, i.e. containing the whole of the cereal grain. White bread is made from 72% extraction flour. Brown bread is made with flour of extraction rate intermediate between that of white bread (72%) and wholemeal (100%). A loaf may not legally be described as brown unless it contains at least 0.6% fibre on a dry weight basis. Black bread is a coarse wholemeal wheat or rye bread leavened with sourdough.

The white loaf in the UK has added iron, vitamin B₁, and niacin, but not to the level of wholemeal bread, and white but not wholemeal is enriched with calcium. Some bakers also enrich white bread with folate. In some countries riboflavin but not calcium is added.

Four slices of brown bread (120 g) are a rich source of folate; a good source of protein, vitamin B₁, iron, and copper; a source of calcium and zinc; contain 3.3 g of fat, of which 18% is saturated; provide 10.5 g of dietary fibre; supply 350 kcal (1470 kJ).

Four slices of white bread (120 g) are a rich source of copper and selenium; a good source of protein, vitamin B₁, and folate; a source of calcium and iron; contain 2.6 g of fat, of which 23% is saturated; provide 4.5 g of dietary fibre; supply 370 kcal (1550 kJ).

Four slices of wholemeal bread (140 g) are a rich source of vitamin B₁, copper, and selenium; a good source of protein, folate, and iron; a source of zinc; contain 4.1 g of fat, of which 18% is saturated; provide 11.3 g of dietary fibre; supply 340 kcal (1430 kJ).

Rye bread is baked wholly or partially with rye flour, of varying extraction rate, so that it can vary from very light to grey or black. It is commonly a sourdough bread and may contain caraway seeds. A 100‐g portion (4 slices from a small loaf) is a good source of vitamin B₁ and niacin; a source of protein, calcium, and iron; contains 4.5 g of dietary fibre; supplies 220 kcal (925 kJ).

Sourdough bread is white or wholemeal wheat or rye bread, that has been leavened with sourdough (sauerteig); dough that has been left to ferment overnight, and contains a mixture of fermenting micro‐organisms, including peptonizing bacteria that turn the dough to a more plastic state, yeast, and lactic or acetic bacteria that produce the sour flavour.

There is a wide variety of different types of bread, with loaves baked in different shapes, or with various additions to the dough. For batch bread, the moulded pieces of dough touch each other in the oven, so that when baked and separated only the top and bottom of the loaf have crusts. Traditional French bread is made with soft‐wheat flour, and has a more open texture and crisp crust. It is generally baked as a baguette, a long thin loaf. It does not keep well, and is traditionally purchased three times a day. Foccacia is Italian; white bread made with olive oil (9%) and herbs; ciabatta (also Italian) is a white bread with large holes, made with olive oil (5%). Bank holiday bread was made with extra fat to soften the crumb so that it would last over a long (Bank holiday) weekend.

Cornell bread was originally developed at Cornell University, with increased nutritional value from the addition of 6% soya flour and 8% skim milk solids. Lactein bread has added milk, usually about 6% milk solids (3–4% milk solids are often added to the ordinary loaf in the USA).

See also flour, extraction rate; quick breads; Chorleywood bread process.