No table is complete without bread. After all, if there is bread in the house, the family will not remain hungry. In many cultures, this product is considered a shrine. Most are accustomed to the fact that he is always at hand, and often forget that he is the result of the work of many people. Hearth bread is considered one of the types of this product.
Traditional manufacture
In addition to the hearth, there is also uniform bread. They differ in that the first of them is baked without a mold. Hearth bread was prepared on the hearth of the oven, that is, on its floor. This gave him a name. Its advantage is that it does not stale for a long time and remains fresh until completely consumed. Traditionally, it has a round shape. Before sending this bread into the oven, it was properly warmed up. To do this, burned a lot of firewood, and after they burned, swept ash. Bread could be laid simply by hand or with a shovel. Most often it was placed on oak or cabbage leaves in order to make it more fragrant. Such a loaf is baked when exposed to steam, so the arch of the furnace was of particular importance. The taller he was, the more difficult it was to bake bread.
Modern hearth bread production
Nowadays, few people bake bread at home. It is much easier to buy it in a store. How has the technology of cooking bread in the modern world? The main changes occurred due to the fact that machines are used in production. But for the rest, the manufacturing process of such a product as hearth bread has not changed much. It is produced using such technology. First, yeast is bred in warm water and allowed to stand for a while. Then salt and sugar are dissolved in it. If the recipe requires it, they prepare margarine or vegetable oil. Hearth bread is made from soft grades of flour. It can be wheat or rye. After all the initial products are prepared, the dough begins. It takes place in a coupled way. First you need to mix somewhere half the sourdough and flour. She is left for 3-4 hours, so that she "fits" - increased in volume. After that, the rest of the products are added. And left for another 1.5-2 hours. Further, in the next workshop, the dough is divided into pieces and give each of them a ball shape. These "balls" are left for a while to increase in volume. The next step is that the dough is sent to the oven, where with the help of steam it turns into a golden loaf of bread.
Features of the manufacture of types of hearth bread
Hearth bread is mainly made from rye or wheat flour, as well as combinations thereof. Most of the manufacturing techniques for these varieties of flour are no different, but there is a slight difference. Before planting in the oven, the hearth wheat is notched. This allows you to improve the crust of loaves. Indeed, inside the test there are a lot of gases and steam, which, escaping when heated, can damage the surface of the roll. For the same purpose, hearth rye bread is pierced with a wooden stud. Among other things, this makes it easy to recognize these types of bread. Another difference between rye hearth bread is that it is better to make it with roasting. That is, the dough should be fried before planting on a special stone, which is heated to 300 degrees C. This procedure leads to the formation of a thin film, which will turn into a thick crust after baking. This gives the bread a more refined taste and specific aroma.
The benefits of hearth bread
Buying hearth bread, a person acquires not only delicious pastries, but also a lot of useful trace elements and antioxidants. They help improve the condition of bones, skin, digestive and nervous systems, as well as normalize blood glucose levels. Rye hearth bread acts as a kind of cleaner, as it contains a lot of fiber and removes various toxins from the body. Another advantage of hearth bread is that it contains less moisture than uniform bread, and is most often prepared from dark varieties of flour. This affects the nutritional value and weight of the bread. In addition, it is stored much longer than ordinary loaves. A big plus is the fact that hearth bread is baked with steam. That is, it does not contain all those preservatives that appear due to contact with oil. And if the bread is made with high quality, without artificial impurities, then this will be a very useful product.
Thus, hearth bread was prepared from ancient times. It has a special taste and fragrant crust. In addition, it is very useful, which suggests that this product is worth eating.