In our article we would like to talk about bread. What it is? First of all, it is a food product that is obtained by heat treatment. The main ingredients are always water and flour. In addition, there are a variety of additives and a large number of varieties of bread.
What is bread for us?
In general, bread is of global importance in people's lives. For many nations, the product is part of the culture, because it is no accident that every nation has its own national recipes for its manufacture. This product saved people from hunger in harsh times. Therefore, bread is not just a culinary product, but a common heritage.
This product has become popular due to its properties. Its basis is cereals. So, from it a person receives plant proteins and valuable amino acids.
In addition, bread is a source of B vitamins, minerals, plant fiber, calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron and phosphorus. The product is very high in calories, rich in carbohydrates.
Currently, people do not have huge physical exertion in everyday life. This means that excessive consumption of bread will also not be useful. Therefore, products from rye and other cereal crops became popular. These types of bread improve digestion and less carbohydrates.
Bread can complement dishes, and can act as a separate product. After all, we often use sandwiches, casseroles, sandwiches. In recipes of different cultures you can find a decent amount of dishes based on it - bread pie, kissel, bread soup.
National bread
For every nation, bread is not only a wonderful pastry, but also part of the culture. National recipes have been formed since ancient times and in different parts of the world have their own characteristics.
Traditionally Russian bread is rye loaf. Today there are many types of such pastries from rye flour, the most famous of which are Merchant and Borodinsky.
Speaking about what bread is, types of bread we should understand that each nation has its own recipes and its views on its taste.
In Italy, the famous ciabatta is cooked. This is such a yeast bread based on white flour. The peculiarity of baking is that it has a crispy crust and a very large-pore structure inside. In addition, onions, garlic, and spices are placed in it.
France is famous for its baguettes, which are nothing more than small crunchy loaves. Such bread is made from premium flour so that it is very white.
The famous pizza came to us from the Mediterranean. It’s not even bread at all, but a dish based on it. When only pizza appeared, there weren’t so many ingredients in it, it was an ordinary yeast cake, smeared with tomato sauce and sprinkled with cheese. Initially, poor peasants ate it. Later, she changed, acquired a lot of recipes.
The famous Israeli matzo, which is prepared from dough that has not passed the fermentation process.
In the Caucasus, pita bread has long been prepared. It looks like a thin cake, and bake it in a stone oven. In Central Asia, bread similar to pita bread is prepared in a special oven - tandoor.
You can endlessly talk about what kind of bread is, types of bread from different nations. The main thing is that before any person, he was the basis of nutrition. Now many people are restricting themselves in its use, observing diets, and replacing it with other products.
Bread: types of bread
Speaking of bread, it should be noted that it is often divided into varieties by color: black, gray, white.
For a more precise species separation, it makes sense to take as a basis the type of flour from which bread is prepared. Based on this, we can distinguish the following types:
- Wheat (white).
- Wheat-rye (gray).
- Rye.
- Wholegrain.
Separately, it is probably worth highlighting a loaf that is quite popular now among consumers. So, a loaf of bread is made from white wheat flour, but from a more pastry. This, in fact, is the whole difference. Of course, it turns out to be very tasty and fragrant, for which it is very popular.
Let's take a closer look at each category of bread.
Wheat bread
This is white bread made from wheat flour. Its quality depends primarily on the type of flour that was taken for its preparation. From the best excellent receive white bread.
Different varieties may contain some additives: bran, cocoa, seeds. But usually wheat bread is baked from high quality flour. It is rich in magnesium, calcium, starch. Who is baking good for? It is good for those people who have digestive problems or stomach ulcers.
Varieties of rye bread
Rye is always lean bread. It is rarely made from only one type of flour, as a rule, a wheat-rye mixture is taken for cooking. Proportions can be maintained different. We can say that, the more rye flour, the more healthy the baking. It contains many minerals, vitamins, fiber, which lowers blood glucose levels, regulates digestive activity.
Usually a loaf is found on sale, which is sixty percent rye and forty percent wheat flour. The appearance depends on the proportions.
Another lean bread - only based on rye flour. It is very useful and contains a huge amount of fiber. As a rule, it is used by people who want to lose weight. And this is no accident. The fact is that such bread speeds up metabolic processes. However, this product is quite difficult to digest, and therefore not suitable for everyone. In some, it can cause stomach problems.
The best and wholesome rye bread is made from whole flour. Recipes with apples, caraway seeds, molasses and honey are very popular. By the way, the type of baking with caraway seeds is called Lithuanian. You can find Turkish bread in the store, in which nuts with raisins are put.
In general, rye bread will be useful to those people who have high cholesterol and who want to lose weight.
Corn and Whole Grain Bread
Corn is a simple bread rich in fiber. It contains very little starch, but is rich in vitamins A, B, D.
Whole grain is made from the appropriate flour. Why is it called whole grain? Yes, because it is unrefined, that is, before grinding, the outer layer, which contains all the vitamins and minerals, is not removed from the grains. From such flour the bread is heavy and knocked down; it does not crumble and does not become stale for a long time. What is its advantage? After eating it, I don’t feel like eating for a long time, a long feeling of satiety comes. Such bread is useful for heart and vascular diseases, diabetes, is indispensable for people on a diet or for those who constantly control their weight.
Bread production technology
From the very beginning of the appearance of bakery, this process required patience and zeal from a person. Even with modern technology, bread production is a laborious task.
The process consists of several stages:
- Preparation of the ingredients. This is sifting flour, and mixing its different varieties, working with gluten.
- Kneading the dough.
- Improving the process of fermentation and loosening.
- Dividing the dough into proportions.
- Forming blanks.
- Baking.
- Cooling.
- Packaging for storage.
The production of bread includes the use of such basic products as water, flour, yeast, salt. Other ingredients may be added to add flavor: milk, butter, molasses, sugar, poppy seeds, malt, spices.
Making the dough is about seventy percent of the whole process. From this important stage it depends on whether you get delicious bread or not.
Methods for making dough
Dough for bread can be prepared in two ways: single and double.
The coupled method involves the preparation of dough. To do this, mix half the flour and 2/3 of the water from what is indicated in the recipe. Since we are preparing bread with yeast, they are put into the mixture if they bake wheat. For rye baking, use leaven. The dough should stand in the fermentation process for two to four hours at a temperature of twenty-seven to thirty degrees. And after that, add all the remaining ingredients and knead the dough.
With the unscrewed method, all the components indicated in the recipe are mixed immediately. In this state, the dough remains to roam for three to four hours, and then it is baked.
There is also a technology for brewing dough, in which a tenth of the flour is brewed with boiling water.
It must be said that the pairwise method is the most universal. Almost everywhere in the production use only it. This method speeds up the cooking process, but quality may suffer. But the custard method makes it possible to prepare a delicious, ruddy bread, not staling for a long time.
At the end of the twentieth century, modern methods of baking appeared.
Micronization applies only to some cereals. The method is based on the use of infrared rays, which make the grain cook only due to its structure. The rapid heating process preserves the maximum amount of nutrients in baking.
Extrusion - grain is processed under pressure. The device works on explosive technology. Heat and pressure instantly boil the mass.
Historical excursion
Today it is common for us that bread is prepared on the basis of cereal crops. However, historians argue that this was not always the case. And the first bread was made from acorns. In those days, there was no shortage of them, and their collection did not require much effort. So people learned how to make a nutritious product from them.
There is a second version, according to which the first bread was prepared using nuts.
The invention of grain-based baking happened completely by accident. The prototype of modern bread first appeared in the Neolithic era. At first, these were ordinary cakes. They were prepared by the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians. And later in Egypt, people already consciously came to the cultivation of wheat, trying to achieve its best qualities. Then the Egyptians invented a method of making bread based on sourdough. It is known that in the seventeenth century BC they already knew how to brew beer, perhaps this prompted them to the idea of using fermentation to make dough.
Very quickly, the art of baking spread throughout the world. In those days, cereal plants that were common in habitats were used as the basis for bread products . But the leaven took a variety of types. It could be beer foam, and environmental bacteria. The art of baking bread has been modified and improved for thousands of years, but to this day the basis of any recipe is cereal flour, yeast and water.
The story of the appearance of rye bread
Historical facts suggest that the Russian recipe for bread is baking exclusively from rye flour. Brown bread appeared in Russia around the eleventh century. It is precisely since then that this product has been loved by all classes: rich, poor and middle peasants.
But abroad rye bread was consumed only by the lower classes, i.e. the poorest. In Russia, they treated this product in a completely different way. Brown bread was considered absolutely traditional. Perhaps this happened because the climate is more favorable for rye than for other crops.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Russia there were already many varieties of just such bread: Borodino, custard, Krasnoselsky. These recipes have survived to this day, and they came to us from that distant era.
Rye bread is very nutritious and healthy. It lowers cholesterol, blood sugar. A combination of sourdough and fiber creates the right microflora.
Instead of an afterword
As you can see, at all times bread has always been the basis of nutrition. Types of bread are currently quite diverse, everyone can choose the desired variety, based on the needs of the body.