Anywhere you go in the world, a meal is incomplete without bread in some form or the other. From the universal sandwich loaf
to the French bagettes, Mexican tortilla, Jewish bagels, Indian chappatis and the Lebanese pita, bread is an intrinsic part of
all cultures. Bread is used to make sandwiches, it is an accompaniment with curries and pastas; you can enjoy it with a hot cup of
tea or coffee-there are many ways to relish your piece of bread. Here are some of the popular kinds of breads that people around the
world store in their bread boxes!
White bread
Easily the most popular and the most easily available bread in the world, white bread is made from wheat flour and is made
into different types of sizes, shapes and textures. These days, health conscious people are looking at white bread with some
amount of suspicion as it is said to spike insulin levels, which can increase the body's tendency to build muscle mass or
body fat stores, depending on the time of day it is eaten. More and more people are now opting for its healthier cousin-wholemeal bread.
And the right kind of bread boxes to use.
Wholemeal bread
The healthier alternative to white bread, wholemeal bread as a rule must have 90% or more wholemeal flour as part of the recipe.
Wholemeal bread offers higher concentrations of minerals and vitamins than white bread because it preserves the bran and germ
of the wheat. Wholemeal bread is a great source of dietary fiber-twice that of white bread and much more than multigrain bread.
Multigrain bread
Multigrain breads are made from a mixture of grains like wholemeal, rye, corn, barley, rice millet etc. Multigrain breads can
further be modified by blending various grains, vegetable pieces, nuts, seeds, fruit and spices. Multigrain breads can be light
or heavy. The light ones are more open with very small pieces of grain or oats mixed throughout the bread. The heavy multigrained
breads are small, dense and have a high grain content and we can preserve them using bread boxes.
Rye bread
Rye bread is a kind of wholemeal bread which is prepared from rye or a mix of rye and wheat flour. Originally baked
in Europe, it is now made in a variety of styles and shapes all across the world. Dark rye bread is made of a higher
proportion of rye flour and rye meal than light rye and is therefore denser, heavier and has a stronger flavor.
Fruit bread
Fruit breads are baked using a regular bread recipe which fruit and often sugar are added.
The fruits you will usually find in fruit bread are raisins, currants, dates, orange peel and dried fruits
like apricots. Some festive fruit breads also have spices like cinnamon and nutmeg added.
Sourdough bread
Sourdough bread has a slightly sour flavor and a somewhat denser texture than regular bread.
Sourdough describes the raising agent used to make this type of bread. Bread made by the sourdough method
is hearty bread with a thick crust that can last up to a week without spoiling.
Bagel
A bagel is Jewish bread where the dough (with the yeast) is shaped like a ring and thrown into boiling
water before it is put in the oven. This make the crust extremely chewy. Bagels can be coated with poppy or
sesame seeds and can also be flavored. Bagels are usually about 10 cm in diameter with a hole in the middle.
They look very similar to a doughnut in appearance but the texture is totally different. In fact they are often called 'cement doughnuts'.
Hearth breads
Hearth breads include the famous French bagettes and Vienna bread which are traditionally baked directly on the hearth,
that is, the brick floor of the oven. Special pans and baskets used to give loaf varieties a different shape and distinctive
appearance. These use no emulsifiers or preservatives as these are bought on a daily basis for that day's meal.
Flat breads
These encompass a wide variety of breads from across the world. Flatbreads were probably the first kind of breads made by humankind.
The most basic variety is still made of a mixture of flour, water and salt kneaded into a soft dough before being shaped by hand and baked.
Wheat is the most commonly used grain although barley, millet, corn, oats, rice and rye are also used. Flatbreads include chappati
and naan from South Asia, pita from the Middle East, tortilla from Mexico and focaccia from Italy.
These are only a few of the bread varieties being consumed by people in various countries around the globe.
A lot of families have their own special recipes they use to bake delectable breads that have a unique character
of their own that no store-bought loaf can match. Whatever your type of bread, make sure you have if fresh because
that's the way it's meant to be!
