Bread: types of bread, composition, useful properties

In this 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 in people's lives is of global importance. For many people, the product is a part of culture, after all, each nation has its own national recipes for its manufacture. This product saved people from hunger in times of hardship. Therefore, bread is not just a culinary product, but a common human property.

This product has become popular due to its properties. Its basis is cereals. So, from it a person receives vegetable 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.

Nowadays people do not have huge physical activities in their daily life. This means that excessive consumption of bread will not be useful either. Therefore, products from rye and other cereals have become popular. Such types of bread improve digestion and carbohydrates in them less.

Bread can complement dishes, and can act as a separate product. After all, we often use sandwiches, casseroles, sandwiches. In the recipes of different cultures, you can find a decent number of dishes based on it - bread pie, jelly, bread soup.

National bread

For each people, bread is not only a wonderful batch, but also a part of culture. National recipes have been formed since ancient times and have their own characteristics in different parts of the world.

Originally Russian bread is a rye loaf. Today there are many kinds of such pastries from rye flour, the most famous of them are "Merchant" and "Borodino".

Talking about what bread is, types of bread, we should understand that each people has their own cooking recipes and their views on its taste qualities.

In Italy they prepare the famous ciabatta. This is a yeast bread based on white flour. The peculiarity of baking is that it has a crusty crust and a very large pore structure inside. In addition, it is put onions, garlic, spices.

France is famous for its baguettes, which are nothing short of small crisp loaves. Produce such bread from the highest grade flour, so that it is very white.

From the Mediterranean came to us the famous pizza. This is not even bread, but a dish based on it. When only the pizza appeared, it did not contain so many ingredients, it was an ordinary yeast cake smeared with tomato sauce and sprinkled with cheese. Initially, it was fed by poor peasants. Later, it changed, acquired a lot of recipes.

Famous Israeli matzah, which is prepared from a dough that has not undergone the fermentation process.

Long ago, pita bread was prepared in the Caucasus. It looks like a thin cake, but bakes it in a stone oven. In Central Asia, bread, similar to lavash, is cooked in a special oven - tandyr.

It is possible to say indefinitely what bread is, the types of bread in different nations. The main thing is that before any person it was the basis of nutrition. Now, many limit themselves in its use, observing diets, and replacing it with other products.

Bread: Types of Bread

Speaking about bread, it should be noted that it is often divided into varieties in color: black, gray, white.

For a more accurate species separation, it makes sense to take as a basis the type of flour from which bread is prepared. Proceeding from this, it is possible to allocate such kinds:

1. Wheaten (white).
2. Wheat-rye (gray).
3. Rye.
4. Wholegrain.

Separately, probably, it is necessary to allocate a rather popular now among consumers a loaf. So, a loaf of bread is made from white wheat flour, but from a more doughy dough. In this, in fact, the whole difference. Of course, it turns out 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. Of the best, white bread is excellent .

Different varieties can contain some additives: bran, cocoa, sunflower seeds. But usually wheat bread is baked from high-quality flour. It is rich in magnesium, calcium, starch. For whom such baking is useful? It is good for those people who have problems with digestion or stomach ulcers.

Varieties of rye bread

Rye is always a lean bread. It is rarely made of only one type of flour, as a rule, a wheat-rye mixture is used for cooking. The proportions can be different. We can say that the more rye flour, the more healthy it is baked. It contains many minerals, vitamins, fiber, which lowers the level of glucose in the blood, regulates digestive activity.

Usually a loaf is found on sale, which consists of 60% rye, and forty - of wheat flour. From the proportions depends and appearance.

Another fasting bread is based only 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 it's no accident. The fact is that such bread speeds up the metabolic processes. However, this product is difficult to digest, and therefore not suitable for everyone. In some, it can cause problems with the stomach.

The best and most useful rye bread is made from whole flour. Recipes with apples, cumin, molasses and honey are very popular. By the way, the kind of baking with cumin is called Lithuanian. In the store you can find Turkish bread, in which are put nuts with raisins.

In general, rye bread will be useful to those people who have high cholesterol, and dream of losing weight.

Corn and whole wheat bread

Corn - this is a simple bread, rich in fiber. It contains very little starch, but is rich in vitamins A, B, D.

Whole-grain is prepared from the appropriate flour. Why is it called whole grains? Yes, because it is unrefined, i.e. before grinding with grains, do not remove the outer layer, which contains all the vitamins and minerals. From such flour bread turns heavy and knocked down, it does not crumble and for a long time does not grow stale. What is its advantage? After eating it for a long time you do not want to eat, there comes a long feeling of satiety. Such bread is useful for cardiac and vascular diseases, diabetes, indispensable for people on a diet or for those who constantly control their weight.

Technology of bread production

From the very beginning of the appearance of bakery this process required from the person patience and diligence. Even with modern technologies, bread production is a laborious task.

The process consists of several stages:

1. Preparation of ingredients. This is the sifting of flour, and mixing of its various varieties, work with gluten.
2. Mixing the dough.
3. Improving the process of fermentation and loosening.
4. Dividing the test into proportions.
5. Forming blanks.
6. Baking.
7. Cooling.
8. Packaging for storage.

The production of bread includes the use of such basic products as water, flour, yeast, salt. To add flavor, other ingredients can be added: milk, butter, treacle, sugar, poppy, malt, spices.

Dough preparation is about seventy percent of the whole process. From this important stage it depends whether the delicious bread will turn out or not.

Methods for preparing the dough

Dough for bread can be prepared in two ways: unpaired and spoiled.

The odor method involves the preparation of opaire. To do this, mix half the flour and 2/3 of the water from what is stated in the recipe. Since we are preparing bread for yeast, then put them in the mixture if they bake wheat. For rye baking use a leaven. Opara should stand in the process of fermentation from two to four hours at a temperature of twenty-seven to thirty degrees. But after that add all the remaining ingredients and knead the dough.

When the method is unpaired, all the ingredients specified in the recipe are mixed at once. In this state, the dough stays for three to four hours, and then it is baked.

There is also a technology for brewing a dough, in which a tenth of the flour is boiled with boiling water.

I must say that the oporn method is the most universal. Almost everywhere in production they use only them. This method speeds up the preparation process, but can also suffer quality. But the brewing method makes it possible to prepare a delicious, ruddy bread, long not stale.

At the end of the twentieth century, modern methods of baking appeared.

Micronization is only used for some cereals. The method is based on the use of infrared rays, which cause the grain to be cooked only at the expense of its structure. The rapid heating process keeps the maximum amount of nutrients in the baking.

Extrusion - grain is processed under pressure. The apparatus works by explosive technology. Heat and pressure instantly boil the mass.

Historical digression

Today, for us, it is customary that bread is prepared on the basis of cereal crops. However, historians say that this was not always the case. And the first bread was made from acorns. At that time, there was no shortage of them, and their collection did not require much effort. People have learned to prepare a nutritious food from them.

There is also a second version, according to which the first bread was cooked using nuts.

The invention of baking based on grain occurred quite by accident. The prototype of modern bread first appeared in the Neolithic period. At first they were ordinary flat cakes. They were prepared by ancient Sumerians and Egyptians. And later in Egypt people have already consciously come to the cultivation of wheat, seeking to achieve its best qualities. Then the Egyptians invented a method of making bread based on leaven. It is known that in the seventeenth century BC they were already able to brew beer, perhaps this led them to the idea of using fermentation for the preparation of dough.

Very quickly the art of bakery spread throughout the world. The basis for bread products in those days was used by those cereal plants that were distributed in habitats. But the leaven was taken in a variety of ways. It could be foam for beer, and bacteria of the environment. The art of baking bread has been modified and perfected over millennia, but to this day the basis of any recipe is flour from cereal crops, yeast and water.

The history of the appearance of rye bread

Historical facts suggest that the Russian bread recipe is baking exclusively from rye flour. Black bread appeared in Rus around the eleventh century. That's it since this product fell in love with all estates: the rich, the poor and the middle peasants.

But abroad, rye bread was consumed only by the lower classes, that is, the poorest. In Russia they treated the product in a totally different way. Black bread was considered absolutely traditional. Perhaps this is because the climate is more favorable for rye than for other crops.

In the fourteenth-fifteenth century in Russia there were already many varieties of this kind of bread: Borodinsky, custard, krasnoselsky. These recipes have survived to this day, but they came to us precisely from that distant era.

Rye bread is very nutritious and healthy. It lowers cholesterol, blood sugar. A combination of starter and fiber creates the right microflora.

Instead of an afterword

As you can see, at all times the basis of food has always been bread. Types of bread are now quite diverse, everyone can choose the right variety, based on the needs of the body.