Break often represents our source of nourishment. Less obviously, it is often used to refer to financial “nourishment,” as in one’s “bread and butter.” Similarly, the expression that one “cannot live by bread alone” indicates that one needs more than simple, physical nourishment.
a food product obtained by baking a dough prepared from flour, water, and salt, with or without the addition of sugar, shortening, milk, and other ingredients, and leavened by yeast or ferments. Wheat and rye flour are normally used to make bread, but corn, barley, and other types may also be used on occasion. Khleb, the Russian word for bread, may also denote wheat, rye, barley, and similar crops, the grain of such crops, and the flour produced.
It is likely that the human consumption of wild cereals in the form of whole, uncooked grains softened by soaking in water originated in the Mesolithic period. Later, the grain was crushed, and still later, roasted before crushing; grain foods in this period consisted primarily of thin gruels and broths. With the invention of the millstone in the early Neolithic, baked bread in the form of unleavened cakes was added to man’s diet. The cakes were baked by various methods: on hot stones, between two flat hot stones, between clay disks, and so on. It is assumed that the method of making bread from sour dough was discovered in ancient Egypt, from which it spread to other countries.
Bread became common in many countries because of its high nutritional value, good taste, consistent appeal (one does not tire of eating it), and good assimilation by the body. It also satisfies the appetite, is easy and economical to prepare, and may be stored without spoiling for comparatively long periods. The amount of bread consumed in different countries varies considerably as a result of nutritional characteristics of the population, long-standing traditions, economic factors, climatic conditions, and type of employment.
Bread is a source of protein, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins (primarily in the B group), and fiber (cellulose). Bread has an average content of 45 percent carbohydrates, primarily starch. The consumption of 500 g of bread per day provides approximately one-third of the body’s protein requirement, but it does not provide enough essential amino acids: lysine, methionine, threonine, and tryptophan. However, when combined with the proteins from animal products, bread proteins ensure protein synthesis in the body and provide a complete diet. Bread is rich in phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and sulfur, but it has little calcium or sodium (see Tables 1 and 2).
The body assimilates bread well. For example, 85 percent of the protein and 96 percent of the carbohydrates in wheat bread made from first clears are assimilated. Bread made from whole-grain flours is the most nutritious with respect to chemical composition; it includes the germ and peripheral parts of the grain, which are removed during refining and which contain more proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Such bread has more bran, which is rich in cellulose and improves digestion and bowel function; however, it is less assimilated than bread made from higher grades of flour. With respect to vitamins and amino acids rye bread is more nutritious than wheat bread, but it is less assimilated. The nutritional value of bread can be improved by adding proteins containing essential amino acids, primarily lysine and methionine, to the bread and by fortifying the bread with additives containing vitamins (primarily B2), calcium salts, and the like.
| Table 1. Chemical composition of bread products (g per 100 g of bread) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product | Flour type | Water | Proteins | Fats | Carbohydrates | Cellulose | Organic acids | Ash | |
| Natural | Added monosaccharides and disaccharides | ||||||||
| Rye pan bread | Hulled rye | 45.8 | 5.6 | 1.1 | 43.3 | 0 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 2.3 |
| Rye-wheat plain pan bread | Whole-grain | 46.9 | 7.0 | 1.1 | 40.3 | 0 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 2.5 |
| Orlovskii cottage loaf | Hulled rye and low-grade wheat | 43.0 | 6.1 | 1.1 | 45.8 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 2.0 |
| Wheat pan bread | Whole-wheat | 44.3 | 8.1 | 1.2 | 42.0 | 0 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 2.5 |
| Wheat hearth bread | Low-grade wheat | 39.5 | 8.3 | 1.3 | 48.1 | 0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 2.0 |
| French-style loaves | Wheat first clears | 36.3 | 7.4 | 2.9 | 48.1 | 3.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.5 |
| French rolls | Wheat first clears | 34.3 | 7.7 | 2.4 | 50.0 | 3.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.6 |
| Sweet yeast goods | Wheat first clears | 29.0 | 7.6 | 5.0 | 49.6 | 6.8 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.5 |
| Crescent rolls | Wheat first clears | 23.3 | 8.3 | 12.1 | 52.3 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.4 |
| Milk-enriched French-style loaves | Wheat first clears, nonfat dry milk, and lactose | 34.9 | 8.2 | 1.5 | 49.0 | 4.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.7 |
| Table 2. Mineral and vitamin content and caloric value of bread products (per 100 g of bread) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product | Flour type | Minerals (mg) | Vitamins (mg) | Calocric value | ||||||||
| (C) | (kilojoules) | |||||||||||
| Na | K | Ca | Mg | P | Fe | B1 | B2 | PP | ||||
| Rye pan bread | Hulled rye | 600 | 94 | 34 | 41 | 120 | 2.3 | 0.11 | 0.08 | 0.64 | 199 | 833 |
| Rye-wheat plain pan bread | Whole-grain | 589 | 195 | 37 | 55 | 178 | 2.7 | 0.19 | 0.11 | 1.46 | 193 | 808 |
| Orlovskii cottage loaf | Hulled rye and low-grade wheat | 484 | 113 | 31 | 43 | 119 | 2.3 | 0.14 | 0.08 | 0.95 | 211 | 883 |
| Wheat pan bread | Whole-wheat | 575 | 185 | 37 | 65 | 218 | 2.8 | 0.21 | 0.12 | 2.81 | 203 | 849 |
| Wheat hearth bread | Low-grade wheat | 495 | 180 | 33 | 54 | 130 | 2.4 | 0.23 | 0.11 | 1.98 | 227 | 950 |
| French-style loaves | Wheat first clears | 402 | 125 | 25 | 33 | 82 | 1.5 | 0.15 | 0.08 | 1.51 | 250 | 1,046 |
| French rolls | Wheat first clears | 417 | 130 | 26 | 34 | 85 | 1.6 | 0.16 | 0.08 | 1.58 | 254 | 1,063 |
| Sweet yeast goods | Wheat first clears | 406 | 129 | 25 | 33 | 85 | 1.5 | 0.18 | 0.09 | 1.59 | 288 | 1,205 |
| Crescent rolls | Wheat first clears | 327 | 148 | 26 | 36 | 98 | 1.7 | 0.18 | 0.10 | 1.89 | 347 | 1,452 |
| Milk-enriched French-style loaves | Wheat first clears, nonfat dry milk, and lactose | 416 | 149 | 45 | 37 | 97 | 1.6 | 0.16 | 0.11 | 1.57 | 247 | 1,033 |
The quality of bread is evaluated organoleptically—by appearance, condition of the crumb, taste, and aroma—and by means of physical and chemical characteristics—moisture, acidity, and porosity (additionally, sugar and fat content for pastries and puffiness for biscuits and baranki products). All-Union State Standards (GOST) set acceptable levels for these indexes in the USSR.
High-quality bread should be well baked and have a smooth surface without large cracks or tears. The crust should not be scorched or pale and should not have separated from the crumb. The crumb should be uniformly porous, without cavities or doughy lumps.
Bread becomes stale when stored. The crumb becomes less compressible and more crumbly, and the crust changes from smooth, hard, and crumbly to soft, elastic, and sometimes wrinkled; the aroma and taste are gradually lost. The essential features of the process are still not sufficiently clear. Staling is a complex physicochemical process in which starch is the most important factor. The starch ages (it is partially back to its original state, close to the state in which it was in the dough before baking), and it gives off water (syneresis). Stale bread can be rendered fresh again by heating. The staling process can be retarded by airtight packaging in polymer film or dense paper, deep freezing (to –30°C or lower) with subsequent cold storage (at –10°C or lower), the addition of stabilizers, such as molasses, and changes in baking conditions.
The use of lower-quality flour and violation of established baking standards may lead to defects in bread: foreign odor, pale crust, stickiness and doughiness in the crumb, increased acidity, cavities in the crumb, and a thick, scorched crust.
Under unfavorable storage conditions, primarily with high relative humidity combined with heat, microorganisms may develop in the bread and cause bread to spoil. Such defects include rope (the crumb stretches out in very fine, slimy threads when rolled between the fingers); mold; wild yeast problem (presence of spots or a chalklike film); and the formation of bright red areas in the crumb. They can be avoided by strictly observing all requirements for the preparation and storage of bread.
More than 800 different types of bread are produced in the USSR. The following classes are distinguished: bread loaves, weighing more than 0.5 kg; rolls and small loaves, weighing 0.5 kg and less; plain rolls and long (French-style) and braided (hal-lah-style) loaves; baranki; sweet yeast goods (pastries), with higher sugar and fat content; dietary bread for children, medical patients, and the elderly; biscuits; and local or national varieties of bread. National varieties of bread are mostly baked from wheat flour in the form of various kinds of cakes. In the Caucasus, for example, the Armenian bread lavash is common, as are the Georgian madauri and the Greek churek. Gidzha, patyr, and other types are found in Middle Asia.
E. D. KAZAKOV