Bread (redirected from take the bread out of people's mouths)

bread, food made from grains that have been ground into flour or meal, moistened and kneaded into a dough, and then baked. Many types of bread are leavened, usually with yeast, which induces fermentation and causes the breads to rise. The discovery of fermentation is attributed to the Egyptians, who also invented baking ovens. Unleavened flat breads have been eaten since Neolithic times (10,000 B.C.), and bread has long been a staple in the diets of people in all parts of the world, excepting Asia, where the preferred rice is eaten in grain form. Flat breads are made from various types of grains—corn (e.g., the tortilla), barley, millet, wheat, and rye—but only doughs made from wheat and rye contain enough gluten to trap the gases caused by fermentation and expand into an airy loaf of bread. Dark rye breads are common in Europe; the light rye breads popular in the United States are made with a mixed wheat and rye dough. White breads are made from a finely sifted wheat flour, as opposed to whole wheat bread, which retains the fiber-rich outer kernel of the grain. Nutritionally, bread is high in complex carbohydrates and a good source of B vitamins. Whole grain bread is higher in protein, has twice the fiber, and generally has more vitamins and minerals than white bread. Other ingredients that may be added to breads include milk, fats, eggs, salt, and sugar.

Bibliography

See J. Beard, Beard on Bread (1973); J. and E. Jones, The Book of Bread (1986).

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bread

Baked food product. It is made of flour or meal that is moistened into a dough, kneaded, and usually leavened with yeast. A major food since prehistoric times, bread has been made worldwide in various forms using a variety of ingredients and methods. Flat, unleavened bread, the earliest form, is still eaten in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The principal grains used in such breads are wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat, rye, and corn. Raised bread, common in Europe and the U.S., is usually made of wheat or rye. Both contain the elastic protein substance gluten, which traps gas produced by fermentation during leavening, helping the bread to rise. While the simplest breads contain only flour, water, and yeast, other common ingredients are milk, shortening (fats, butter, oils), salt, eggs, and sugar. Bread is a source of complex carbohydrates and B vitamins (see vitamin B complex); whole-wheat bread contains more protein, vitamins, minerals, and fibre than white-flour bread. See also baking.

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bread

Christianity a small loaf, piece of bread, or wafer of unleavened bread used in the Eucharist
www.howstuffworks.com/bread.htm
www.breadrecipe.com
www.breadnet.net

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bread

symbol of Christ’s body in Eucharist. [Christian Tradition: Luke 22:19]

See : Christ

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Bread

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.

REFERENCES

Novye i uluchshennogo kachestva khlebobulochnye izdeliia. Moscow, 1972.
Zubkov, A. F., V. I. Telichkun, and A. A. Mikhelev. Vypechka natsional’nykh sortov khleba v SSSR. Moscow, 1975.
Kazakov, E. D. Ot zerna k khlebu. Moscow, 1975.

E. D. KAZAKOV