Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by
cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional
ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some
cuisines breads are steamed (e.g., mantou), fried
(e.g., puri), or baked on an unoiled frying pan
(e.g., tortillas). It may be leavened or unleavened
(e.g. matzo). Salt, fat and leavening agents such
as yeast and baking soda are common ingredients,
though bread may contain other ingredients, such
as milk, egg, sugar, spice, fruit (such as raisins),
vegetables (such as onion), nuts (such as walnuts)
or seeds (such as poppy). Referred to colloquially
as the "staff of life", bread has been
prepared for at least 30,000 years. The development
of leavened bread can probably also be traced to
prehistoric times. Sometimes, the word bread refers
to a sweetened loaf cake, often containing appealing
ingredients like dried fruit, chocolate chips, nuts
or spices, such as pumpkin bread, banana bread or
gingerbread.
Fresh bread is prized for its taste, aroma, quality,
appearance and texture. Retaining its freshness
is important to keep it appetizing. Bread that has
stiffened or dried past its prime is said to be
stale. Modern bread is sometimes wrapped in paper
or plastic film or stored in a container such as
a breadbox to reduce drying. Bread that is kept
in warm, moist environments is prone to the growth
of mold. Bread kept at low temperatures, in a refrigerator
for example, will develop mold growth more slowly
than bread kept at room temperature, but will turn
stale quickly due to retrogradation.
The soft, inner part of bread is known to bakers
and other culinary professionals as the crumb, which
is not to be confused with small bits of bread that
often fall off, called crumbs. The outer hard portion
of bread is called the crust.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
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