Bread the Prequel

Bread is one of man's most ancient of domesticated food.  Nobody needs me to tell them that it has been a staple of civilization for as long as there as been a civilization.  Somehow though, many have us have lost touch with the simplicity and beauty of making and eating freshly made bread.  I must be the first to admit, I have struggled in learning how to make bread.  I will also be the first to say, that most people I know that make their own bread do it better than I do.  But, I make great bread nonetheless.  It is cheaper, healthier, tastier, and just all around better than anything I can buy at that grocery store.  I typically make a large loaf of bread on Sunday and it lasts all week.  My recent favorite is a Rye, Wheat, Honey, Flaxseed loaf that is a little sweet and packed with flavor.


So what is bread?  Bread, like many great foods, is the result of tiny lifeforms doing their thing.  In this case bread yeast consumes the sugar or carbohydrates in flour and additives.  As it does this, it creates tiny air pockets from its digestion.  These air pockets become the holes in your bread or space between pieces of bread.  If bread is properly leavened (or risen) then when it bakes those holes become the size to which you are accustomed.  Bread may be chemically leavened with baking powder or cream of tartar, etc.  Who wants that?  Not me. Bread flour is a specific type of flour.  It has a higher protein or gluten content than regular or all-purpose flour. There are other proteins in flour besides gluten but it is the most important one.  This is because it gives elasticity to the dough.  Basically this allows the air pockets formed to stay intact when the bread is baked.  You will hear a lot about developing the gluten.  What this means is that you are stretching out the protein and allowing gluten to bond with gliadin.  This makes more air pockets possible and makes a better "crumb".  Think texture when you hear this term. Here is some good reading on the subject.

2 issues that will be separate posts later.
1st - Whole grains versus white flour. - For now, suffice it to say that if you are not eating bread that is made from whole grains, you are essentially eating sugar.  Flour is made from seeds.  The part of the seed that is retained in white flour is the endosperm which is basically the sugar that feeds the young plant.  The bran and germ are removed because that will go rancid after 6 months.  In order for flour to be a commodity, it needs to never go rancid which white flour doesn't for years.  More later but for now, do yourself a favor and eat whole grain bread products.

2nd - The yeast that most people use comes from 2 general places.  The most common is regular active yeast.  This is made by industrial processes that result in a dried powder that is waiting dormant to be activated by water.  It is what I use most of time because I am in a bit more hurry than I would prefer.  The other is what is referred to as "starter" This is basically yeast that is present in the air your are breathing.  You get this by letting water with a starch mixed in sit out and collect microorganisms from the air.  You keep pouring out half of it and adding water until the yeast as won out over the other organisms, which it will because it is better at eating and reproducing in starch water at room temperature.  The bread made from this is what you know as sourdough.