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• Bread has been around probably as long as we have, going far back into the Neolithic age. It comes in many shapes, sizes, colors and with varying ingredients, but it persists in its many forms in a way that not even Atkins can wipe out. “Bread” is often synonymous with necessities in general.
• Legend has it that in medieval Europe, “when a loaf was one day old it was fit for the nobility, when two days old for the gentry, at three days it was good enough for scholars and friars, and when it was four days old—granting that any of the loaf remained—the common citizen might taste it.”
• The color-coded bakery twist tie might help you know when it’s your day to eat bread, according to medieval Europe … or just help you know when it was actually baked.
• Like driving a new car off the lot, bread begins going stale as soon as it is made. Which is why you should consider canned bread as an alternative (seriously I’ve had it – it’s really good!)
• Bread has also been influential in history on a number of occasions. In one case, the Great Fire of London was started by a baker. It may also have been responsible for some of the behavior leading up to the Salem Witch Trials … at least, the effects of a hallucinogenic fungus that attacks it might.
• Occasionally, bread’s history has bordered on the sordid. Nitrogen trichloride, a.k.a. Agene, was a bleaching agent used to make wheat flour white, but was discontinued in 1949 after it was shown to cause “running fits” in dogs.
• Despite all this, bread has always been exceptional popular. In some cases shortages were met with riots.
• But is is art? This artist explores creative uses of bread in a way you are undoubtedly not allowed to sink your teeth into.
• Like the mystery of a ship in a bottle, how is the pocket in pita bread created? Steam! It’s not hard to do … as long as the bread doesn’t think itself a bun. Then you are in trouble!
• In the category of “what the heck?” here’s this bread-related headline: “Bread allegedly sold as crack leads to arrest.”
• Finally, a historical note on the croissant, an oft-favored bread: “According to legend, a baker alerted the forces of Vienna to the approach of the Turks in the siege of 1683. The bakers commemorated the Viennese victory with a crescent-shaped roll, precursor to the croissant, as the symbol of the Turks was a crescent…”
Do any of you Flossers bake your own bread? The discussion could be endless about great bread and what to pair it with. Suffice to say I eat plenty of different kinds and indulge at least once a day! I can’t imagine how, but doesn’t anyone hate bread?
More food, fun and frivolity can be found on my Twitter.
Hungry for more? Venture into the Dietribes archive.
‘Dietribes’ appears every other Wednesday. Food photos taken by Johanna Beyenbach You might remember that name from our post about her colorful diet.
Comments (18)
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For a crispier crust when baking bread, you should put a small cup of water in the bottom of the oven.
posted by Steven on 7-15-2009 at 10:59 am
Sorry, I was a bit taken aback by this:
“Suffice to say I eat plenty of different kids and indulge at least once a day!” A few things we didn’t know about Allison.
However, when I finally get my chance to pop into Europe, I am excited to delve into the much more marvelous magic of fresh bread. I wonder if italians get as excited about Wonder bread as we do about Italian bread
posted by Griffin Patterson on 7-15-2009 at 11:07 am
I have Celiac Disease, so I haven’t had bread in eight years. Huzzah for its distant cousin, the corn tortilla. It’s the closest thing to a sandwich I get.
posted by EV on 7-15-2009 at 11:42 am
EV, thanks for sharing.
posted by Bubba on 7-15-2009 at 11:48 am
I make homemade bread every couple of weeks for my husband and myself. Nothing, absolutely nothing, tastes as good as warm, fresh bread with butter on it. Homemade bread beats store bought hands down. The secret to light, soft homemade bread is using bread flour instead of all purpose and the addition of gluten when using whole grains. Gluten is from the endosperm of the wheat and is about 80% protein.
posted by Maggie on 7-15-2009 at 12:09 pm
EV, have you tried gluten-free mixes? They’re a little expensive, but not half bad, especially if you’re really in the mood for a sandwich on real bread.
posted by Rebecca on 7-15-2009 at 12:15 pm
The Canned Bread link is broken.
posted by Tim on 7-15-2009 at 12:27 pm
My grandfather grew up really poor and basically all he ate was bread, and because of that he really does not care for it now.
posted by B on 7-15-2009 at 12:41 pm
My babysitter hates bread, I guess it’s just too bread-y for her… but I love it, to me, bread is a gift of love. My mom used to make paska, which is a Ukrainian yellow bread (heavy with egg yolks) and white raisins, only she’d make it in those large round juice tins. Round raisin bread! It made the most awesome toast… Nothin’ says lovin’ like bread hot from the oven.
posted by Marion on 7-15-2009 at 1:25 pm
Yay! Someone commented about celiac! I would love to see Mental Floss find out some cool stuff about that!
My brother has celiac (diagnosed last year) and used to exist on pizza and bagels (true New York kid). It’s amazing where gluten hides – not just bread!
posted by Elye on 7-15-2009 at 1:33 pm
I once wrote up an email (but never sent it) suggesting a Dietribes about ‘alternative eating’ diets people follow, either by choice or by necessity. The only examples I could come up with were gluten-free, vegitarian, and eating raw, though there must be more obscure and interesting diets out there that people follow for all sorts of reasons.
Anyways, sorry for being OT. Back to the bread . . .
posted by EV on 7-15-2009 at 1:57 pm
When I went to Paris as a kid (well, 12yrs old) with my folks, all I did was eat bread. Seriously. We were only there for 4 days, but I remember eating baguette after baguette after baguette. I still love them-it’s what I have at Epcot when I have too much wine, ha.
As for the fungus you mentioned, there was an episode of House where a girl was hallucinating because she ate moldy bread. Crazy.
posted by Kate on 7-15-2009 at 2:09 pm
I used to hate bread, until my girlfriend worked at a high end bakery and I tasted truly good bread. Now I’m an addict and only eat fresh bread.
posted by anotherfascist on 7-15-2009 at 2:20 pm
I work at a Panera Bread. Our bread sucks.
posted by Marisa on 7-15-2009 at 2:31 pm
I make bread every couple of weeks. I use the bread maker to mix everything together and to do the first knead after rising. I then dump it out onto a pan, knead it one more time and let it rise again before baking. I get a much lighter bread and can also make some really neat shapes. Plus then I don’t have the bread maker bread look.
posted by Beth on 7-15-2009 at 2:58 pm
I LOVE bread! In my family, we make an Italian cheese bread called crescia (ka-RESH-ah). It’s a dipping bread, and you’re supposed to eat it after you’ve dunked it in your wine. It’s traditionally an Easter bread, but we make it for any occasion. It’s just flour, eggs, yeast, parmesan cheese, romano cheese, olive oil and black pepper. Absolutely yummy!
posted by AmyD on 7-15-2009 at 3:32 pm
Love bread. I love baking it. I loved tending my sourdough starter before I foolishly forgot it and it got moldy. Well made fresh bread and rolls are amazing.
Perhaps a mention of the relation of bread to beer? Some scholars believe the yeast of beer begat bread yeast, and some argue it was the reverse.
The cup of water in the oven is good, but what works really well is to preheat with an iron pan or plate in the bottom of the oven and toss a few ice cubes in it when you put the bread in. The steam created has a similar effect to the boiling of bagels and pretzels. If only you could somehow add some alkali to the steam…
posted by Matthew on 7-15-2009 at 11:16 pm
I bake 2-3 loaves a week in addition to making my own pizza dough (bread by another name), and keep a 100% whole wheat starter in my fridge. I even brought it to Arizona for spring training and kept making bread out there.
If anyone is interested in learning about bread-baking, Peter Reinhart (who teaches bread-baking at Johnson & Wales) has two superb books on the craft, both written for the home cook:
http://meadowparty.com/blog/?p=478
One is mostly about white-flour breads, and the other is entirely about whole-grain breads. Each book contains a pizza dough recipe too.
posted by Keith Law on 7-16-2009 at 10:14 am