We all know bread as a baked good made from flour mixed with water and yeast or baking powder. But did you know that bread dates back to ancient times? Let's look at the history of bread.
The History of Bread in Thailand
The Thai word for bread, khanom pang, was borrowed directly from the French "pan", pronounced "paeng". Thai people saw it more as a snack (khanom), so they put khanom in front of paeng, which became khanom pang, as we say today. Bread arrived in Thailand during the Ayutthaya period, when Europeans began living in the country. They brought wheat flour, the key ingredient for bread, because they preferred bread and were not used to eating rice as Thais do. Bread was also much easier to eat and store than cooked rice, keeping for several days.
The History of Bread in Egypt
In ancient Egypt, most people were poor. Each time they made bread, they would mix a piece of old dough into the freshly made dough, which made the baked bread lighter, fluffier and tastier. Evidence of this appears in wall paintings in many tombs. Ancient flour grinding stones and cone-shaped clay bread ovens have also been found, thought to be the forerunners of the tandoor oven.
Ancient Egyptians divided bread into two types:
- Leavened bread, the kind we commonly eat
- Matzos, a flat bread usually made and eaten only on special religious occasions
The main ingredients of bread are wheat flour, water, yeast and salt, with other ingredients such as milk, eggs, sugar, butter and fruit added depending on the recipe, which is why there are so many different kinds of bread.
Key Ingredients in Bread
1. Wheat
Bread is made from wheat flour protein. Wheat flour is the most popular and the best flour for bread because it is high in gluten, a protein abundant in wheat. Rice, by contrast, contains only a little gluten, so rice flour cannot be used to make bread the way wheat flour can.
2. Baking Powder
Baking powder, or sodium bicarbonate, is an important bread ingredient used in place of yeast. When baking powder is mixed with water, it produces carbon dioxide gas, just as yeast does. But don't add too much, as it makes the bread taste soapy and bitter, and the rise is coarser than with yeast. Its advantages are that it is easier to use and keeps longer. Baking powder comes in two formulas: one releases all its gas at once when mixed into the dough, and the other releases gas twice, once when mixed into the dough and again when exposed to the heat of the oven.
3. Yeast
Yeast is a key ingredient in bread, added to make it rise. Yeast feeds on the sugars in the flour and produces carbon dioxide, which gives the bread its shape. Bread yeast comes in several forms, such as fresh and dried. To use yeast correctly, you must first activate it by dissolving it in water at about 38°C. Yeast is trickier to use than baking powder, but it gives a better crumb and flavour. The yeast commonly used is Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
