Bread is made from flour and water.
People have been making bread for thousands of years.
The first bread was flat bread made on a flat rock on a fire.
Yeast makes dough get bigger so a loaf or buns can be made.
There are lots of different kinds and shapes of bread.
Bread is called a 'staple food', which means it is a basic food, commonly eaten.
Bread is made from a dough of flour and water, and is usually baked. It has been a staple for many thousands of years, since the earliest times when humans learned how to grind grain to make flour.
Flat bread is unleavened bread. Getty Images
History of bread
Thousands of years ago, humans mixed together flour and water and baked it on flat stones at the edges of an open fire.
This was a very early form of bread. Simple flat bread such as this is called unleavened bread.
The ancient Egyptians started using a wild yeast to make bread rise. Bread made with yeast is called leavened bread. They developed ovens in which several loaves of bread could be baked at once. The ancient Romans also baked leavened bread, and Roman bakeries produced a variety of kinds of bread.
A Jewish bread called challah. ©Getty
Leavened bread dough can be made into different shapes before baking, such as long rolls, short or round rolls, loaves, round loaves called cob loaves, and many others. Dough can even be plaited, like the Jewish challah loaves.
It wasn't until the 1800s that yeast was identified as a plant-like organism. It is the way bread is leavened because yeast produces a gas that raises the dough.
A loaf of bread ready to take out of the oven. Getty
Yeast is added to flour to make the bread ‘grow’
Yeast and warm water are added to flour. Warm water is used because it is an organism; it can be killed if the water is too hot. Slightly warm water will encourage the yeast to grow. Bread dough is left in a warm place to 'prove', which allows the yeast to grow and increase the size of the dough. The dough is kneaded, shaped, and left once again to prove, usually doubling in size. It is then baked.
Kneading dough to shape it before baking. ©iStock
Sliced wholemeal bread. Getty Images
Bread technology
In 1928 the bread slicer was invented and so sliced bread became a product people could buy instead of uncut loaves they would slice at home.
At about the same time the electric toaster was invented. Before then, toast was made by holding a slice of bread on a long fork in front of a fire.
The baker takes the fresh, baked bread from the oven ©iStock
There are many different kinds of bread, mostly made with wheat flour, but other flours are used as well, such as rye.
There are different breads in different countries and cultures. There are many leavened and unleavened breads.
It’s a good idea to get information from more than one source!
Read more about different kinds of flour that are used to make bread:
http://www.bakeinfo.co.nz/Facts/Bread-making/Types-of-bread
Watch a video showing how to make bread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpuJUB1MAZs
Read about many different kinds of flatbread:
http://www.foodsubs.com/Flatbread.html
