Bread and related doughs

(and their derivatives)

Foods, Culinary bases, Flour-based foods

Consumption area(s): Earth

Pita breads (Bread and related doughs) — *1. Pita breads*

Introduction

Since ancient times, bread has accompanied humanity as an essential food, born from the simple union of flour and water, usually baked in an oven. With the rise of agriculture, it gained a central role in human nutrition, serving not only as daily sustenance but also as a powerful symbol in religious practices and civic celebrations. In many parts of the world—such as Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East—bread remains a dietary staple, unlike in certain Asian regions where rice or noodles dominate.

The most common flour comes from soft wheat, valued for its high gluten content, which makes the dough more elastic and able to trap air during fermentation. Gluten forms through the combination of glutenin, which provides elasticity, and gliadin, which contributes softness. This interaction allows the creation of a network structure that captures air bubbles, giving bread a solid foam-like texture.

Other grains such as spelt, einkorn, or Kamut, and cereals like oats, barley, corn, rye, and rice are also used, often mixed with wheat to improve yield. For those on a gluten-free diet, alternative flours from legumes are used, often supplemented with agents like guar gum or HPMC to achieve a suitable texture.

Leavening can be achieved through various methods: from natural yeasts such as sourdough starter, to chemical leavening like baking soda, to industrial yeasts. Some innovative techniques even use pressurized air. There are also unleavened variants without yeast. In industrial-scale production, additives are sometimes used to modify shelf life or flavor.

Structurally, many types of bread can be divided into crust and crumb. The crust, darker and more aromatic, forms through the Maillard reaction during baking and is rich in antioxidants and fiber. Certain beneficial compounds, such as pronyl-lysine, are concentrated in this often overlooked part. However, attention has been drawn in recent years to acrylamide, a substance that can form in the crust at high temperatures, potentially harmful to health. The crumb, on the other hand, is initially soft and tender, but naturally stales over time in a process known as firming.

Bread lends itself to many uses: it can be toasted, served plain or with butter, dipped in soups, or used as a base for sandwiches. It features in many recipes: from croutons for salads to stuffings for meats, from breadcrumbs for frying to spoon desserts, or used as a binder in meatballs and cured meats.

Bread is among the oldest processed foods known to humanity. Starch traces found on stone tools used to crush plants, dating back approximately 30,000 years in Europe and Australia, suggest that rudimentary flatbreads were already being baked, possibly made from starchy roots such as tiger nuts and ferns, cooked on heated stones. A more concrete evidence of bread-making dates to around 14,500 years ago in a Natufian settlement in the northeastern Jordan desert.

With the rise of agriculture during the Neolithic, around 10,000 BCE, cereals became the staple food, and with them spread the art of bread-making. The natural fermentation process, facilitated by yeasts already present on the grains, contributed to the creation of the first leavened breads.

In southern Mesopotamia, as early as 6000 BCE, fermented breads were prepared, likely through Sumerian experimentation, which also included the use of ash to improve the dough. This knowledge may have been passed on to the Egyptians, who around 3000 BCE began adding yeast directly to flour, refining baking techniques. Various ancient cultures developed methods to achieve leavening: doughs left exposed to air, fermented mixtures of grape juice and flour, or bran soaked in wine. Pliny the Elder reports that the Gauls and Iberians used beer foam—the barm—to produce lighter breads than the common types.

For the ancient Egyptians, as well as the Greeks and Romans, the quality of bread-making was a marker of civilization and progress. Bread was not only an essential food, but also a symbol of technical and cultural evolution. The use of sourdough, obtained by retaining a portion of the previous dough, was a widespread and valued practice for generations, remaining one of the most long-lasting and versatile techniques in the history of baking.

In the 20th century, the bread landscape underwent a radical shift with the introduction of the Chorleywood process in 1961. This technique, based on intensive mechanical dough working, drastically shortens fermentation times and allows the use of lower-protein flours. Thanks to its efficiency and low costs, it became the foundation of industrial bread-making in many countries. However, this method has raised concerns regarding the potential reduction of nutritional value in bread produced through such accelerated processes.

Bread doughs are generally baked, but there are regional variations that use other cooking methods: they can be steamed, as in Chinese mantou, fried, like Indian puris, or pan-cooked, such as tortillas. Bread can be leavened or unleavened, like matzo, and may include basic ingredients such as salt, fats, and leavening agents (yeast or baking soda), as well as additional components like milk, eggs, sugar, spices, dried or fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, or seeds. The dough preparation can follow various methods, including direct mixing, sourdough, the Chorleywood process, or autolyse.

In professional baking, recipes are often expressed in baker’s percentages, where flour represents 100% and all other ingredients are proportioned accordingly. In particular, the water-to-flour ratio is essential for determining the consistency and structure of the bread. High-protein flours, such as bread flours, absorb more water and allow better gluten formation, which provides elasticity and strength to the dough.

Wheat flour, the most commonly used, contains insoluble proteins like glutenin and gliadin, which, once hydrated and worked, form gluten, the protein network responsible for trapping gases during fermentation. The quality of the flour decisively affects the final product, sometimes requiring enrichment with nutrients lost during refining, such as calcium, iron, and B vitamins.

Other key ingredients include liquids, mainly water, but also milk, buttermilk, yogurt, juices, or eggs, which influence flavor, structure, and nutritional value. Fats (butter, oils, lard) also play an important role: they coat the proteins, modulate their aggregation, soften the crumb, and help extend freshness. Some breads also include dough improvers and conditioners, especially in industrial production, to increase volume, improve texture, and slow staling. Salt is added both for flavor and for its ability to stabilize gluten and moderate yeast activity, promoting a more controlled fermentation and better crumb development.

The leavening process is crucial: it can be achieved through chemical agents, like baking powder or baking soda combined with acidic substances (buttermilk, yogurt), or through biological agents, primarily baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) or natural yeast (sourdough). In both cases, the agent ferments sugars, producing carbon dioxide, which increases the dough volume. Chemically leavened breads, like banana bread, are called quick breads, whereas those using biological leavening can develop complex flavors due to longer fermentation times.