About the Bread & pastry

1. Bread & Pastry

2. Bread
 Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking.
Throughout recorded history it has been popular around the world and is one of the oldest
artificial foods, having been of importance since the dawn of agriculture.
 Proportions of types of flour and other ingredients vary widely, as do modes of preparation. As
a result, types, shapes, sizes, and textures of breads differ around the world. Bread may
be leavened by processes such as reliance on naturally occurring sourdough microbes,
chemicals, industrially produced yeast, or high-pressure aeration. Some bread is cooked before
it can leaven, including for traditional or religious reasons. Non-cereal ingredients such as
fruits, nuts and fats may be included. Commercial bread commonly contains additives to
improve flavor, texture, color, shelf life, and ease of manufacturing.
 Bread is served in various forms with any meal of the day. It is eaten as a snack, and used as an
ingredient in other culinary preparations, such as sandwiches, and fried items coated in bread
crumbs to prevent sticking. It forms the bland main component of bread pudding, as well as
of stuffings designed to fill cavities or retain juices that otherwise might drip out.
 Bread has a social and emotional significance beyond its importance as nourishment. It plays
essential roles in religious rituals and secular culture. Its prominence in daily life is reflected in
language, where it appears in proverbs, colloquial expressions ("He stole the bread from my
mouth"), in prayer ("Give us this day our daily bread") and in the etymology of words, such as
"companion" (from Latin com "with" + panis "bread").

3. Type Of Bread
 Whole meal bread
Whole meal and wheat meal breads are popular. In New
Zealand whole meal breads must have 90% or more whole meal
flour in the recipe used, and wheat meals any level of whol emeal
flour mixed with white flour.
 Multigrain and kibbled Bread
Mixed or multigrain breads are made from a mixture of whole
meal, white or rye flour and may contain wheat germ, honey, gluten,
non-fat milk solids, cracked and whole grains of wheat and other
cereals such as rye, oats, corn, barley, rice millet and triticale.
 Rye Breads
Rye bread is a whole meal bread made from rye or a mix of rye
and wheat flour. It was originally developed in Europe and is made
in a wide variety of styles and shapes

4. Pastry
 Pastry is a dough of flour, water and shortening that may be savoury or sweetened.
Sweetened pastries are often described as bakers' confectionery. The word
"pastries" suggests many kinds of baked products made from ingredients such
as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and eggs. Small tarts and
other sweet baked products are called pastries. The French word pâtisserie is also
used in English (with or without the accent) for the same foods. Common pastry
dishes include pies, tarts, quiches and pasties.
 Pastry can also refer to the pastry dough, from which such baked products are
made. Pastry dough is rolled out thinly and used as a base for baked products.
 Pastry is differentiated from bread by having a higher fat content, which contributes
to a flaky or crumbly texture. A good pastry is light and airy and fatty, but firm
enough to support the weight of the filling. When making a shortcrust pastry, care
must be taken to blend the fat and flour thoroughly before adding any liquid. This
ensures that the flour granules are adequately coated with fat and less likely to
develop gluten. On the other hand, over mixing results in long gluten strands that
toughen the pastry. In other types of pastry such as Danish pastry and croissants,
the characteristic flaky texture is achieved by repeatedly rolling out a dough similar
to that for yeast bread, spreading it with butter, and folding it to produce many thin
layers.

5. Types Of Pastry
 Short crust pastry
Short crust pastry (pâte brisée) is the most basic pastry, used for sweet or savoury tarts (it contains little or no sugar). The French
version consists of around 50% flour and 50% butter and eggs. The British version is plainer: without eggs and traditionally made
with lard (these days, this is more usually a white vegetable fat, possibly with some butter).
This is the pastry of our grandmothers, particularly my own, Jeanne, who made tarts for me when I was a nipper with apples from
her orchard – a memory that still moves me.
Sweet crust pastry
Sweet crust pastry (pâte sablée) is the pastry for sweet tarts. This is similar to short crust pastry, but with 15% sugar added, sometimes
also (a great improvement!) with 15% ground almonds. It is fragile and crumbly, delicious on its own, so can be used just as it is to
make biscuits.
Choux pastry
Choux pastry (pâte à choux) is the famous French dough used for éclairs, Saint-Honoré and profiteroles. It starts as a butter +water
+milk +flour mixture, called “panade” in French, into which eggs are then incorporated. During cooking, the water contained in
the dough turns to steam to form bubbles. This is trapped by the light crust forming on the outside, causing the choux pastry to
puff up.
Puff or flaky pastry
Puff or flaky pastry (pâte feuilletée) is used for thin tart bases, pies, pasties, turnovers, mille-feuilles. This is a more technically
involved pastry, consisting of a basic dough (the "détrempe" in French,) which is like a short crust pastry made with more water.
This is rolled out and wrapped around a slab of butter, then folded and re-rolled a number of times to produce alternate layers of
butter trapped between layers of dough.
During cooking, flaky layers form within the dough. The butter melts and the water turns to steam, so creating the puff pastry’s
characteristic light open texture.
Brioche dough
Brioche dough is the dough used for brioches, Kouglof and certain types of bread. The name covers rich doughs, made with yeast,
which need time to rise. Brioche dough is enriched with butter and eggs and is best handled cold (the butter keeps it firm), but
should then be left in a warm place to rise.