A eucharist of sourdough or wafer? What a thousand-year-old religious quarrel tells us about fermentation
A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy communion.
A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy communion.
Archaeology
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Stingless bees in the Colombian Andes are adapting to a derivative of the ubiquitous insecticide ivermectin, which the bees ingest along with pollen from pasture flowers, according to a new study.
Evolution
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A new review led by Associate Professor Weilong Guo (College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China) explores the polyploid wheat genome through new computational tools. The research ...
Molecular & Computational biology
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Fermentation isn't just for beer or sourdough bread anymore. University of Alberta research published in the Annual Review of Food Science and Technology is honing in on how to best choose new bacterial cultures to dish up ...
Cell & Microbiology
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A few years ago, amid lockdown boredom, it seemed like everyone was perfecting their sourdoughs. A simple, fermented mixture of flour and water, the bread is powered by microbes that provide its one-of-a-kind tangy flavor. ...
Analytical Chemistry
Aug 16, 2023
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Molecular & Computational biology
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Molecular & Computational biology
May 22, 2023
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Sorghum bran, often a low-cost byproduct of sorghum milling, can enhance gluten-free bread's nutritional value without compromising its flavor, according to a study published in the Journal of Food Science.
Agriculture
Apr 25, 2023
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Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a pivotal staple food crop, providing about 20% of calories consumed by humans. Grain weight is one of the three factors of wheat yield, and also the key index of wheat breeding for high ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 12, 2023
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Wheat, which includes bread wheat and its relatives, is a staple food crop that feeds about 35% of the world's population. As one of the first ancient crops to appear in the Fertile Crescent, wheat has been cultivated for ...
Evolution
Mar 20, 2023
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123
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed (e.g., mantou), fried (e.g., puri), or baked on an unoiled frying pan (e.g., tortillas). It may be leavened or unleavened. Salt, fat and leavening agents such as yeast and baking soda are common ingredients, though bread may contain other ingredients, such as milk, egg, sugar, spice, fruit (such as raisins), vegetables (such as onion), nuts (such as walnuts) or seeds (such as poppy). Referred to colloquially as the "staff of life", bread has been prepared for at least 30,000 years. The development of leavened bread can probably also be traced to prehistoric times. Sometimes, the word bread refers to a sweetened loaf cake, often containing appealing ingredients like dried fruit, chocolate chips, nuts or spices, such as pumpkin bread, banana bread or gingerbread.
Fresh bread is prized for its taste, aroma, quality, appearance and texture. Retaining its freshness is important to keep it appetizing. Bread that has stiffened or dried past its prime is said to be stale. Modern bread is sometimes wrapped in paper or plastic film or stored in a container such as a breadbox to reduce drying. Bread that is kept in warm, moist environments is prone to the growth of mold. Bread kept at low temperatures, in a refrigerator for example, will develop mold growth more slowly than bread kept at room temperature, but will turn stale quickly due to retrogradation.
The soft, inner part of bread is known to bakers and other culinary professionals as the crumb, which is not to be confused with small bits of bread that often fall off, called crumbs. The outer hard portion of bread is called the crust.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA