Legislation
According to Italian law, the bread represents:
the product obtained from the total or partial cooking of a conveniently leavened dough, prepared with wheat flour, water and yeast, with or without the addition of common salt.
According to the law, therefore, bread can be produced with flour (of soft wheat, obtaining more common products in the north) or with semolina (of durum wheat, obtaining breads - like that of Altamura - typical of southern Italy). If only these basic ingredients are present, we talk about common bread, while in the presence of other ingredients we speak of special breads (oil, milk, sesame, etc.).
Homemade bread - Video Recipes
Homemade Yeast Bread
X Problems with video playback? Reload from YouTube Go to Video Page Go to Video Recipes Section Watch the video on youtube| Rustic loaf with carrots without fat | Pan brioches | White bread |
| Protein bread | Rustic bread at the My-personaltrainer | Soft bread with oats |
| Buns covered with seeds | Bread with potatoes and rosemary | Rye bread and Yogurt |
| Soy bread | Quick Bread in the Pan (15 min.) | Unleavened bread (with oil) |
| Pita or Arabic bread | Classic Romagna Piadina | Pumpkin bread |
| Whole grain bread | Christmas Bread Star | Raisin Sandwiches |
| Batbout - Moroccan bread in the pan | Gluten-free bread | Bruschette bread |
| Hairy Bread Spider - Halloween Recipe | Homemade Bread Bread Without Soiling Hands | Homemade baguettes |
| Homemade Yeast Bread | ||
Do you think you know everything about bread? Take the Quiz and test your knowledge! "
Types of Bread
Bread of Altamura Bread of Matera Pane CarasauBread ingredients
In the preparation of bread, the first essential ingredient is water, since it allows the interaction between the different protein chains of gliadins and glutenins, with the formation of gluten; moreover, the water is absorbed by the starch globules, which thus take on a gelatinous consistency. Finally, in the water there are salts which favor the formation of ionic bonds with amino acid groups with opposite charge; thus there is an increase in the interactions between the various protein chains and a better gluten solidity. The Ferrarese couple PGI, for example, owes its peculiar toughness to the characteristic hardness of the water of Ferrara.
In the preparation of bread, the addition of additives such as ascorbic acid (200 mg / kg) and emulsifiers (0.2% on the finished product, but only for special breads with added fat) is allowed. Vitamin C exerts on the one hand an important antioxidant action, therefore a preservative, while on the other hand it improves bread making. In fact, in the flours there are enzymes capable of transforming ascorbic acid (vit. C) into its oxidized form (dehydroascorbic acid), which goes to oxidize the thiolic groups (SH) of cysteines, forming a disulfide bridge (SS more ascorbic acid); these covalent bonds make gluten more firm, forming a protein lattice more resistant to swelling. On the other hand, emulsifiers - usually soy lecithin is added - are instead added to facilitate the dispersion of the fat in the dough.
The third important ingredient is yeast, which can be of different types and as such influence the production of bread and its organoleptic characteristics.
- COMPRESSED INDUSTRIAL YEAST (brewer's yeast)
- NATURAL OR PASTA ACID YEAST
- CHEMICAL LEAVENERS Bicarbonate of Na + or NH 4 + with added acidic substances (tartaric acid, K acid tartrate)
Yeast is a culture of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, microorganisms capable of making alcoholic fermentation, ie the transformation of glucose into carbon dioxide and ethanol; in the preparation of bread, since we are in aerobic conditions, the production of CO2 prevails, while in that of wine, where the same microorganisms work in anaerobiosis, prevails that of ethanol (or ethyl alcohol).
To learn more: types of yeast
Importance of Yeast
Compressed industrial yeast (the classic "yeast cube") allows the dough to be prepared fairly quickly; however it does not give the yeasts the time necessary to make a strong fermentation, during which other substances are also produced - such as acetic aldehyde, succinic acid and long chain alcohols - which improve the aroma of the product; with the industrial yeast, therefore, a bread is obtained that leavens particularly well but poorly aromatic.
Sourdough or sourdough is nothing but the residue of the processing of the previous day; in practice, every day a bit of dough is kept aside for the next day; the next day, the quantities of water and flour needed to make bread are added to this mother little by little. During the 24-hour waiting period the microorganisms of the dough mother continue to work, producing high quantities of aromatic substances; consequently, a more aromatic bread is obtained, with a better flavor, but which requires a very long baking time (water and flour must be added a little at a time). For this reason the use of sourdough sourdough is now relegated to a few artisan bakeries.
The chemical leavening agents, which are generally contained in the classic sachet, are dicarboxylic acids (in particular tartaric acid) with added basic substances, such as sodium bicarbonate and potassium. Inside the sachet these substances do not react, but they do so as soon as they are added to the dough, developing a reaction that leads to the production of carbon dioxide; this gas therefore extends the glutinous reticulum exactly as the CO2 produced by the yeast metabolism does. It is clear that in this way the processing of the bread becomes particularly rapid, since the reaction is immediate, but it is equally clear that there is no formation of aromatic substances (for this reason the chemical leavening agents are generally used in the preparation of sweets, where the aroma is given by other ingredients).
2 NaHCO 3 + H 2 C 4 H 4 O 6 → Na 2 C 4 H 4 O 6 + 2 H 2 O + 2 CO 2
Nutritional values of the various types of bread
| Type of bread | Kcal | Water (g) | Carbohydrates (g) | Fats (g) | Proteins (g) | Fibers (g) |
| Unleavened bread | 377 | 4.5 | 87.1 | 0.8 | 10.7 | 2.7 |
| Whole grain bread | 224 | 36.6 | 48.5 | 1.3 | 7.5 | 6.5 |
| Rye bread | 219 | 37 | 45.4 | 1.7 | 8.3 | 4.6 |
| Bread type 00 | 289 | 29 | 66.9 | 0.4 | 8.6 | 3.2 |
| Bread type 0 | 275 | 31 | 63 | 0.5 | 8.1 | 3.8 |
| Type 1 bread | 265 | 34 | 59.7 | 0.6 | 8.9 | - |
Continue: Bread preparation »
