What is bread?

“Clear is spring water, but clearer yet are grains that have ripened in the sun, been dried in the kiln house, ground in the windmill, roasted in the heat of the oven, and transformed into fragrant bread…”

(Edvards Virza, “Straumēni”)

To Latvians, bread means a lot more than merely a loaf of brown or white bread. In Latvia bread is a symbol for food itself. To us, the words “daily bread” mean those foodstuffs without which we simply could not live. Have you noticed that we eat bread every day and never tire of it?

As a definition we could say that bread is a product prepared from ground grain – flour to which water or milk has been added, as well as loosening and baking agents. The dough is then carefully mixed, leavened and baked.

Owing to its content, bread is one of the most important foods. From this seemingly simple, daily product, one obtains a balance of all of the nutrients that the body needs:

• Nearly one-third of daily protein and carbohydrate requirements
• Significant quantities of minerals, fibre, and B1 and B2 vitamin groups
• Considerable amounts of vitamins E and PP
• As well as a small amount of fat

How to recognise good bread

It is possible to get an idea of what the bread is like by reviewing the information on the packaging. A simple, traditional loaf of bread will have a much shorter list of ingredients than a refined bread of a particular nature.

However, in either case, relying on your senses – sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste – will help you to recognise good bread. If the process of doing so gives you the desire to eat the bread, then the final step is to do so and thereby assess the bread’s quality.

The colour inside of the bread
Bread baked from quality fine, white flour should have a slightly grey, beige or cream colour. By contrast, the inside of rye bread should have a rather dark colour.

Crust
If the crust has separated from the inside of the bread, this is a sure indication of poor quality. If the loaf is light, white and crunchy, remember that when pressing the crust, it should crackle, though it shouldn’t break up into small pieces. Bread packaged in plastic will have a much softer crust, because such packaging prevents the bread from drying.

Structure
Bread that is carefully baked should be easy to chew, even if it is hard or dense. The same is also true for heavier rye flour bread. Such bread tones the gums and exercises the jaw.

Flavour
The taste should be pleasant. Eating bread should evoke pleasant, wholesome feelings. Bread baked with sourdough should have a slightly sharp, nuanced flavour. This effect can only be attained if the dough is properly leavened. Seasoning (e.g., caraway seeds, coriander, etc.), as well as various seeds, only serves to improve the taste of the bread.

Aroma
Bread should have an tempting aroma. The bread should not contain any odours that do not belong there. Bread that doesn’t smell good or smell as it should is to be avoided.

Freshness
Quality bread should stay fresh for several days.

Ingredients in bread

Flour
Flour is made by grinding grains. Recent scientific studies indicate that grinding the various components of grains separately and afterwards putting them together harms the chemical structures and systems, which then cannot be renewed. The full effect can only be attained if all components of grain, i.e. the coat, germ and kernel, are ground simultaneously, without separating them. Scientists have demonstrated that a diet of whole grains decreases risk of disease and death due to diabetes, malignant tumours, circulatory disease, etc. Ground flour should always be used in the preparation of flour foods.

A grain of wheat

Endosperm – consists primarily of starch.
Aleuron layer – consists of reserve protein, a small amount of vegetable fat, and, closer to the grain’s coat, of vitamins and minerals.

Coat (source of the bran) – consists of vitamins (B group), minerals (mostly potassium, calcium and magnesium phosphate) and fibre.

Germ – source of vegetable oils, protein, minerals and vitamins.

Yeast
Necessary for loosening of the dough, because it ensures that the dough will leaven, as well as giving bread its characteristic aroma.

Fatty substances
Margarine, vegetable oil and butter are used in the production of bread. Fatty substances are necessary to diversify bread’s flavour characteristics, as well as to improve the structure of the inside of the bread. It makes the bread spongy, and dry and pleasant to the touch.

Sugar
Sugar content in bread is minimal. Sugar serves to heighten a bread’s particular flavour, as well as serves as the catalyst in the leavening in the dough by the yeast.

Syrup
Contains many mono- and disaccharides, which perfect bread’s aroma and taste.

Milk
Adding milk or milk by-products serves to improve the quality of bread. Milk brings out the colour of the crust and makes the inside of the bread a mild, light colour and provides poignant taste characteristics. Milk also serves to heighten the nutritional value of breads.

Malt
Malt is added as a flavour enhancer. It also serves to prevent bread from drying out.

Bran
Bran is a major source of quality fibre (49% of 100 g of product). The addition of bran to bread products is the simplest way of increasing fibre consumption.

Seeds
The adding of various seeds to bread products enriches the product with those substances needed by the human body – fibre, minerals, vitamins, etc.

Hanzas Maiznīcas uses the following in its products:

• Sunflower seeds
• Linseeds
• Sesame seeds
• Poppy seeds
• Seasoning

The effect or aroma is created by the essential oils present in seasoning. Hanzas Maiznīcas uses coriander, cinnamon and caraway seeds, which not only provides a pleasant aroma, but also delays gas forming in the body.

Soybeans
Only soy contains lecithin, which lowers cholesterol in the blood. Soy grains are obtained from soybeans. They are a rich source of protein, equal in quality to protein of animal origin.

Rolled oats
Oat products, including rolled oats, contain more protein, fat, fibre, minerals and vitamins than other cereal products. Rolled oats may be used medicinally for patients with metabolic disturbances or liver disease. The high unsaturated fat acid content prevents the long-term storage of rolled oats, as they are liable to ferment.

Salt
Salt has important functions in the production of bread:

• provides distinctive taste
• serves as a fermentation catalyst
• prevents micro-organisms from multiplying
• helps to make the inside of bread spongier and more porous
• helps the loaf to keep its shape
• stabilises starch

It is not recommended to use excessively the salt (NaCl – sodium chloride) that we use everyday, because its chemical component sodium draws a great deal of water, as a result of which oedema may arise. It is also important that people with high blood pressure limit their use of salt.

The most recent recommendations indicate that consumption of NaCl should be limited to 5 g per day.

Respecting consumers’ rights to receive precise information, Hanzas Maiznīcas places on the labels of all its products the precise amount of salt in the product.

Iodised salt
In line with the recommendations of nutritionists, Hanzas Maiznīcas’ specialists have developed a bread in which regular salt has been replaced with IODISED SALT. This is the Sveiks un Vesels (Wholesome and Healthy) bread group: Veselības with wheat grain; Veselības with bran; Veselības with pearled rye flour. IODISED SALT is something new that has been developed by scientists and physicians and contains an ideal combination of the minerals Na, K, Mg and I, and thus it is a lot healthier than regular table salt.

Additives to bread

Additives to food consist of organic substances and are a component of groceries. They are added to food with the aim of achieving technological (including organoleptic – tastes, aromas) aims. In order for us to satisfy every client’s wishes by providing a broad selection and quality products, additives are also utilised in the production of bread. All additives present in foodstuffs have an international E number, and are listed on the packaging label.