Types of Bread

Four basic, low-cost ingredients—flour, water, yeast, and salt—combine to form bread, one of the world’s oldest delicacies that is enjoyed in nearly every culture. Check out these bread varieties to broaden your repertoire, whether you’re just starting out in bread-baking or you’re opening a bakery and need ideas for your menu.

1. Arepa

Arepas are round, flat breads that are fried in butter or oil using masa, water, and salt. Typically, they are used as sandwich bread after being pan-fried or griddled and split in half horizontally.

The northern part of South America, which encompasses Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama, is where arepas first appeared. Typically, they are sliced in half and filled with plantains, cheese, beans, pork, chicken, steak, onions, or avocado. While arepas are a terrific year-round product to offer, they make a particularly delicious menu item during Hispanic Heritage Month.

2. Baguette

Long, cylindrical loaves of bread called baguettes are produced with flour, water, yeast, and salt. Baguettes feature a pillowy interior and a thin, crunchy crust because to steam ovens. Originating in France, baguettes have had such an impact on the world that in 2022 UNESCO designated them as a World Heritage Site.

Baguettes are usually served with butter, cheese, or cured meats, cut into rounds or sliced in half horizontally. They also work well as a bread alternative for a butter board or charcuterie board.

3. Bagel

A bagel is a kind of bread with a central hole fashioned like a “O.” Yeast, flour, water, salt, and barley malt syrup are the ingredients of bagels. This dense, light bread is baked after it has been boiled. Though there are many differing views regarding the origins of bagels, a common belief is that Jews in Poland invented them first.

They can be eaten on their own, as a sandwich, or sliced in half and spread with cream cheese. Savory ingredients including cream cheese, butter, smoked salmon, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions are common bagel toppings. Among the toppings for sweet bagels are honey, nut butter, and fruit.

4. Brioche

The interior of brioche, a kind of French bread, is creamy, fluffy, and soft. Flour, yeast, butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and occasionally brandy are the ingredients of brioche. The Maillard reaction that occurs with these ingredients gives brioche its characteristically soft but dark crust. This is because the enriched dough contains sugars and proteins.

Slices of brioche, served with butter or jam, are delicious. It also produces delicious hot dog rolls, hamburger buns, and dinner rolls. You should use your brioche to create French toast if it’s a little dry. Although brioche is a bread, its sweet flavor has led to its classification as a French pastry.

5. Ciabatta

Pronounce it “chya-baht-ah,” ciabatta is a kind of bread that came from Veneto, Italy, in 1982. The popularity of baguettes served as the inspiration for ciabatta, which translates to “slipper” in Italian. However, instead of taking the famed cylindrical shape with tapered ends of the baguette, ciabatta was shaped like a slipper.

Ciabatta is created simply using flour, yeast, salt, and water; the result is a flaky crust and a chewy inside with lots of holes. This bread works well for paninis, sandwiches, and garlic bread. Serve it as table bread with some olive oil and parmesan cheese.

6. Challah

A form of bread called challah, which is pronounced haah-luh, is painstakingly braided into a lovely loaf. Made with flour, water, yeast, sugar, honey, vegetable oil, and eggs, challah is an enriched bread with a soft, delicious, and fluffy within and a dark, golden-brown crust.

Ashkenazi Jews in Israel and Central and Eastern Europe produced challah. Usually, challah bread is prepared and consumed during significant Jewish holidays or ceremonial events like Shabbat. Challah bread can also be used for bread pudding or French toast, or it can be sliced and smeared with butter and jam.

7. English Muffin

English muffins are little, round, and flat pieces of bread. An English baker who was among the first settlers in America in the 1800s made them. To make large pockets of air within, English muffins are leavened with either sourdough starter or yeast and baked using whole wheat flour, water, salt, sugar, butter, and cornmeal.

English muffins are baked in a pan on the stovetop rather than baking in the oven like other bread varieties. English muffins taste best when toasted, sliced in half horizontally, then smothered with butter & jam after cooking. As the bread base for breakfast sandwiches and eggs benedict, they’re also well-known for being a fantastic breakfast menu item.

8. Focaccia

Italian bread known as focaccia is thicker than pizza and has a similar flavor and texture. Flour, water, yeast, salt, olive oil, and honey are the ingredients. For a distinctive taste, many people season their bread with herbs and spices.

Instead of baking like most bread, focaccia bakes flat and typically reaches a height of 2 inches. Simple appetizers include focaccia bread and high-quality olive oil. It tastes well as a sandwich or panini when sliced in half horizontally.

9. Hokkaido

A variety of bread called Hokkaido milk bread has its origins in the Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido. It employs the tangzhong cooking method, which involves pre-heating a portion of the flour in order to gelatinize it and turn it into a paste. Hokkaido bread is renowned for being light and fluffy, and this paste is the secret to making it soft and fluffy.

The ingredients for Hokkaido milk bread are flour, sugar, yeast, eggs, butter, and either milk powder or sweetened condensed milk. Hokkaido bread can be either raw or toasted, then slathered with a generous amount of a decadent butter spread.

10. Irish Soda Bread

Instead of using yeast as a leavening agent, baking soda is used to make the rounder, domed bread known as Irish soda bread. Among the many foods offered on St. Patrick’s Day, Irish soda bread has its origins in Ireland.

Baking soda, buttermilk, flour, and salt are the ingredients of Irish soda bread. Usually, nuts and raisins are included as well. This bread is more of a fast bread than a traditional artisan bread because it is crumbly and scone-like. Irish soda bread is best enjoyed sliced and topped with marmalade, jam, or butter.

It’s incredible to observe the lasting impact that only four little ingredients—flour, salt, yeast, and water—have had on our globe and its many diverse cultures. The methods, ratios, and other inclusions are the only things that set them apart. For a cuisine that everyone enjoys, incorporate any of these breads into the offerings of your restaurant or bakery.