Bread Making
Senior 2 · Home Science
Bread Making
Lesson 1 of 4
18 min
Let's begin
Walk past any boulangerie in Kigali in the early morning and you will see soft sliced loaves, round rolls, long baguettes and sweet buns. At a roadside stall you will find chapati and mandazi. All of these are made mainly from flour and water, yet they look and taste completely different, because of how they are raised, shaped and cooked.
Bread is a food made from a dough of flour and water, usually with other ingredients, that is baked, fried or cooked on a hot surface. In this lesson you will learn how breads are classified and what each basic ingredient does.
A leavening agent (raising agent) is a substance that produces gas in a dough so that it rises and becomes light.
| Type | Leavening agent | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Yeast breads | Yeast, which produces carbon dioxide gas slowly | Tin loaf, bread rolls, buns, baguette |
| Sourdough breads | Wild yeasts and bacteria kept in a "starter" of flour and water | Sourdough loaf |
| Quick breads | Baking powder or bicarbonate of soda, which produce gas quickly | Soda bread, banana bread, scones |
| Unleavened breads | None; the bread stays flat | Chapati, many flatbreads |
Breads can also be classified by flour (white, wholemeal, or composite flour that mixes wheat with cassava, sorghum or soya flour), by shape (tin loaf, round cob, rolls, plaits, flatbreads) and by cooking method (baked loaves, pan-cooked chapati, deep-fried mandazi).
| Ingredient | Function |
|---|---|
| Strong wheat flour | Gives structure. Its proteins form gluten, a stretchy network that traps gas. "Strong" or bread flour has more protein than ordinary flour. |
| Water (or milk) | Hydrates the flour so gluten can form, dissolves the salt and sugar, and wakes up the yeast. Very hot water kills yeast. |
| Yeast | Ferments sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which makes the dough rise; also adds flavour. |
| Salt | Adds flavour, strengthens the gluten, and controls the yeast so it does not work too fast. Too much salt slows or stops the yeast. |
| Sugar | Extra food for the yeast (in small amounts), sweetness, and a browner crust. |
| Fat (margarine, butter, oil) | Makes the crumb softer and helps the bread stay fresh longer. |
Maize, sorghum, cassava and banana flours contain no gluten, so a dough made only from them cannot trap gas and will not rise into a light loaf. Bakers can replace part of the wheat flour with these local flours to make composite bread.
Task: Classify (a) chapati, (b) a sliced tin loaf and (c) banana bread by leavening agent, and explain the difference in texture.
Solution: (a) Chapati is unleavened: no raising agent, so it is thin and flat. (b) A tin loaf is a yeast bread: yeast produces gas slowly while the dough proves, giving a light, open crumb. (c) Banana bread is a quick bread: baking powder produces gas quickly in the oven, giving a dense, cake-like crumb.
Tip
Memory hook: "Yeast is slow, powder is quick, chapati is flat"
Exam technique: when asked for the function of an ingredient, give its job in the dough, not just "it is needed". For salt, for example: "flavour, strengthens gluten, controls yeast".
What is a leavening agent? Give two examples.
Solution: A substance that produces gas in a dough so that it rises. Examples: yeast, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda.
State two functions of salt in bread.
Solution: Any two of: adds flavour; strengthens the gluten; controls the rate at which the yeast works.
Why does a loaf made from sorghum flour alone not rise well?
Solution: Sorghum flour has no gluten, so there is no stretchy network to trap the carbon dioxide; the gas escapes and the loaf stays dense.
Give one nutritional advantage of wholemeal bread over white bread.
Solution: Wholemeal flour includes the bran and germ of the grain, so it contains more fibre (and more B vitamins and minerals).
Summary
Sources and credits
The classification table, worked example and practice questions are written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
