History of Toast
Toast has an interesting shelf life. Explore below to find out what makes toast heated bread.
Philosophy of Bread
Toast comes in different shapes and sizes all over the world.
Information courtesy of this website.
India
In India Naan is very popular. It is an oven-baked flatbread found all over Southeast Asia. It’s enjoyed primarily spread with butter or ghee while still hot enough to melt it.
Naan is great because it can be topped, stuffed or infused with just about anything, from herbs to seeds to pumpkin to cheese.
Linguistics
Our philosophy about breads owes a lot to our language and country of origin.
In American English, "bread" and "dough" are slang for money. A "bread winner" is the person in the family who earns money to support everyone.
In Arabia, the words for "bread" and "life" are almost the same.
The Russian word for hospitality translates into "bread and salt". In Russia, it is a custom and a sign of honor and respect to give a round, freshly baked loaf of bread to a guest along with a small wooden bowl of salt during their greeting.
Bread is a staple of most diets and is embedded in our cultures in expressions such as "the greatest thing since sliced bread?" and our religions i.e the Christian parable of loaves and fishes.
Some breads are named for their region or because of their shape. Calzone is said to mean "pants leg" probably because of its resemblance to the billowy trouser legs favored by Neopolitan men in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Origins
Some famous breads have histories and legends attached to them.
Anadama Bread is believed to have gotten its name from a story about a Yankee and his lazy wife Anna. Lazy Anna left her husband in the middle of making his dinner. All she had on the table for him was a pitcher of molasses and half -made corn meal mush. Angrily the husband tossed them together and baked them making delicious anadama bread.
Sally Lunn is a very rich, sponge-like "cake" made in a deep pan. it's believed Sally was a girl who sold cakes in Bath in the 18th century. The name may also come from the French for sun and moon - "Soleil et Lunn",
Rum Babas' legend says it's name came from the exile of the Polish King Stanislas Leszcynski to Lorraine. The bread in Lorraine, kouglhopf, was too dry for him so he would dip the bread in rum. He loved this dish so much that he named it after his favourite hero from A Thousand and One Nights, Ali Baba. Another idea is that the cakes resembles the old-fashioned skirts of Russian grandma's with their tapered sides. As "baba" in Russian means granny.
Bread and Friendship
Giving bread has always been a sign of friendship, particularly when it is for a sick or bereaved person.
For most of the world, bread is the stuff of life. Today, bread is probably eaten in more places and in greater amounts than any other food. Many households consume at least a loaf of bread with each meal.
Today bread is still an intrinsic part of everyday life.
In Tahiti, bread is delivered in the mailbox!
Israeli bakers often bring bread to the city on a bicycle, balancing a basket of bread on their heads!
In many countries, bread is not sold wrapped in plastic or in any other covering.
On Epiphany Mexican and Spanish families gather to feast on fruit and nut filled yeast bread.
In Iceland, lace bread is cut out with patterns and ahpes like a Halloween pumpkin, and fried in melted butter.
In Russia delicate Kulich bread is so precious it is forbidden to walk through a Russian kitchen with hevay boots until the Kulich loaves are fully baked and out of the oven.
Japan & other countries
In Japan there may be more types of bread than in the U. S. Jpanese bread is often 1.5 times the thickness of traditional western bread.
The bread that we use in Western countries is usually baked in uniform tins in a square-rectangle shape. This shape was actually quite a late development in the history of bread and was probably developed by the British.
Holland is the only other European country that uses the square-rectangle method. In France only soft-sandwhich loves are baked in tins. Their tins have sliding tops so that the bread is almost crustless and is perfectly even in shape!
Our standard commercial white bread is actually only one type of bread. Simple, basic dark loaves are considered 'peasant food' in some countries. Producing white bread means using white flour which is expensive to process. But in other coutnries dark bread is a delicacy.
Breads around the world can be quite different because of their origins, however some are remarkably similar: A Russian blini, Norwegian lefse, a French crepe, and a Mexican tortilla are very similar to the American pancake.
Bread and religion
As a staple in most lives bread is closely tied to annual seasonal and religious events.
Bread has been used as a sacrificial offering to the Gods. The Host in Christian churches is bread that represents the body of Christ and some beleive this consecrated bread actually is God.
In the Middle East a person given bread as alms will kiss the bread and say a prayer before kneading the dough.
In many countries bread is thought to be so precious it is a sin to waste it.
In the Bible, there are approximately 250 references to bread.
There are many superstitions about bread. Some believe that when a crumb drops out of your mouth death comes in a week or if a loaf is cut at both ends the devil will fly over your house!
Certain types of bread become more popular during certain times of the year because of religious and national holidays.
In Muslim countries, bread is baked for the feast of Id al-Fitr, which follows Ramadan.
Jewish Challah, rich egg and butter bread, is usually served on Friday nights for the Sabbath dinner and on holidays. Challah means 'dough offering' in Hebrew and comes from the practice of giving some of the uncooked loaf to temple priests to burn as an offering before baking, in the Temple period c. 280 B.C.
Challah is made differently for different events. Friday night Challah is usually braided but Challah used for Rosh Hashanah is always smooth and dipped in honey to symbolise the sweetness of the new year.
During the festival of Passover Jewish people eat matzo, a flat bread made with yeast, to remind them of the flight from Egypt when the Jewish people did not have time to wait for the bread to rise before fleeing.
San Antonio Abate is said to be the patron saint of bread-bakers.
Saving Bread
Stories of breads and wars are common.
Once, French soldiers demanded white bread to give them courage during battles.
Legend says Greek women tucked a piece of bread into their husbands uniforms for luck as they went off to war.
Bakers celebrated victories by introducing special shapes or types of bread.
In Budapest 1686 the Turks tried to attack the city by night through underground passages. The bakers, who worked through the night, heard them adn raised the alarm saving the city. To commemorate they created the crescent shaped croissant. To celebrate they strung crescent shaped croissants on the ottoman flag.
Colomba di Pasqua, a dove-shaped bread made for Easter was created by bakers who saw two 'heaven sent' doves after the 12th century defeat of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
During intense famine in 1450, a German baker called Pumpernickle sidestepped the shortage of wheat flour by developing a new bread out of rye.
In Ancient Egypt workers were paid for their labour in 10 loaves of bread.