Special Sub-Topic: The World of Bread Click Here To Play: The World of Bread

As well as water to make it moist, all bread has one essential ingredient. What is it?

Flour. The definition of bread is a baked dough of flour and water with other optional ingredients. Unleavened bread does not contain yeast, and you don't have to put salt or sugar in the recipe but it does help!

Flour is explosive.

True. Flour is made from an organic product be it wheat, rye, barley or whatever. All these organic products are flammable and if you powder a flammable product is becomes extremely explosive in air. Paper is another example. There have been many fatal explosions at flour mills.

Bread flour needs to be high in gluten which helps the form and texture of the finished loaf. What is the name given to flour that is high in gluten and suitable for bread?

Strong. Gluten flours are divided into strong and weak depending on the gluten content. Strong flour goes to the bread bakers while weak flour is for cakes and pastry.

So you are making some leavened bread. Mix all the ingredients together and let it rise in a warm place. Then knead it again, divide it into loaves or buns, and let it rise again. What is this second rising called?

Proving (or proofing). The second rising is called proving (to prove the yeast is working). Letting the dough rise longer results in a better flavoured bread.

Which country has the highest per capita consumption of bread in the world?

Germany. Germany has the greatest diversity of bread products with typically 400-500 basic bread types. There are over 1000 different breads on offer at the annual Cologne Bread Show.

Which of the following is an unleavened bread (in that it contains no yeast)?

Lavash. Lavash is a flatbread originating in Armenia. Pandesal is a round bread common in the Philippines, khleb is the Russian word for bread, and sourdough is prepared with yeast and lactobacilli to give the sour taste.

The outside of a loaf of bread is known as the crust. What term do bakers use for the soft inside part of a loaf?

Crumb. The term crumb should not be confused with crumbs which are bits that have fallen off a baked loaf. Crumbs can be crumb or crust you see...confused?

Which country produces the most wheat (by a long shot)?

China. Well, this one surprised me. China produces around one-sixth of the world's wheat, India is second with the USA third.

Bread is such an important part of our lives it is mentioned in many great texts. The Lord's Prayer and the Magna Carta both mention it and it is seen as a welcoming sign all over the world. Who promised his countrymen "Peace, Land and Bread" during his rise to power?

Lenin. Lenin promised this to the Russian people in the run up to the October Revolution in 1917. It was a mainstay of Soviet propaganda right up until the 1980s, but whether the Russian people got much more than that is a matter for debate.

Who invented sliced bread?

Otto Rohwedder. Otto Rohwedder was the son of a German immigrant to America. He invented the first bread slicer in 1912 but it was not widely used as the sliced bread went stale quickly. By 1928 he had perfected a machine that sliced and then wrapped the bread. By 1933, 80% of the bread sold in the United States was sliced and wrapped using one of Otto's machines.