Breadwinner

Ah, the age-old food. The food that's has a band named after it; it's a slang term for money; The whimsical Patti Smith wrote a poem about it; it had a British sitcom from the 80's named after it; it's a proofreading acronym (Browse Read Edit Add Delete); it's a world renowned staple food, and it just might be a solution to world hunger. Ladies and gentlemen please welcome our guest, bread.
Let's begin our discussion with yeast. After all, without yeast bread would not be possible. Yeast are single-celled fungi that ferment and cause bread to rise. There are several types of yeast available and widely used for various preparations, including Baker's Yeast, Nutritional Yeast, Brewer's Yeast, Distiller's Yeast and Wine Yeast. Each has its specific function to the different users. You give the yeast a little sugar and it will immediately capitalize on the opportunity, consuming sucrose, fructose, glucose, and maltose. This is necessary for the fermentation of the yeast. Fermentation produces CO2 gas, and this gas causes the bread to rise. The fermentation also makes ethyl alcohol, which adds its own unique flavor to the creation. It's like the old proverb, "yeast said, soonest mended."
On to kneady greetty. As you know, kneading is important when dealing with dough. You must knead the dough so that gluten forms, and that gluten adds a cohesive property to the dough, thus making it doughy. And tyrosine, and important chemical in bread making, reacts with more tyrosine to become the scaffolding of dough through interlinkage.
On the gluten. For those of you who speak German, allow me to greet you: "Gluten Tag." Here's a definition of gluten from my dictionary: A substance present in cereal grains, like wheat. It is what causes the elastic texture of dough. For those with celiac disease, do not consume gluten. It's a mixture of two proteins, prolamin and glutamin. If you can't digest gluten but decide to eat it anyway then get ready for a wild ride. Your large and lower intestine's villi will be destroyed, and you will miss out on lots of nutrients when you digest stuff. Who knows? Your gums might even start bleeding. You do not want to mess around with gluten if you are gluten intolerant.

We meet again, Lactobacillus.

On to sourdough. One of my favorite types of bread, it starts with, strangely enough, starter. Starter? Yeah, it's that medium that keeps cultured yeast alive. And that specific culture of fungus, lactobacillus, is what is used and found in sourdough. Yummy fungi!
There are a few differences in making Pita, Injera, Naan, and those other wacky breads out there. For St. Pita, that distinct pocket is created with steam. Injera uses Teff, a special grain, filled with iron. Teff flour is mixed is with water and set to ferment for several days. The dough is actually liquid enough to be poured out on to the cooking surface, so the bottom is smooth and the top surface is porous. What a neat texture. Naan needs yeast water, yogurt and ghee (or vegetable shortening). Yeah, it looks like a bubbly pizza thing, and it's pretty good. Give that one a try sometime.