Easter and Christmas breads, while other countries use baking powder to leaven their equally rich

sweet breads. The notable exceptions are Chinese, Japanese and a few other Oriental cultures, in

which bread is virtually absent.

The Many Shapes of Bread

Both the shape and taste of bread developed distinctly in different parts of the world based

on the local ingredients, available technology and climate, and those became their bread traditions.

Yeast-leavened wheat flour breads are truly European in origin (including the Russian portion of

Asia). In most of Asia, as well as throughout Africa, wheat bread is less common, and even where

used, it is often unleavened such as the Indian chapatis.

Millers made flours from other grains than wheat, and from root vegetables, but these were

only locally prevalent. American Indians used maize or corn, since that was the grain they grew and

it was available. Other ethnic groups used flour ground from whatever grew naturally in their

particular areas—rice, potato or millet, for example. Now so inexpensive, that wheat flour is readily

available and people accepted yeast-leavened wheat bread everywhere in the world, even where it

has been an unknown food 50 or 100 years ago.

Here is a list of many of the well-known and many obscure ethnic breads of the world.

Serious Kitchen Play