Types of bread

  • Bara Brith – Fruited bread from Wales of which there are many varieties, some made with yeast and others baking powder. Traditionally eaten sliced and buttered.
  • Barrel – Usually made with a milk bread dough, baked in a ridged mould. Also known as a pistol.
  • Batch – Loaf baked in a batch with others, rather than separately, wholemeal.
  • Bloomer – Thick, long, white loaf, lightly cut across the top so that the cuts open out or ‘bloom’ to give a crisp crust. Sometimes sprinkled with poppy seeds.
  • Buttery Rowies – Traditional Aberdeen butter yeast rolls. Shaped in a round or oval with a crisp crust and light flaky texture.
  • Cob – Round smooth crusted loaf often topped with cracked wheat.
  • Coburg – Round, crusty white loaf with a deeply cut cross on the top.
  • Cornish Splits – Sweet, light yeasted buns enriched with butter and milk. Also called Devonshire splits. Often dusted with icing sugar and traditionally eaten filled with jam and clotted cream.
  • Cottage – White loaf made from two round pieces of dough. One (smaller than the other) is secured on top of the larger piece. Often dusted with flour before baking.
  • Farmhouse – White loaf baked in a special tin and cut lengthwise along the top, often dusted with flour.
  • Plait – A special shape, usually plaited with three strands of white dough, sometimes enriched with eggs or milk.

More types of British breads

  • Rolls – Many different varieties, shapes and sizes ranging from crusty white rolls to soft wholemeal baps.soda-farls
  • Sandwich – Large flat-topped loaf baked in a lidded square tin.
  • Sliced wrapped – With many different varieties including white, brown and wholemeal, the sliced wrapped loaf is a convenient bread which makes perfect toast and sandwiches.
  • Soda Bread – Flat, round, heavy loaf usually marked into quarters and risen with baking powder, not yeast. Soda Bread comes originally from Ireland.
  • Stottie – A flat round large bap from the North East of England. The Geordie stottie has a fluffy texture and was often traditionally eaten filled with bacon and pease pudding.
  • Tin – Loaf baked in a rectangular open tin.

World breads

Well known world breads

Baguette – Originally from France, the baguette is now sold around the world. Rather than buy one, why not try our recipe?

Bagel – Originally from Eastern Europe, the bagel is characterised by its ring shape and almost chewy texture

Brioche – Originally from France. A highly enriched French bread, noted for its high butter and egg content, commonly served as a component of French desserts.

Chapatti – A south Asian bread, usually eaten with cooked dhal (lentil soup), vegetable curry, chicken and mutton curry dishes; pieces are used to wrap around and pick up each bite of the cooked dish

Ciabatta – Originally from Italy. Loaf is somewhat elongated, broad and flattish and should be somewhat collapsed in the middle

Foccacia – Also from Italy. Often punctured with a knife to relieve surface bubbling, or dotted

Naan – From Northern India and Pakistan

Tiger bread – Originated in the Netherlands

Tortilla – A flatbread which originated in Mexico

 

More unusual world breads

Steamed Chinese buns - MantouBalep Korkun – A flat, Tibetan bread made with Baking powder and fried in a frying pan.

Bazlama – A Turkish flatbread which is usually eaten fresh.

Cesnica – A Serbian soda bread.

Damper – An Australian soda bread.

Mantou – A steamed bun from China made with white flour and often slightly sweetened.

Melanpan – a Japanese bread made from enriched dough covered in a layer of cookie dough.

Pane Ticinese – This Swiss bread is distinguishable by its shape – it is composed of several small loaves or rolls made to be broken off by hand – and by the addition of oil to the dough, which makes the bread particularly soft.

Vánocka – Traditionally eaten in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the dough is enriched with egg and milk to form a bread which is similar to a brioche.