Bread

Bread is the most basic of foods, but it’s also one of the most complex.

Each time you bake bread, you choreograph a complex dance between flour, water, and a leavener.

How do these elements interact to give us the loaves, rolls, and flatbreads we love?

From Chinese baozi to Armenian lavash, bread comes in thousands of forms.

What do they have in common?

On the most basic level, they all involve cooking a mixture of milled grains and water.

Leaveners come in two main forms: baking powder or soda and yeast.