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The past life of bread
Tusi is a hereditary official in China's ancient frontier minority areas. Its role varies with dynasties and regions, and its nature is generally between tribal chiefs and government officials. "Earth" means that officials manage local affairs from local areas. And "division" is management, the so-called "yamen with division". Together, it is a little local autonomy. Of course I didn't understand the meaning of toast when I was a child, but I had a vague impression that it was a concept related to ethnic minorities. Later, I heard that "toast" is still bread, which I can't understand for a long time.

Eating "Toast" is also translated into "toast", which is a pure transliteration word and is called toast in English. This is a foreign word of the verb "bake", which means baked bread. Toast originated in England in the19th century. At first, a piece of bread was heated on a fork. The scene of a family chatting around the stove at night and baking some bread conveniently appeared in a large number of British writers in the 19 century, including Dickens.

Toast, a simple operation can restore the tender taste of bread that has been put for a few days, and the taste enjoyment no longer depends on the freshest bread made every day, so the industrial production of bread becomes possible. 1925 or so, American stores began to sell pre-sliced toast bread, which soon became the standard for eating bread all over the world.

Standardized sliced white bread hides the shadow of the industrial revolution. The first is white bread. Before the industrial revolution, white flour was always a luxury. On the one hand, it needs a lot of manpower, on the other hand, there is a huge grain loss in the process of grinding and sieving. The industrial revolution brought about several orders of magnitude increase in grain output, and at the same time invented a new mill. After that, white flour and white bread (white bread or white bread) came to the table of ordinary people.

Whole grains, which are regarded as health standards today, are actually just the norm in human history. Whole wheat may be relatively advanced. Until the Renaissance, common bread in Europe was made of miscellaneous grains. 16 15 The British Housewives, published in Britain, provides us with a bread recipe for the bottom people. The main ingredient is dried peas ground into flour, and some coarse wheat, barley and rye flour are added. Modern people who love multi-grain bread may think that this is actually a good match, but in European paintings before18th century, you will never see white bread in the life scenes of the middle and lower classes. Of course, the rich occasionally eat "healthy" rye bread, especially when they need fiber to solve the problems of a certain part of their bodies, but this kind of bread will never appear at their formal banquets or be painted by artists. Rye bread is quite popular now, and the price is more expensive than ordinary white bread. The most popular are Russian brown bread and German coarse bread.

Except white, when it comes to bread in Chinese, unless otherwise specified, it is all fermented (raise or leaven), but the meaning of bread in English is broader. The authoritative definition of Oxford Dictionary is "well-known food prepared by wetting, weaving and baking meat or flowers, usually with added year or starter". According to this definition, bread must be made of kneaded dough, not batter, so a biscuit pot can be regarded as bread, but pancake fruit is not. As for whether it has been fermented, the dictionary only says "general"-"general" is fermented by yeast, but not necessarily.

Bread in English can be divided into three categories according to whether it is fermented or not: unfermented, sour dough and yeast fermented. The history of unleavened cakes is the oldest, and its embryonic form can be traced back to Mesopotamia in 4000 BC. In 2000 BC, the earliest bread in Europe appeared near Geneva, Switzerland today. This kind of bread is what we now call flat bread, which is a kind of bread that is almost not fermented or semi-fermented, and its volume remains unchanged or changes little after baking. Pizza falls into this category. Although it is slightly fermented, it will not multiply in the oven.

Since then, people may inadvertently find that the batter or dough that has not been used up and turned sour is baked in a new dough, which is fluffy and delicious, so there is sour dough, and a little is reserved for next time. The most famous one today is San Francisco-style sour bread. The discovery of yeast was relatively late. Now historians generally believe that ancient people in different regions mastered the method of brewing beer very early. When the brewing technology is mature, people gradually find yeast from wine and distiller's grains. It was not until modern times that we mastered chemical technology that European bakers went to wineries for yeast exchange.

Today, there are countless kinds of bread. The most common staple bread is white bread, also called sandwich bread. But now the bread for making sandwiches is not necessarily white bread. I went to America for the first time that year and ordered a sandwich in a fast food restaurant. The waiter asked if I wanted white or wheat. He was immediately dumbfounded and didn't know what he was talking about. Later, even Bibi understood. He asked me if I wanted white bread or whole wheat bread. Whole wheat bread is also called black bread, black bread.

During dinner, eat a French bread roll before meals. Say it's rolled, but it's not rolled. It's just a round or oval bun with a hard shell. Another kind of crusty bread is baguette. When the first Carrefour in Qingdao opened at the end of 1968+0990' s, people lined up to grab this economical and strong bread. The taste is similar to French baguette, with Italian bag Ciabatta. There is a lot of water when mixing noodles. The baked skin is not as hard as a French stick, and there are irregular holes in it, which are very soft.

A more extreme special case of fermented bread is pretzel, which is called Brezel in Germany. It is dark in color, with slender strips bent into an arch, usually hard and salty, and is eaten as a snack. Another special case is French croissant, which is very fragrant and oily, not so much like bread, but more like cakes.

Ordinary flat bread mostly comes from areas outside Europe and the Mediterranean. Pitta or Pita in Greece and the Middle East, Roti in India and tortillas in Mexico are similar. They are not fermented or slightly fermented. They make skins together and eat meat rolls together. There is also a kind of naan in India and the Middle East, which is similar to that in Xinjiang.

Today we can easily buy all kinds of bread in the supermarket. If you like to do it yourself, all kinds of small household breadmakers make it easy to mix flour, ferment and bake. Obviously, this is the convenience brought by modernization.

Modernization has also brought about a large number of population migration. People from one country to another can't change that they have been good since childhood, and immigrants have also brought their bread culture to other parts of the world. Interestingly, immigrants from all over Europe have kept their unique methods of making bread decades or even hundreds of years ago, and many traditional skills have gradually disappeared in their own countries with the change of people's tastes. Maybe one day, European historians or gourmets will go to America and Mexico to find traditional ways to make bread.

Unique menu of domestic version | French toast

On weekend mornings, when you are not in a hurry, French toast is also good. The advantage of this thing is that it is simple, you can eat it after three or two times, and there is absolutely no mistake. Another advantage is that there are many kinds, which can be matched with all kinds of wonderful ingredients, making people never tire of eating.

The best match I have ever eaten is boiled pear with French wine. Soft Bosc pears are not common in China, but many in Europe and America. Add red wine, sugar and other seasonings and cook until pears and sauces turn red and soft. This is a good dessert in itself. Take some pears and pour them on French toast with the juice. That's great.

Raw materials:

Sliced toast, white bread tastes better, whole wheat bread is ok, but it will feel grainy when bitten.

An egg

Proper amount of milk

Proper amount of butter

Salt, maple syrup, jam, fruit, etc. Suit your taste.

Exercise:

1. Beat the egg with a little milk and add a little salt to the egg liquid.

2. Melt the butter in the pot and simmer.

3. Dip both sides of the bread in the egg liquid evenly, fry in the pan until both sides are golden, and serve.

The last step is a matter of opinion, depending on everyone's preferences. The classic is to spread a slice of butter on toast, then pour syrup on it, and then put some berries such as strawberries and blueberries.

Unique recipe of overseas mashup version | Braised pork avocado roll

This is specially used to eliminate the collocation of leftovers at home, so the raw materials used need not be rigid, as long as they suit the taste. It's best to bring lunch the next day.

Raw materials:

Pita bread, the most common kind in supermarkets, can be any kind.

Braised pork, the worse the better, the fatter the skin.

An avocado

Exercise:

1. The braised pork is heated thoroughly in the microwave oven.

2. Cut the avocado and slice it.

3. Put the pita cake in the microwave oven and heat it 10- 15 seconds. The order of the above three steps is very important. Only in this way, the temperature of braised pork and cake crust is the most suitable, and it must not be chaotic. Pita can't be heated for a long time, otherwise it will run out and affect the taste. Pita cake is best heated in a small oven, but it is not suitable for office lunch time.

4. Spread avocado, put braised pork in the middle and roll it up to eat.

References:

William Rewbell's Bread-A Global History, Reaktion Books Limited, London, UK, 2011; Elizabeth m Harbeson & John Harbison, Happy Bread, Chicago Review Press, Chicago USA,1997; Dai's Three Miscellaneous Notes on Tusi, China Tusi Culture Research Network, March 20 17. Image from Pixabay public copyright sharing resources.