# Unleavened bread



## francois_auffret

I wanted to ask people from all over the world if they eat unleavened bread in their country....

And on which kind of occasions??? Is it a basic staple food???

I wonder if Pakistan (and North India) are the only countries in the world having unleavened bread as their main staple food???

This question is not well known to me, but it seems that unleavened bread was eaten in Europe in old times (Bronze age, Iron age???) and now, I don't think unleavened bread is anywhere to be found in Europe, I mean as a widespread eating habit?

People in the Indian subcontinent consider unleavened bread healthier and stronger food than leavened bread...

I would really be glad to have feedback from all over the planet.

Thanks in advance


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## sokol

In Catholic regions the cult includes eating unleavened bread = *the host* at mass which regular churchgoers might do each sunday (or even more often). But this of course is no staple food at all; apart from that, it is only a small disc about the size of a big coin, and completely flat (and white) - not much nutritional value in it.

However, something similar to a host called _*Oblate *_in German or *wafer *in English (the eatable kind ) is widely used with cookies, and they (as well as cookies) too are, technically speaking, unleavened bread. But this kind only is used for sweet bakery and, again, far from being staple food (except for some spoiled kids).

Then there is a kind of extremely flat bread (a few millimeters: the thinner the better) made out of very 'primitive' dough (only flour, salt, and water) baked on the hot oven plate and turned over once, and eaten hot (buttered and salted, and milk to go with): this is called *'Feozoen'* (literal translation approximately 'fire-cake') in Upper Austrian dialect and known locally in Upper Austria.
This once was a very common food in certain rural areas (but probably isn't any more) and at least my parents still make it now and then when I am visiting, especially as they know that I like it very much.

Technically speaking, this of course too is unleavened bread - but nevertheless no staple food as you'd best eat it hot right from the oven.


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## Grop

What about sea biscuits? I think they were the staple food of most european seamen, back in the sail navy times. Do they qualify as unleavened bread?


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## francois_auffret

Grop said:


> What about sea biscuits? I think they were the staple food of most european seamen, back in the sail navy times. Do they qualify as unleavened bread?


 
Sorry, Grop, despite my breton origins I am totally unaware of what are exactly sea biscuits. Can you tell me more.


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## francois_auffret

sokol said:


> this is called *'Feozoen'* (literal translation approximately 'fire-cake') in Upper Austrian dialect and known locally in Upper Austria.
> This once was a very common food in certain rural areas (but probably isn't any more) and at least my parents still make it now and then when I am visiting, especially as they know that I like it very much.
> Technically speaking, this of course too is unleavened bread - but nevertheless no staple food as you'd best eat it hot right from the oven.


 
Thank you for your detailed and very interesting posting. Do you mean that the *Feozoen *you mention may have been a staple food a few generations before ours? (By the way, is it made of white flour?)... I am not sure I really understood this point...

What is your own or your parent's perception of unleavened bread... Would you say it was food of the poor? 

It seems that in the catholic or orthodox mass, unleavened bread is used as a symbol of simplicity and poverty (?), I am not really sure about this symbolism, but this is an interesting aspect of the subject...


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## dudasd

Unleavened bread is something that is still appreciated amongst gourmands in Serbia. Seems that it never was basic staple food (except amongst shepherds maybe), for our word for it is borrowed: *hleb* - leavened bread - is a common Slavic word, and *pogača* - unleavened bread - probably came from Latin _focacea_. (Lately word "pogača" has lost its meaning partly, especially in urban areas, but the most of people know the difference.) If corn bread can be classified to this group, then I can say that unleavened corn bread (*proja*) was very important food in times of crises and as a word it became a symbol of poverty. (Though it's very tasty.) *Pogača* has a meaning of something slightly "second-class", not quite of poverty. There's a phrase *Tražiti hleba preko pogače *- "To ask for bread over the bannock" - to seek for something extra when you already have your basical needs satisfied.

*PS *I must add that original leavening in this area used to be somewhat different than classical yeast and women who still make bread with that old-fashioned leavening usually will refuse to tell their secret. But it's something that passes from generation to generation so it probably had great importance in old times.

*PPS *The "poverty" question leads me to a new thought - it's hard to make a good leavened bread without a proper equipment (oven or anything like that). I guess it was not a matter of yeast, but of possession of stove (even in its primitive shape) and later of a solid house with a brick-made stove instead of simple hearth.


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## Grop

francois_auffret said:


> despite my breton origins I am totally unaware of what are exactly sea biscuits.



Have you heard "biscuit de mer" then?

fr: http://www.societehistoire.ca/out.asp?subsection=mus-art-4
en: http://www.historysociety.ca/out.asp?subsection=mus-art-4

I don't know when they ceased to be used, probably when canned food appeared. Sailors today have no use for it.


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## Kajjo

francois_auffret said:


> I wanted to ask people from all over the world if they eat unleavened bread in their country....


In Germany, unleavened bread is not very common; most Germans by far prefer normal bread with baked with yeast or sourdough. Unleavened bread is not staple food in Germany.

There are some variants known and eaten in Germany: Scandinavian crisp-bread (_Knäckebrot) _or mediterranean _pitta bread_ sold by Greek and Turkish restaurants or as part of related fast food. Mexican restaurant (and nowadays supermarkets) offer several kind sof _tortillas_.

Kajjo


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## chics

In Spain, the catholics don't eat meat in lent and easter, as a sign of mourning and lack of luxury or flaunty. I guess that, years ago, leavened bread and wine were quite a bit a luxe, I don't know if very appropiate to mess in a religion which don't like exuberance and richeness.

But as far as I know, people in Spain eat normal bread everyday, including sundays and easter. The only thing are _obleas _(waffles) eated in messes and that we also use in some sweets like turrón de Alicante and others like this. And in poor quality cones of ice-creams.

There are here some kinds of bread and similars which have not very much crumb: _coques_, _pizzas, flammenkuche_, _libanese bread_, etc. but they're made whith leaven, always, or another thing with the same function (like bicarbonate). However, at least in Barcelone, there're are some few bakeries in where we can nowadays (since five? I'd say ten years maximum) buy unleaven bread, because inmigrants ask for it.


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## chics

Kajjo said:


> mediterranean _pitta bread_ sold by Greek and Turkish restaurants or as part of related fast food.


Sorry, just to say it: as fas as I know, "pitta" (that's a brand name...) is not very Turkish. We find it in some Turkish fast food restaurants because we, Northern European, ask for them, thinking that it's very typical in all the border of the Mediterranean... but in Turkey you only will see it in touristic places.

Don't worry, I always see guacamole as typical Spanish tapa as well, when I travel abroad. 

I eat very often this kind of bread, today, for example, and it _has_ leaven. I'll tell you the ingredients written in the bag: flour type 55, water, leaven, sugar and sel.


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## juliettecherie

Well, my impression is that it's not that rare here in my corner of the world. I dont know if it qualifies but i eat pita bread all the time, i can buy it at the grocerie store for cheap, it's excellent and i dont think it has any leaven in it...
It has been introduced by the lebanese community here in Québec and it has caught on. 
otherwise, and i think it can only be found here, we can buy, really really really cheap, host cuttings (not blessed) Its delicious !!!! i ate a lot when i was a child..


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## palomnik

It's not traditional anywhere in the USA, except maybe for _tortillas _in the Southwest, which are after all unleavened corn or wheat bread.

That doesn't mean that unleavened bread isn't fairly common here.  In recent years the concept of a "wrap", i.e., sandwich stuffings rolled up in unleavened bread, is very common any more.

And in areas with a heavy Jewish presence, like New York, _matzoh -  _Jewish kosher unleavened bread - is commonly eaten by everyone.

by the way, the communion wafers used in Catholic and Anglican services are something beyond just unleavened bread; they are intentionally prepared so that they can never rot, no matter how long they are kept.  I don't know exactly how they do that, but it is an old process.


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## tvdxer

I'm not aware of any traditional "American" (as in U.S.) unleavened breads.  However, even in this rather provincial nook of the country, you can find Mexican tortillas (de maiz or de harina, "corn" and "flour" as we say) and Mediterranean pita in most grocery stores, as well as roti, naan, paratha, and papadams in the local Indian restaurants.

Also, Norwegian lefse, which I believe is a potato flatbread, is traditional to my state (Minnesota) and found around Christmastime in some homes.  There's a tortilla factory somewhere in Minnesota that interestingly also produces lefse.


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## chics

I don't know if Mexicains consider their _tortillas_ as a sort of bread.
French people won't say that crêpes or galettes are unleavened breads, but I think that thay haven't leaven, and surely they're eaten, so... :-S


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## Brioche

francois_auffret said:


> It seems that in the catholic or orthodox mass, unleavened bread is used as a symbol of simplicity and poverty (?), I am not really sure about this symbolism, but this is an interesting aspect of the subject...



In Roman Catholicism the communion bread is unleavened because the communion service is seen as a re-enactment of the Last Supper.

The Last Supper was a Jewish Passover meal, and at Passover only unleavened bread is eaten. See Exodus, chapter 12.


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## Topsie

In France you can buy "pain azyme" from most supermarkets, generally in the Kosher food section.
You can also use unleavened dough to make "motza balls" to put in chicken soup for the traditional Passover meal!


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## modus.irrealis

francois_auffret said:


> It seems that in the catholic or orthodox mass, unleavened bread is used as a symbol of simplicity and poverty (?), I am not really sure about this symbolism, but this is an interesting aspect of the subject...


Just a note -- for Orthodox churches (and also Eastern Rite Catholics as far as I know) use leavened bread in the Divine Liturgy. I don't know how this started or when, but the symbolism you hear nowadays is that it represents Christ as the new leaven. (Actually, this issue represents one of the stranger controversies between Catholics and Orthodox in the middle ages.)


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## zuzanadoma

Kajjo said:


> In Germany, unleavened bread is not very common; most Germans by far prefer normal bread with baked with yeast or sourdough. Unleavened bread is not staple food in Germany.
> 
> There are some variants known and eaten in Germany: Scandinavian crisp-bread (Knäckebrot) or mediterranean pitta breadsold by Greek and Turkish restaurants or as part of related fast food. Mexican restaurant (and nowadays supermarkets) offer several kind sof tortillas.
> 
> Kajjo



Hello,

more or less the same situation in the Czech Republic as in Germany (as decribed above) - including religious uses mentioned by other answerers (host in Roman Catholic church masses + unleavebed bread eaten by Jews - mainly during festivities I believe).

Thanks for bringing up this interesting issue 

Rgds to all
Zuzana


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## avok

chics said:


> Sorry, just to say it: as fas as I know, "pitta" (that's a brand name...) is not very Turkish. We find it in some Turkish fast food restaurants because we, Northern European, ask for them, thinking that it's very typical in all the border of the Mediterranean... but in Turkey you only will see it in touristic places.


 I dont know the brand name "pitta" but in Turkey we have "pide" just like the one in Kajjo's link, which is generally eaten along with "döner". 

There is also typical Turkish "pide" which is generally eaten in the month of Ramadan.

In villages people have "yufka".


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## sokol

francois_auffret said:


> Thank you for your detailed and very interesting posting. Do you mean that the *Feozoen *you mention may have been a staple food a few generations before ours? (By the way, is it made of white flour?)


No, I am rather sure that it never was staple food because you eat it hot, fresh from the stove - and I think you never could buy them in any market, but I cannot be sure here (only as far back as, say, 50 years - as far as the memory of my parents go back).

Apart from that, yes, made of white flour - it is the same dough used for the Austrian *Strudel *_[ausgezogener Strudel _= a special variety which uses extremely thin stretched dough that you fill with sweet ingredients; you then make a roll and bake them in the oven, whereas the "Feozoen" is backed ON the oven plate] - a word that does not translate into any language, English uses _strudel _as loan word. The "Feozoen" really is only a waste-product when making strudel - you cut of the thick rim of the strudel dough off and make "Feozoen" out of it.
(Which again is another reason why it is not very likely that this could have been staple food at any time.)
And as for the writing of *"Feozoen",* this is only an approximation of the phonetics as this is a dialect word and I would need an IPA-font to give the exact phonetics. And in the form of "Feozoen" this word only is correct in a great part of Upper Austria; in other dialect regions, if this 'kind of' unleavened bread exists there, the word would have to sound different as certain phonological processes only valid in parts of Upper Austria apply to the word "Feozoen".

Further, another yes: I would say the "Feozoen" was considered food of the poor; I think this is no longer the case.

And another no:


francois_auffret said:


> It seems that in the catholic or orthodox mass, unleavened bread is used as a symbol of simplicity and poverty (...)


Brioche already has explained that this goes back to the last supper and, ultimately, to the Jewish tradition of eating unleavend bread.


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## zuzanadoma

I think the crisp bread (Knäckebrod) mentioned by *Kajjo* used to be staple food in Scandinavia - it used to be baked in large quantities and stored (can be stored because it is dry). It is still very popular in Northern Europe I beleive (and delicious, eaten either with sweet toppings, with cheese, meat or even with cheese + jam on top  )


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## sokol

zuzanadoma said:


> I think the crisp bread (Knäckebrod) mentioned by *Kajjo* used to be staple food in Scandinavia (...)


Yes, I think that this really once was staple food in Scandinavia - or still is.

Apart from that, when I was in Sweden some years ago I thought that the 'common' type of bread (not flat and hard like the crisp bread, but soft and in typical 'bread form') almost did taste 'sweet' or almost 'cakelike': is it possible that this probably was unleavened bread? Could someone Swedish probably comment on that?



Grop said:


> Have you heard "biscuit de mer" then?


This would be 'Zwieback' in German and 'rusk' or 'zwieback' in English and indeed *was *staple food.
However, I am not sure if this kind of bread is leavened or unleavend.


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## zuzanadoma

sokol said:


> Apart from that, when I was in Sweden some years ago I thought that the 'common' type of bread (not flat and hard like the crisp bread, but soft and in typical 'bread form') almost did taste 'sweet' or almost 'cakelike': is it possible that this probably was unleavened bread? Could someone Swedish probably comment on that?



Yes, I remember having eaten this kind of sweet bread in Sweden, but I think this kind is baked with yeast (although not 100% sure).


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## Kajjo

sokol said:


> Yes, I think that this really once was staple food in Scandinavia - or still is.


Yes, I suppose so. However, it is not in Germany nor in Austria.



> This would be 'Zwieback' in German and 'rusk' or 'zwieback' in English and indeed *was *staple food. However, I am not sure if this kind of bread is leavened or unleavend.


All contemporary brands I know are leavened; _Zwieback_ simply means _twice-baked _which increases storage-life.

Kajjo


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## Chtipays

chics said:


> I don't know if Mexicains consider their _tortillas_ as a sort of bread.



 Hello chics, 
I guess the wheat tortillas can be technically considered as such, they are made of wheat flour, salt, fat and water, not leavening agent whatsoever.
If bread is not specifically made out of wheat then the corn tortillas are in the unleavened bread group too. 

Both of them can be consider staple food. Originally the wheat ones were limited to the northern part of Mexico, but now thanks to industrialization you can get wheat tortillas everywhere in Mexico, USA and even in Europe. The corn ones are more difficult to get already made but if you can get corn tortilla flour then you can try doing them yourself.

If you want to try the real wheat tortillas try doing them yourself, never buy those made by a tex mex food company from the US, or if you do, then be aware that they have nothing to do with the real thing.

A french guy, here in France told me the other day that tacos where disgusting, we were surprised to hear that since we have a million varieties of tacos and I think everybody in the world would love at least on of those varieties (we could make tacos from Cassoulet or from pulpos a la gallega or from fish and we have hundreds of vegetarian varieties). Then he said that he bought a Taco kit from the supermarket.


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## vampares

Zwieback, is this those pressed slabs of grain?

The US markets "wholewheat" bread.  It has become the virtuous substitution for the "unleaven bread".   It usually consits of nothing more that a bit of added "whole wheat flour" and sometimes color.  The color is important.  It is a bit heavier than the standard "white bread".  Actual unleaven wholewheat bread is available as in "organic" foodstores.  You can get actual "Manna" too is if that's your kick.

Crackers are unleaven bread but no one wants to except fact about their crackers.


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## francois_auffret

Chtipays said:


> Hello chics,
> I guess the wheat tortillas can be technically considered as such, they are made of wheat flour, salt, fat and water, not leavening agent whatsoever.
> If you want to try the real wheat tortillas try doing them yourself, never buy those made by a tex mex food company from the US, or if you do, then be aware that they have nothing to do with the real thing.
> 
> A french guy, here in France told me the other day that tacos where disgusting, .


 
What about Mexican traditional food?????? Is anykind of unleavened bread used as staple food nowadays in Mexico?? Even if it is based on corn flour... We have here in Pakistan supremely excellent unleavened bread made of Corn flour (Makaï ki roti) used as staple food during winter on the countryside and in the cities too.... What about Mexican tacos, tortillas etc... I was under the impression that Mexico would be mainly using unleavened bread... Even nowadays...

By the way; I'm French and love Mexican food!!!


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