https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1j2f38r/why_does_europe_do_loaves/
created by allthejokesareblue on 03/03/2025 at 09:42 UTC
112 upvotes, 3 top-level comments (showing 3)
Basically the title, leavened bread made from wheat is a staple of much of the world, but the most of the rest of the world seems to mainly do flat breads (naan, roti, khubbuz, lavash, pita, barbari etc etc) with minimal shaping , whereas in most of Europe the "default" bread is a shaped loaf.
Why is that?
Comment by AutoModerator at 03/03/2025 at 09:42 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
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Comment by police-ical at 03/03/2025 at 15:18 UTC*
70 upvotes, 1 direct replies
First, I would qualify the question. There is a considerable range of shapes of bread throughout Europe including small rolls, large round blobs, long thin baguettes, loops, braids, flatbreads, and near-flatbreads. A French crepe may well be the flattest bread the world knows. Meanwhile, loaves and buns exist throughout much of the rest of the world. But I think you're basically right that high loaves are often part of a newer European lineage. The flatbread is the original, simpler in construction and preparation, and still much loved around the world.
One important factor is how you bake. Tandoors and similar pit/conical/vertical ovens are relatively easy to construct but have no flat place to rest bread horizontally, so you're basically required to slap a flatbread against the interior wall. Likewise, griddled breads are inevitably relatively thin so that the entirety can cook without burning the surface. Thicker buns and loaves typically require a freestanding oven that can support bread while baking (though there are alternatives, like steamed buns in China.)
Also,all other things being equal, a large baking oven is a fairly complex, space-occupying, and expensive thing. It's a lot easier for peasants in a developing country to have a wood-burning stove or a tandoor than it is to have a full-sized oven. Moreover, if you don't live in a relatively cool climate like that seen in parts of Europe, routinely using an oven in the house means intolerably hot conditions much of the year. Flatbreads cook quickly and are often easily suited to outdoor ovens. Even within Europe, the warmer Mediterranean still leans toward flatter breads (pita, foccaccia/pizza.) Prior to the modern era and gas or electric ovens, many European peasants would have brought food to the village bakery to use one large/centralized oven.
This is also reflected even within the U.S., where the Southeast has historically favored frying over baking, as the quicker cook time and small stove don't heat the house as much in a muggy Southern summer. The one classic Southern baked bread is a soda-leavened biscuit, which is small enough to bake much quicker than a loaf.
In the modern era, the square Pullman loaf/pain de mie was popularized by the Industrial Revolution. Pain de mie itself is an older French style aimed at sandwiches and canapes, but Pullman himself was a railway man with a simple consideration: Squares stack efficiently, so you can fit more square bread on a train than round bread. Modern industrial baking uses a very different set of techniques to produce a uniform loaf with a soft crumb suitable for sandwiches, and again one where loaves being easy to align and stack is favorable.
https://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html#pullman[1][2]
1: https://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html#pullman
2: https://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html#pullman
Comment by Owan at 03/03/2025 at 14:56 UTC
35 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This post[1] has a similar question with content by u/tempuramores that explains some of the background on various flatbreads, but does not answer the heart of your question - which is why large loaves/ovens proliferated in Europe but don't seem to have gained a foothold elsewhere. I am also curious as to the answer so I look forward to seeing some new top-level responses