Have you ever wondered how many different kinds of bread there are in the world? Or what type of bread is the best? In this article, we’re going to explore a wide variety of bread types and try to identify which breads are the best! At the very least, we will look at which breads are the healthiest as what constitutes “the best bread” doesn’t necessarily mean “the best bread for us”.
How many kinds of bread are there?
How many kinds of bread are there? That is an incredibly difficult question to answer. For the sake of argument, let’s take this list of bread from Wikipedia to give you a rough idea as to just how many different kinds of bread there are in the world!
- Aish merahrah
- Anadama bread
- Anpan
- Appam
- Arboud
- Arepa
- Baba
- Babka
- Bagel
- Baguette
- Bakarkhani
- Balep korkun
- Bammy
- Banana bread
- Bannock
- Bara brith
- Barbari bread
- Bambrack
- Barm cake
- Bastone
- Bazin
- Bazlama
- Beer bread
- Belgian waffle
- Bhakri
- Bialy
- Bing
- Biscotti
- Biscuit
- Black bread
- Blaa
- Bolani
- Bolo do caco
- Brolengo
- Borodinsky
- Boule
- Bread roll
- Bread stick
- Bricoche
- Broa
- Brown bread
- Bublik
- Canadian white
- Carrot bread
- Česnica
- Challah
- Chapati
- Chickpea bread
- Cholermüs
- Christmas wafer
- Ciabatta
- Coppia ferrarese
- Cornbread
- Cottage loaf
- Cozonac
- Cracker
- Crêpe
- Crisp bread
- Crumpet
- Cuban bread
- Curry bread
- Damper
- Dampfnudel
- Doroyaki
- Dosa
- Eggette
- English muffin
- Fari
- Filone
- Flatbread
- Flatbrød
- Flatkaka
- Focaccia
- Fougasse
- Graham bread
- Green onion pancake
- Hallula
- Hard dough bread
- Hardebrood
- Hardtack
- Himbasha
- Hot and spicy cheese bread
- Injera
- Johnnycase
- Hoecake
- Ka’ak
- Kalach
- Kamir
- Khanom bueang
- Khakhra
- Khubz
- Kifli
- Kira
- Kitcha
- Kulcha
- Lagana
- Lahoh
- Lángos
- Laobing
- Lavash
- Lefse
- Limpa
- Lye roll
- Malooga
- Maltese bread
- Mantou
- Markook
- Marraqueta
- Matzah
- Melonpan
- Miche
- Michetta
- Milk loaf
- Milk bread
- Milk roll
- Mollete
- Mohnflesserl
- Montreal-style bagel
- Naan
- Ngome
- Obwarzanek krakowski
- Pain de mie or pancarré
- Pambazo
- Pan dulce
- Panbrioche
- Pandesal
- Pandoro
- Pane carasau
- Pane di Altamura
- Pane ticinese
- Panettone
- Panfocaccia
- Papadum
- Papad
- Paratha
- Parotta
- Barotta
- Paximathia
- Peg bread
- Penia
- Pita
- Pizza
- Piadina
- Pistolet
- Pogača
- Portuguese sweet bread
- Potato bread
- Potbrood
- Pretzel
- Proja
- Pumpernickel
- Pumpkin bread
- Puran poli
- Obbatu
- Qistibi
- Quick bread
- Rewena bread
- Rice bread
- Rieska
- Röggelchen
- Roti
- Roti bolen
- Roti buaya
- Roti canai
- Rugbrød
- Rumalai roti
- Ryaninjun
- Rye bread
- Sacramental bread
- Saj bread
- Samoon
- Salt-rising bread
- Sangak
- Scone
- Sgabeo
- Shirmal
- Shoti
- Soda bread
- Sourdough bread
- Spelt bread
- Sprouted bread
- Taffoon bread
- Laffa
- Taftan
- Tandoor bread
- Teacake
- Telera
- Texas toast
- Tiger bread
- Tortilla
- Tsoureki
- Tnonggpang
- Tunnbröd
- Uttapam
- Vánočka
- Vienna bread
- Wagafi bread
- White bread
- Whole wheat bread
- Yufka
- Zopf
- Zwieback
As you can see there is at least, an astonishing, 200 types of bread in the world! The fact is, that number is likely significantly higher. Particularly if you take into consideration all of the bakers who experiment and come up with their own recipes.
What are the different types of breads?
There are eight main types of bread that you need to worry about. Certainly, there are hundreds of different types as we’ve established above, but these are the key groups:
- Ciabatta: Ciabatta is the Italian word for slipper and is a bread type made using salt, wheat flour, yeast and water.
- Whole wheat bread: Whole wheat bread is better than white bread as it uses more or less the entire wheat grain offering more nutrients and fibre per slice (whilst being less wasteful).
- Sourdough: Sourdough is considered to be the least harmful bread and is made from a fermented mixture of flour and water. Sourdough is soft, chewy, delicious, and it can be kept and stored for a considerable amount longer than most other types of bread.
- Rye bread: Rye bread is made up using a healthy combination of bread and rye flour. Following that, caraway or dill seeds are added to the mix to give at an even more earthy flavour.
- Pita bread: Pita bread hails from the Middle East and is a leavened flatbread made up of wheat flour. The bread is cooked at such an extreme temperature that it leaves an air bubble in the middle creating a pocket. Then, when you cut into the bread you can stuff the pocket with all manner of delicious treats.
- Focaccia: Focaccia is baked using a dough similar to that used in making Pizza and is often flavoured with fresh herbs and cloves of garlic. This is a delicious Italian bread that is also coated in olive oil to give it an even crunchier crust when baked.
- Multigrain: Multigrain is a delicious type of bread that is packed full of various different grains from barley and flax to millet and oats.
- Brioche: Brioche is a tasty French bread that is made using eggs and butter giving it a super light texture with a tight crumb.
Which type of bread is best?
Now that you know how many different types of bread there are in the world, which is best? There are seven different types of bread that can be considered the healthiest. These are:
- Sprouted whole grain
- Sourdough
- 100% whole wheat
- Oat bread
- Flax bread
- 100% sprouted rye bread
- Gluten-free bread
If you are a bread lover and don’t want to cut it out of your life entirely then these are the breads that we recommend as they are indeed the healthiest.
Even though we have been eating bread for over 10,000 years, it isn’t exactly the healthiest food that we can eat. This is largely because many of us can find it rather difficult to digest. In any case, it is a portion of delicious food and when eaten in moderation it can be a wonderful part of a broader diet.
What kind of bread is good for your health?
The best of the bunch is sourdough. This is because sourdough is typically easier to digest than any other form of bread because of its prebiotics (which are created during the fermentation process). It also has a low glycemic index (GI) which impacts the effect that a given food has on your blood sugar. Here’s what you get from just one slice of sourdough:
- Calories: 120
- Protein: 4 grams
- Fat: 0 grams
- Carbs: 20 grams
- Fiber: 3 grams
Conclusion
To recap:
- There are over 200 different types of bread in the world
- There are seven breads that are considered healthy and they are Sprouted whole grain, Sourdough, 100% whole wheat, Oat bread, Flax bread, 100% sprouted rye bread, and Gluten-free bread.
We hope that you have found this article helpful. Whilst bread is undeniably delicious and there are many tasty types out there it is important that you moderate your intake. If you consume too much bread it can contribute to obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. It’s all about finding the right balance!
