Our daily Bread (Part 1)

Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter

Almost from the dawn of time, everyone loved bread and as clearly portrayed in Exodus 16:10-15, the Lord fed the children of Israel with manna (bread) from heaven.

Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods which was first produced as a grain-paste, made from roasted and ground cereal grains and water, which was developed by accidental cooking or deliberate experimentation with water and grain flour.

Today, descendants of this early bread is still commonly made from various grains in many parts of the world, including lavashs, taboons, Mexican tortilla, rotis and naans, Scottish oatcake, North American johnnycake, and Middle Eastern pita.

Though there are many "fancy" varieties of bread (read Food next week), Jamaicans love a good hard dough bread. Hard dough loaves are usually rectangular in shape and the inner part is white and soft, but also quite doughy. The outer layer of the bread is light brown and called the crust, the favourite part for many.

Good for sandwiches

Bread can be eaten alone or with butter, jelly or any kind of spreads, and other accompaniments. Its softness and thickness, almost like a bagel but softer, is very good for sandwiches. Many Jamaicans love their hard dough bread fresh from the bakery. As such, they will even stand in long lines to get it hot out the oven. At times, the alluring aroma of freshly baked bread makes it hard not to pinch off a piece before taking it home.

Some of the more popular bakeries in the corporate area: Captain's Bakery, National Bakery, Jack's Master Bakery, Prestige Bakery, Purity Bakery and Yummy Bakery.

Food
put some loaves to the test to see who makes the best bread in the city. In our blind tasting of loaves from Prestige, Captain's, National, and Jack's Master, we got these results.