Bread is a food made of flour, water and yeast mixed together and baked. It is arguably an everyday food for most Nigerian families, both rich and poor. In Nigeria, we love to eat our bread in very many different ways, but today, we are looking at some of the best rated breads in the world.
In ascending order, they include…. Wait until you see the number one spot.
Pan de queso, Antioquia, Colombia
Pan de queso is cheese bread from Colombia, namely the Paisa region where it is extremely popular.
The main ingredients are tapioca flour and grated cheese, but it is the fermented cassava starch that gives these rolls their lightness and volume. They are eaten for breakfast or as a parva—a quick breakfast snack, either plain or filled with cream cheese or jelly.
Mchadi, Georgia, Europe
Mchadi is a popular, traditional Georgian bread consisting of cornmeal, salt, and water.
The dough is usually fried in hot oil until golden brown. It is recommended to serve mchadi warm with kidney beans and cheese on the side.
Tsoureki, Greece, Europe
Tsoureki is traditional Greek Easter bread characterized by its braided shape, which can be either circular or elongated like a loaf. Tradition says that tsoureki should be braided in three strands – one for each aspect of the Trinity. The bread is usually made with milk, eggs, butter, and flavorings such as mahleb, orange zest, cardamom, and vanilla.
After baking, it should be moist, tender, and soft, yet chewy. It is often served with a red-dyed egg on top of it, although it can sometimes be baked together with scarlet-colored eggs, representing the blood of Christ and resurrection. Tsoureki has been prepared in Greece since ancient times, and is traditionally served at the breaking of Lent.
Loaves of tsoureki are typically exchanged among Greeks on Easter Sunday as a sign of good will and friendship. Today, there are numerous variations of the bread in Turkey, Armenia, Romania, and Bulgaria, all of them especially good when paired with a hot cup of tea or coffee.
Pita Bread, Turkey, Asia
Pita bread is a round pocket bread and a staple of Eastern cuisine for more than 4,000 years. Originally, it was made with a combination of fresh dough and dough that was left to collect yeast. Pita is a simple flat bread that is easy to make, but the possibilities to stuff it, dip it, and wrap it are virtually infinite.
The bread is baked at high temperatures so the flat dough expands quickly, developing a steam-formed pocket on the interior. Pita is the perfect choice for steaks, lamb, falafel, kebabs, or chicken, and it is traditionally paired with hummus, tzatziki sauce, or tabouleh–if it is a thicker, single-layer, Greek-style pita, cooked in a stone floor oven.
When made with whole wheat Pita bread is highly nutritious and a great source of protein and fiber, with a very low-fat content. Today, some modern variations include pita paired with avocado and eggplants, as well as pita chips–baked pita bread that is perfect for dipping sauces.
Focaccia, Italy, Europe
This chewy, oily flatbread is quite versatile, and can be topped with a range of ingredients such as coarse sea salt, olive oil, herbs, tomatoes, or olives. Historians tend to believe it was invented either by the Etruscans or in ancient Greece, although unleavened flat breads have long been made throughout the Middle East.
The name focaccia is derived from the Roman panis focacius, meaning “hearth bread”, referring to the fact that focaccia was traditionally baked in coals in Roman times. The basic recipe spread to France and Spain over time, where the bread is known as fouaisse and hogaza, respectively.
Foccacia’s pockmarked appearance results from indentations made in the dough to prevent large bubbles from appearing on its surface during baking. Today, savory versions of focaccia are topped with rosemary, sage, garlic, cheese, and onions, while sweet varieties can be topped with honey, raisins, sugar, and lemon peel, among others.
Baguette, Paris, France
Baguette is probably the most iconic image of France, this long, light, airy bread with its characteristically crispy crust dates back to the 19th century, when wheat and white breads were no longer a privilege of the rich. Baguettes were made even before the invention of their name.
Tarte flambée, Alsace, France
Don’t make the mistake of calling tarte flambée a pizza, because you might offend the locals in Alsace, France who make this thin, crispy, rectangular flatbread that is topped with tart and spreadable cheese (fromage blanc) or melting ripe cheese (Munster), créme fraîche, crispy bacon, and thinly sliced roasted onions.
A pinch of salt, ground pepper, peanut oil and nutmeg add extra layers of flavor to this beloved snack. Also known as flammeküche in Germany, the flaming tart takes its name from the fact that it is baked at a close proximity to hot embers in a brick oven.
Of course, due to its popularity, it spread well beyond Alsace, so there are many varieties of the dish with added mushrooms or tomatoes. Tarte flambée pairs perfectly with dry white wines and foamy local beers, both of them specialties of the Alsace region.
Lobiani, Racha, Georgia
Traditionally consumed at Barbaroba, the feast of St. Barbara, lobiani is a popular Georgian bread that is filled with mashed kidney beans and flavored with onions, parsley, coriander, and black pepper. The dough consists of flour, yeast, salt, and water.
There is also a variety of the bread called rachuli lobiani, which is prepared with added bacon for extra flavor. The name lobiani is derived from the Georgian word for kidney beans, lobio.
Mekitsa, Bulgaria, Europe
Mekitsa is a popular Bulgarian dish that is traditionally served for breakfast. It is a flatbread made with kneaded dough that is then deep-fried in hot oil. The dough usually consists of flour, water, salt, oil, eggs, yogurt, and a leavening agent.
The name mekitsa is derived from the Bulgarian root mek, meaning soft, referring to the flatbread’s texture. These flatbreads can be dusted with powdered sugar or paired with yogurt, honey, cheese, or various fruit jams.
Msemen, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, Africa
Msemen is a traditional Moroccan flatbread made with a combination of flour, semolina, sugar, salt, yeast, warm water, oil, and clarified butter. The dough is kneaded until it becomes smooth, and pieces of it are then flattened and shaped into squares.
Once the dough has been folded and shaped, it is cooked on a griddle or fried in a pan until it becomes crispy on the exterior and chewy on the inside. Although msemen is traditionally consumed on its own as an accompaniment to coffee or tea, it can also be stuffed with various meats and vegetables.
In Tunisia, the flatbread is often based on semolina flour and made without yeast.