Bread Many artisan bakers produce their own yeast with a growth culture. If kept in the right conditions, it provides leavening for many years. The baker's yeast and sourdough methods follow the same pattern. Water is mixed with flour, salt and the leavening agent. Other additions (spices, herbs, fats, seeds, fruit, etc.) are not needed to bake bread, but are often used. The mixed dough is then allowed to rise one or more times (a longer rising time results in more flavor, so bakers often "punch down" the dough and let it rise again), then loaves are formed, and (after an
Afghan bread Afghan bread Afghan bread, or Nân-i Afğânī (Persian: نان افغانی), is the national bread of Afghanistan. The bread is oval or rectangular and baked in a tandoor, a cylindrical oven that is the primary cooking equipment of the sub-continental region. The Afghan version of the tandoor sits above ground and is made of bricks, which are heated to cook the bread. The bread, also known as "naan", is shaped and then stuck to the interior wall of the oven to bake. Black cumin or caraway seeds are often sprinkled on the bread, as much for decoration as for taste, and