Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and possibly more ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed, fried, or baked on an unoiled skillet. It may be leavened or unleavened. Salt, fat and leavening agents such as yeast and baking soda are common ingredients, though bread may contain other ingredients, such as milk, egg, sugar, spice, fruit (such as raisins), vegetables (such as onion), nuts (such as walnuts) or seeds (such as poppy seeds).

The soft, inner part of bread is known to bakers and other culinary professionals as the crumb, which is not to be confused with small bits of bread that often fall off, called crumbs. The outer hard portion of bread is called the crust.

Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods, dating back to the Neolithic era. The first bread produced was probably cooked versions of a grain-paste, made from ground cereal grains and water, and may have been developed by accidental cooking or deliberate experimentation with water and grain flour. A major advance happened in 1961 with the development of the Chorleywood Bread Process, which used the intense mechanical working of dough to dramatically reduce the fermentation period and the time taken to produce a loaf.

As a foodstuff of great historical and contemporary importance, in many cultures in the West and Near and Middle East bread has a significance beyond mere nutrition. The Lord’s Prayer, for example, contains the line “Give us today our daily bread”; here, “bread” is commonly understood to mean necessities in general. Bread is also significant in Christianity as one of the elements (alongside wine) of the Eucharist. The word companion comes from Latin com- “with” + panis “bread”. In Israel the most usual phrase in work related demonstrations is “lekhem, avoda” [bread, work], and during the 1950s, the beatnik community used the term bread as a euphemism for money.

Bread can be served at any temperature. Once baked, it can subsequently be toasted. It is most commonly eaten with the hands, or sometimes with a knife and fork. It can be eaten by itself or as a carrier for another, usually less compact food. Bread may be dipped into a liquid (such as gravy, olive oil, or sardine pâté), topped with various spreads, both sweet and savory, or serve as the enclosure for the ubiquitous sandwich with any number of varieties of meat, cheese, vegetables or condiments inside.

You can find authentic Armenian Bread on many Armenian Restaurants in Los Angeles.

A crouton is a small piece of sautéed or rebaked bread, often cubed and seasoned, that is used to add texture and flavor to salads, notably the Caesar salad, as an accompaniment to soups, or eaten as a snack food. The word crouton is derived from the French croûton, itself derived from croûte, meaning “crust”.

Making croutons is relatively simple. Typically the cook cuts bread into small cubes, coats them in oil or butter (which may be seasoned or flavored for variety), and then bakes them. Alternatively, they may be fried lightly in butter or vegetable oil, until crisp and as brown as desired to give them a buttery flavor and crunchy texture.

Nearly any type of unsweetened bread, in a loaf or pre-sliced, with or without crust, may be used to make croutons. Dry or stale leftover bread is usually used in lieu of fresh bread. Once prepared, the croutons will remain fresh far longer than the bread.

A dish prepared à la Grenobloise (in the Grenoble manner) has a garnish of small croutons along with brown butter, capers, parsley, and lemon. Croutons are often used to make stuffing.

You can find authentic Armenian Crouton on many Armenian Restaurants in Los Angeles.