Is it true that peasants had to eat bread made from tree bark?
In times of famine, people will resort to nearly anything. But they would use edible substances first whenever possible, such as ground-up peas and beans. Sure, starving people may have ground up tree bark to bake into bread; but it probably happened with about the same regularity as cannibalism. What books do you recommend reading? I maintain a list of my books with a brief rating for each; bread books are in the Baking Books section (oddly enough). Is there any difference between flours? Yes. First, a gluten primer: gluten is a protein found in most cereal grains which keeps fermentation gases in the dough, allowing it to rise. Wheat is the only grain that contains a substantial amount of gluten. Rye and barley contain very little. Rice, oats, buckwheat, soybeans, and corn (maize) have no gluten, so bread made from any of these cereals will be fairly brick-like and will not digest as easily as a wheaten loaf. This is why historically people have preferred bread made from white flour.
