Bread in Germany
Germany has the widest variety of bread available to its residents. About 6,000 types of breads and approximately 1200 different types of pastry and rolls are produced in about 17,000 bakeries and another 10,000 in-shop bakeries.
82 million people consume around 1,100,000 tons of bread, 5,024,000,000 rolls and 454,000,000 pretzels per year. This is a world record. Bread is served with almost every meal. A German breakfast typically consists of sliced bread or Brötchen (rolls) with either cold cuts, cheese etc. or jam, honey and other sweet toppings. For supper, traditionally, it is usually just cold cuts and cheese, although this tradition is rapidly changing. Bread is not considered a side dish and is considered important for a healthy diet. Germany's top nine in bread are:
1. Rye-wheat ("Roggenmischbrot")
2. Toastbread ("Toastbrot")
3. whole-grain ("Vollkornbrot")
4. Wheat-rye ("Weizenmischbrot")
5. White bread ("Weißbrot")
6. Multi-grain ("Mehrkornbrot")
7. Rye ("Roggenbrot")
8. Sunflower seed ("Sonnenblumenkernbrot")
9. Pumpkin seed ("Kürbiskernbrot")
Especially the darker kinds of bread like Vollkornbrot or Schwarzbrot are typical of German cuisine. Internationally well known is Pumpernickel which is steamed for a very long time, it is one kind of dark bread from Germany but not representative. Most German breads are made with sourdough. Whole grain is preferred for high fibre. Germans use almost all available types of grain for their breads: wheat, rye, barley, spelt, oats, sorghum, corn and rice. Some breads are even made from potato flour.