Pairing bread with wine may seem like an easy endeavor: The bread is a blank canvas, right? Well, not so much. These days, we live in what might be called the golden age of bread: From the yeasty goodness of authentic French-style baguettes to focaccias that are baked with all sorts of toppings, there are nearly as many breads available as there are wines with which to pair them. And even beyond that, there's the questions of what role the bread will be playing: Is it a base for cheese, a sponge for sopping up remaining sauce, a side dish on its own, or even a dessert? The possibilities are endless. Fortunately, the same rules apply to pairing bread with wine as you would use to pairing anything else with it. Just follow these simple suggestions and you'll be filling up with carbs in no time.
Breads
Recipes
Suggested Wines
Pizza
Depending upon how you like your pizza, there are a number of interesting wine-pairing options here. A plain cheese pizza will be nice with a moderately oaky Chardonnay, but to some this might prove overwhelmingly rich. Chianti is often an excellent choice, because its acidity cuts right through the fat and oil of the pizza. A pepperoni pizza requires a wine with a bit more heft to it; try a red Zinfandel from California. And for veggie-pizza lovers, there's always Sauvignon Blanc, a wine whose green-grass aromas and grapefruit-y flavors pair perfectly with the veggies atop the pizza.
Recipes
Suggested Wines
Basic Breads
Basic breads are those that are made with a simple recipe of a few ingredients, are yeast leavened, and are usually easy for the home cook to prepare, requiring only some basic skills and a few simple pieces of kitchen equipment. Plain yeast breads include pan breads and hearth breads: pan breads are baked in a pan or container placed on an oven rack while hearth breads are baked on flat pans, stones, tiles, or directly on the floor of the oven.rnrnBasic breads can be prepared with refined flour, whole-grain flour, or coarsely ground meal. Some basic breads are made with a variety of flours milled from different grains to create breads with unusual flavors or textures. Wheat flour is often added to non-wheat bread dough so that the dough will rise effectively.
Enriched and Flavored Breads
Some basic yeast bread recipes are enhanced with other ingredients that change the characteristics of the bread including the texture, flavor, and color. Ingredients, such as eggs, butter, oil, or milk change the texture of the crumb and crust and provide a richness of flavor that is often lacking in basic breads. Other breads may include ingredients that simply add flavor to the bread, such as herbs, spices, sugar, honey, nuts, whole grans, seeds, fruits, vegetables, and even meats and cheeses. Some breads contain both enriching and flavoring ingredients and may be almost a meal in themselves.
