The Baker’s Hub – Baking and Baked Product Emojis

🍞 Bread

One thing that’s absolutely heartwarming about bread, is that it’s a symbol of equality. Every person, irrespective of “class”, country, religion, race, etc., consumes the same bread. We all pretty much break bread together, only in different parts of the world.

Now, here are some facts.

• 🍞 If you’re tired of finding mold on your bread, you’re storing it wrong. Always keep bread in dry and cool places.
• 🍞 Bread is like sponge. Only edible. It absorbs water. So, if you’re weak spot is your constant dehydration, then you’d want to keep the bread at bay.
• 🍞 is a great treat for ducks. Which means, 🍞 must not be served as a daily staple. Treat is the keyword.
• 🍞 If you want to keep your bread fresh for long, quit the fridge. 🍞 stays fresher at room temperature.

🥖 Baguette Bread

🥖 is the same food as the previous emoji, just a little longer and thinner. The baguette, as we know it today is a French-inspired baked commodity.
But here’s what’s shocking.

• 🥖 is speculated to have not originated in France. Sure, the French baguette did, but just the baguette bread? We think not. Actually, the facts, think not.
  🥖 is said to be of Austrian origin.
• 🥖 And the reason why this signature long bread is so strongly associated with France is that the first batch was imported to the country.
• 🥖 There are chronological confusions regarding the origin, however. Some believe the baguette to have only been a French invention inspired by the Austrian pain veinnois. Still seems like an Austrian thing.
• 🥖 Baguette and French Baguette are most often used interchangeably. Ironic, yeah.

🫓 Flatbread

Yep, we’re covering all the doughy stuff first.

This emoji is just as inclusive as any other bread-based item on this list. Flatbreads are part of almost every culinary menu across the world and 🫓 can be used to represent these unique flatbreads individually or any other dish that uses the flatbread as an essential base.

• 🫓 Flatbreads have been in vogue for nearly 6000 years now!
• 🫓 There are hundreds of flatbread types.
• 🫓 Some flatbreads are also made with zero yeast. They’re known as unleavened bread. Anyone who’s read the Bible would find this nostalgic.
• 🫓 The flatbread is said to have originated from ancient parts of the modern world such as Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilization, and Egypt too.

🥐 Croissants

Firstly, it’s pronounced as kwa-son (thank us later). And secondly, 🥐 ain’t a shrimp/prawn so kindly refrain from applying it as such. Now, onto the facts.

• 🥐 Though this pastry has a strong French essence, it didn’t come from France. 🥐 was born in Austria. Lots of shocking reveals in this blog post!
• 🥐 is said to have been baked for the first time in the 1200s.
• 🥐 These golden-brown crunchies didn’t come into existence in their modern shape and style. They were first introduced as “Kipferls” which were crescent-shaped pastries with a smoother and softer crust.
• 🥐 Kipferls are still a delicacy in many parts of Austria.
• 🥐 Croissants walked into the fast-food industry in the 1970s and have been selling out hot ever since.
• 🥐 American croissants are sold with an insane variety of fillings, including spinach!
• 🥐 Spanish and French croissants, thankfully stay true to the original taste; a buttery croissant.

🥨 Pretzels

Pretzels are sweet, doughy, and super satisfying German pastries. Satisfying because they follow a strict rule of symmetry.

The perfect pastry for the perfectionist.

• 🥨 Pretzels need no fancy ingredients, just flour, salt and water.
• 🥨 stand out in the pattiserie for it’s shape. Not many pastries are and can be as twisted as these guys!
• 🥨 The common origin story of the pretzel dates back to 610 AD, with a European monk being the creator.
• 🥨 The initial intention was to create a pastry that looked like a child folding hands in prayer. Not calling that twisted, but yes, that’s why pretzels come in knots.
• 🥨 If you’re trying to cut down on your carbs, then pretzels must be the last option because they’re super packed with carbohydrates.
• 🥨 A sweet fact about pretzels: they were a part of Swiss weddings where the to-be-weds would break the knot and consume half each after making a wish. Aww.

🥯 Bagels

🥯 can be used for both bagels and donuts. But that doesn’t make them the same thing! Donuts and bagels only look a little like each other, but they differ in basic ways like taste, ingredients, toppings, and procedure.

• 🥯 If we have bagels today, all the credit goes to the Jews of Poland (yes, all of it. Not little or half). They came up with the recipe in the early 1680s.
• 🥯 Bagels are savories, traditionally topped with either sesame seeds or poppy seeds.
• 🥯 Today, bagels have tons of varieties. They’re topped with veggies, cream cheese, cinnamon, and a bunch of other savory ingredients.
• 🥯 There are bagel sandwiches as well!
• 🥯 are boiled first and then baked. Yep, boiled. Exposing each side of 🥯 to boiling water pre-sets the crust so that when it bakes, it bakes perfectly.
• 🥯 Ever wondered why 🥯 has a hole at the center? Many bagels were stringed together back in the day and sent over the different places and markets. Thus, the hole was used for easy transportation.

🥞 Pancakes

🥞 can be used to represent both pancakes and crepes online, since there isn’t a separate emoji for the latter. The basic distinction between the two (they’re not the same) is baking powder. Crepes don’t use it.

• 🥞 Pancakes are one of the oldest foods or rather breakfast foods. Research finds them to be as old as 30,000 years! Which takes us back to the Stone Age.
• 🥞 Initially, pancakes weren’t as fluffy as they are today. Early humans made them super-flat, like crepes (now you see how 🥞 can be used interchangeably).
• 🥞 came from Ancient Greece. Ancient Rome too relished pancakes. In fact, it’s said that these guys stacked their pancakes just like us.
• 🥞 Guess who introduced us to the pancake+honey combination. Ancient Greeks!
• 🥞 When they first arrived in the US, they were known as “hoecakes” or “johnnycakes”. Can’t say that 15th century America wasn’t a wild place.

🧇 Waffles

Like the other bread here, 🧇 is a versatile bakery and bread product too. However, unlike those breads, this one requires special equipment; the waffle iron. These irons are just as varied as the waffles they make.

• 🧇 There are three main types of waffles and waffle irons; Belgian/Brussels Waffles, American Waffles, and Liege Waffles.
• 🧇 Belgian waffles were first called “Brussels Waffles”.
• 🧇 Belgian waffles are rectangular or round, American waffles are rounded squares, and Liege waffles are irregular or shapeless in other words.
• 🧇 Waffles too came around during the Stone Age, thus adding to the earliest gastronomical experiments.
• 🧇 The Iron Age peeps were the first ones to come up with the most basic idea of the griddle.
• 🧇 Ancient Greeks and Europeans savored crispy waffles, with the texture of wafers.
• 🧇 “Waffles” is said to be derived from the Dutch word for “wafers”. However, according to some sources, the word was inspired by the Old German word “Wefan”.
• 🧇 The story behind the ice cream cone is the waffle.

🧈 Butter

Yes, butter is used in a vast range of cuisines and not just baking. But we’ve condensed 🧈 into this list because of its prominent usage in bakery.

Since this emoji says butter,🧈it can be used to represent other forms of it like peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, etc.

• 🧈 Way back in the day, butter was used in oil lamps instead of oil. More like butter lamps.
• 🧈 Ancient butter was made from sheep or goat milk because cows were still wild back then.
• 🧈 Wedding gifts were creative and useful a couple of decades ago. Much like how waffle irons were popular presents for the newlyweds, a pot full of butter was also an apparent practice in some parts of the world.
• 🧈 There are over 15 different types of butter.

🧀 Cheese Wedge

The 🧀 emoji can be applied for all types of cheese.

• 🧀 Cheese was first made in 8000 BCE. Sheep milk initially kickstarted the cheese factory.
• 🧀 Today, there are nearly two thousand types of cheese.
• 🧀 This may or may not be a fact, but if you wish to live longer, blue cheese must be a staple.
• 🧀 Also, if you have a stubborn sleep cycle, then a little bit of cheese before bed can help you sleep sounder and sooner.
• 🧀 Mice don’t like cheese! Not every mouse is Jerry. It’s a cartoon fact and a real-life myth.
• 🧀 But if you adore cheese as passionately as any cartoon mouse would, then you’re a Turophile.
• 🧀 Cheese was another luxury between the early 1800s and the 1900s. This means, another wedding gift!

🧂 Salt

• 🧂 Evidence of the foremost salt factory on the planet goes back to 6000 BCE.
• 🧂 Salt aids in the fermentation process in baking. Apart from infusing better taste and flavor to the dough, 🧂 also helps keep the batter together.
• 🧂 Salt is also a great taste highlighter. Most flavors become more apparent with a little bit of salt.
• 🧂 used to be a very valuable commodity in Rome. In fact, salt would be equated with one’s wages. Some even say that Roman workers were paid in salt.
• 🧂 And when these workers didn’t work enough to earn their salt, they weren’t worth their salt.
• 🧂 It used to be known as “white gold”, given its value.
• 🧂 The word salary came from ‘salt’.