The bakery in Bankya (a district of Bulgaria’s capital Sofia) with its long queue of people waiting to fill their bags with the aromatic bread is part of my childhood memories. Yes, there are many bakeries now which sell bread, too. However, we have completely forgotten over the recent years about the long queues for bread, as well as about the magic scent and taste of the one-time freshly baked bread. The good news is that some Bulgarian enthusiasts want to revive the good traditions of bread making. Bogdan Bogdanov from the city of Stara Zagora (central south Bulgaria) is among these Bulgarians. Eight years ago he started to make bread for his won pleasure. His friends were very impressed by the results and later made him devote himself entirely to bread making. Thus, the young Bulgarian, who graduated economics earlier, decided to open a bakery. Today his produce sells like hot cakes.

What is the difference between his bread and the normal bread sold in the shops?

“My bread is made without yeast. I use only flour, salt and water, i.e. only clean natural substances. Unfortunately, you can not find such type of bread anywhere else nowadays. Some one hundred odd years ago this bread was made in every Bulgarian home. Today few people make bread without yeast at home. Others merely buy it from the local shops. When companies make bread in huge quantities, they always compromise on quality, the substances and the process of bread making. Unfortunately, it affects human health”, Bogdan contends. “The industrial production of yeast started together with the concentration of bread making in one place, which boosts production process significantly. If for example the making of bread without yeast, or with wild yeast, takes 2 days on average, the bread made with industrial yeast is ready within two hours only. In the beginning, bread producers used only small quantities of yeast during the industrial output. They used to make the so-called yeast dough which is not popular anymore. This method uses sour fermentation and the taste and the smell of this bread are much stronger and better, as compared to the bread made nowadays with the so called direct method. People do not know what good quality bread looks and tastes like. They rely on signs on its package, which in fact do not mean anything”, Bogdan explains and adds:

“Most of the illnesses we suffer are due to the food we consume. It is no secret that industrial food contains high quantities of toxins. Most stomach problems are caused by the consumption of pastries made with high quantities of yeast. Bread made without yeast does not cause any stomach problems. Diabetes and gastritis are modern diseases. They emerged when people started to use yeasts, in order to make their dough rise quicker. Several years ago I attended a lecture of renowned Professors in France who had been exploring the food habits of the French people in the course of 40 years. They came to the conclusion that diabetes and cancer diseases are caused by badly made bread. Moreover, bakers add sugar to the bread made with yeast, in order to speed up the production process. The yeast, however, used in high concentration benefits the growth of cancer cells”.

Bogdan Bogdanov uses wheat, rye and spelt bought from farmers who do not have any secrets in grain production and flour making. Bogdan found his own bread recipe after a series of experiments. He likes to mix rye and wheat flour, thus mixing the taste of the wheat with the scent and the vitamins of the rye. “According to my research, our ancestors planted their farmlands with several types of wheat, in order to enrich the composition of the flour”, the young Bulgarian baker specifies.” Today he dreams of reviving old traditions in bread making. He intends to share his experience and skills through online courses and has other ideas, too:

“The last Bulgarian book about bread was written back in 1947. In fact, this country has only two books which focus mainly on bread making. We do not know almost anything about bread, although we say proudly that bread is our main food. That is why one of my biggest goals is to write what I know about bread in a book. This idea is still in its initial phase, but I keep on collecting information”, young Bulgarian baker Bogdan Bogdanov concludes.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov