Bread—perhaps the oldest of all prepared foods—is reverently referred to as the “staff of life” for its historical ability to nutritionally support humankind. As a product category, it’s remarkably mature, with traditional bread products forming the primary basis of revenue for major bakeries in the U.S.
Nevertheless, change is afoot in bread—including product areas like loaf breads, bagels and English muffins—as bakeries simplify labels, branch into gluten-free and other specialized segments, and increasingly take note of the promise of artisan ideals and the resonance they can hold with today’s evolving shopper dynamics.