This post comes from the article: “3, 2, 1 … Bake Off!”

 
I’m not a huge bread fan. If I’m going to eat my weight in carbs and starch I’ll probably pick pasta and rice before I picked bread. I like it, I just don’t love it enough to seek it out.
 

Bene.

 
If I’m hosting people for dinner, I will certainly go out of my way to get us a nice loaf and I’ll definitely enjoy it then. I can do the occasional sandwich, I like it as an appetizer with some oil and vinegar. But turns out I have moved to a county which almost worships bread.
 
According to Wikipedia, “Germany prides itself on having the largest variety of breads worldwide.” I will ask some of my friends and coworkers to comment on this pride. It’s also surprisingly difficult to find statistics on bread consumption per capita by country. In this report in 2010 the consumption per person in Germany was 80kg per year.  This report shows Germany as being the biggest consumer of bread in the EU at 56kg. The Bread Initiative also shows Germany being the largest consumer at more than 70kg so we’ll stick with it.
 

 
There’s also an important distinction between Bäckerei and Konditorei: breads and simple baked goods , some sweet things, from the Bäcker; cakes and fancier desserts from the confectionary. I wouldn’t say all shops follow this division, but I would say in general they do, more so than I found in the states.
 

Cafe Walz, a traditional Konditorei on our block

Why are you talking about a food you don’t eat much?

Because! This article makes so much sense once one has seen the bakeries on corners here like Starbucks in major US cities. I really don’t know much about space agencies from other nations but I like space and things that are space-like so the headline caught my attention.
 

 
And then, to make it so much better, it’s a German initiative to help support the first German astronaut to visit the ISS in a few years. He will also be the commander of the mission so it’s vital this man has everything he needs to make him comfortable. I was surprised to learn that one of the biggest challenges of bread in space is the danger posed by floating crumbs. Which, if one bakes bread, one makes crumbs. There is also the peril of someone opening a hot oven door expecting wafts of delicious, bready goodness only to be engulfed in a hot air bubble which will then float around the craft wrecking havoc wherever it goes.
 

“It’s not just about making one German astronaut happy with fresh bread,” Marcu explains. “There’s really a deeper meaning to bread in space.” – NPR

 
I sincerely wish all the best to Bake in Space and I’ve been inspired to bake some more bread here on Earth. I’ve done it before, and it wasn’t too bad, so maybe I’ll level up to a foccacia this time around.