Bread has experienced something of a revolution. Just as the coffee boom brought new terms such as espresso, latte and cappuccino into everyday use, the growing availability of international breads in the UK means words like ciabatta, panini and pitta are now comfortably part of our vocabulary.

According to baking guru Dan Lepard, our love of food and culture from other countries makes us unique in Europe, a fact we should be proud of. "Other countries talk about being multicultural, but Britain is the real thing," he says. "In terms of baking today, the selection offered - from the baguette to the naan, stottie and the bannock - is extraordinary and, gradually, we're getting the quality to match the selection."

With the huge choice available, from ready-baked and part-baked to various bread mixes, there really is no excuse for a poor bread offering even when a lack of skill, equipment or just time prevents a caterer from baking bread from scratch. And there are benefits to be reaped from applying some thought to your bread offering. "An excellent breadbasket makes the customers' dining pleasurable and will get them coming back through the door," says Lepard.

One of Lepard's more recent projects has been working on the development of a frozen, part-baked speciality bread for supplier Bakehouse. Rusticata comes in various sizes from baguette to demi and rolls, and combines the qualities of two of the world's best-loved breads - the French baguette with its crisp, golden crust, and the Italian ciabatta with its soft, open-textured centre. The dough incorporates ingredients such as extra-virgin olive oil and semolina flour and, once mixed, it's given a particularly long resting time to allow the open texture and flavour to develop. Baking is done directly on the floor of a stone oven to give a better crust.

A bespoke version of Rusticata was developed for the Gourmet range of baguettes from Compass-owned Upper Crust. The shape had to be rounded so the filling could be distributed evenly and it had to be thin enough to be held in one hand. The flour dusting was reduced so that customers didn't get it on their clothes. More ranges, using different types of bread, will be developed to reach new customers. "The trend towards low-carb food is massive, and is one we cannot afford to ignore," says Upper Crust marketing manager Chris Sargeant. "It will be challenging, but we're looking into ways to introduce low-carb products perhaps based on rye breads and reduced-carb breads."

The shape, crust and texture were the key parameters given to another supplier, BakeMark, when the company was asked to develop a new baguette for the Pain du Chef range of filled baguettes offered by Sodexho's Strollers outlets. The brief was to create a baguette which had more rounded ends and was oval-shaped in cross-section to make filling simpler. "We see freshness as one of the real attributes of our bakery products," comments Paul Burton, Sodexho's brand development manager. "Getting the perfect crust was essential, as it's the first part of the baguette that starts to suffer as freshness wears off."

BakeMark's sister company in France, D‚lices de la Tour, produced five alternatives in response to Sodexho's request, and after trials, the Craquant baguette was selected. "The authenticity of this baguette really appealed to us," explains Burton. "Thanks to its international links, BakeMark could guarantee the finest French ingredients, a genuine French recipe and French production."

While traditional and rustic-style French breads are widely consumed, other Continental bakery products are becoming more popular. Kluman & Balter supplies a range of ethnic bread ingredients and mixes.

"It's not so long ago that the nearest you got to an ethnic bread was a dodgy baguette, now the sky's the limit," says managing director Geoff Kluman. "You want the flavour of the Mediterranean? Bake up a batch of feta cheese and black olive loaves. And try using cottage cheese in a bread mix with Italian herbs. The cheese adds a really different texture that makes it a very filling loaf, perfect with soups. And don't forget about 'ethnic' British breads. Flat beer adds a wonderful flavour and texture to bread and rolls - grainy mustard and beer loaf is perfect with pickle and cheese."

Canape Ideas
- Rye, pumpernickel and honey crostini with beef carpaccio and horseradish.
- Rye, pumpernickel and honey bread with lemon and thyme marinated goats' cheese and griottine cherries.
- Mediterranean bloomer with smoked salmon, dill crŠme fraŒche and a tomato relish.
- Red pepper and black olive bloomer with aubergine caviar and mascarpone, herb pesto and marinated tomato.
- Cinnamon bread with mature Cheddar and an apple and walnut chutney.
Source: The Bread Roll Company

Top tips on bread selection
- The bread offer needs to be as fresh as possible (bread bought part-baked then baked off before service is ideal).
- Offer a variety of bread products, white and brown, and with both hard and soft crusts.
- Incorporate different colours and shapes such as a flute (long), ciabatta (square) and boule de campagne (round).
- Breads should complement the food on the menu, for example, focaccia with pasta dishes or fruit bread with foie gras.
- Consider having a bread menu so that customers can make a choice as they do with the water, wine and other dishes.
Source: Bridor

Born in the USA
If you want to go Stateside with your bread offering, there's a few products that our American cousins have been enjoying for quite a few years that are now making inroads over here.

Bagels
Bagels have many nutritional characteristics, says American bakery company Dawn Foods, including being very low in fat, low in cholesterol, low in salt and high in energy-giving carbohydrates. The company is adding a US-style bagel concentrate to its range of products sold in the UK, a product it believes meets market demand for tasty, low-fat alternatives to traditional breads and cakes which can be eaten on the move.

"Bagels are yet another food trend that has easily transferred across the Atlantic as a morning goods or breakfast item, and more recently as a more exotic sandwich carrier for all day snacking," says marketing director Maggie Dagostino. The concentrate is suitable for both sweet and savoury bagels, and produces a product that's softer and chewier than standard bagels. The product has been developed so it can be manufactured using the more usual bakery practices of baking and steaming, rather than the traditional method, which incorporates boiling the dough before baking.

Pretzels
A serious contender for the title of the next big thing from the USA is, apparently, the pretzel. That's the soft pretzel, though, not to be confused with the small, dark pretzel sold in packets as a salty snack. "A typical soft pretzel is about six inches across, crispy on the outside and soft and doughy inside," says Peter Gerlach, of Live Naturally, distributor of Perfect Pretzels. "New Yorkers deem soft pretzels as the street food of choice, and it has long been a popular snack in most European countries. Now the UK can discover what it's been missing."

The company's range of products includes a variety of shapes with a selection of different finishes - and more on the way - including sesame seed, poppy seed and rock salt. Or they come available unbaked with toppings supplied separately. "They can be eaten alone or sliced, toasted with a variety of fillings," says Gerlach. "And it's a healthier snack - our original pretzel contains 3.9g fat per 100g and 265 calories compared with a flapjack with 290 calories or a Danish pastry with 411 calories."

Although the concept of pretzels is fairly new to the UK, British Bakels is predicting it will take the market by storm as they make a great alternative to the usual snacks consumers eat on the go. The bakery ingredient supplier's pretzel premix is used in Mr Pretzels outlets throughout the UK.

"On an average Saturday our Bluewater outlet in Kent sells several hundred pretzels," says Marcelo Lima, director of Mr Pretzels UK. "As the mix takes only minutes, it allows my staff to continuously make new batches so our customers consume freshly baked pretzels. Also, as the mix is plain it allows us to create many different varieties to offer consumers increased choice. Salt, sesame, Parmesan, and cinnamon and sugar are all very popular, but we have recently introduced two new flavours - chocolate and toffee."

Savoury Muffins
Another contender, according to Kluman & Balter, is the savoury muffin. "It's big in America and it's going to be big here," says Danny Kluman. "We're developing a wide range of savoury muffin recipes - muffins with ham and cheese, or muffins with cheese and spinach for example. The potential and variety of savoury muffins is completely untapped in the UK."

In the USA, savoury muffins are made using ingredients as varied as corn, cheese, chilli, bacon and bran. As well as being sold as stand-alone snacks, savoury muffins are also served as accompaniments to soups and salads. "There are all sorts of potential complementary combinations such as cheese muffin with tomato soup as a winter special or a corn muffin with chicken salad in summer," suggests Kluman.

Pretzel serving suggestions
- Split and fill with savoury or sweet fillings from soft cream cheese to jam.
- Serve with scrambled eggs and a few slices of bacon for breakfast.
- Split and lightly toast, then dunk in soup.
- New York-style - spread with hot mustard.
- Warm and slice in half and stack with Black Forest ham, sharp GruyŠre or Cheddar cheese, a few salad leaves, slices of tomato, top with pickle or sweet chilli sauce.
Source: Live Naturally

Contacts
Bakehouse 0800 234 034
BakeMark 0151-343 1600
Breadco 0121-359 6163
Bridor 07764 452877
British Bakels 01869 322440
Daily Bread 020 7498 0494
Dawn Foods 01386 780 800
D‚lice de France 08450 772 233
Fletchers Bakeries 0114 229 4490
Kluman & Balter 01992 704000
Live Naturally 020 8660 4748
Pain D‚lice 00 353 21 4635222
Puratos 01280 822860
The Bread Roll Company 0845 6070324

Top 10 sandwich breads
1. Malted wheat
2. Oatmeal
3. White softgrain
4. Wraps
5. Soft white roll
6. Seeded torpedo roll
7. Bagel
8. Tomato bread
9. Rye bread
10. Croissant
Source: Daily Bread

In the basket
The ever-popular Mediterranean ingredients and influences were the inspiration behind a range of flavoured petits batons from D‚lice de France designed to be served as bread in a basket, in sandwiches, as bite-size canap‚s or with soup. There's an olive variety with fresh crushed pitted black olives; an onion variety made with caramelised onions; and a tomato bread with sun-ripened tomato, sweet pepper, herbs and garlic.

It was in response to the rising popularity of Mediterranean foods that bakery and pƒtisserie ingredient supplier Puratos developed its Viva Italia concept. It shows bakers how, by using one product - its Easy Ciabatta mix - caterers can create more than 40 authentic Italian breads, including ciabatta, ritorto, focaccia, lardo and focaccine. The company has a CD-Rom featuring recipes and videos that show how to prepare and finish each of the 40 products and is currently offering free Viva Italia starter packs, which include an 800g pack of Easy Ciabatta mix, how-to guide, recipe book and POS sticker.

Breadco owner Margarita Andoniou is on a mission to put freshly baked bread on restaurant tables in the West Midlands. Her new Birmingham-based company offers bespoke bread recipe development to help customers achieve the exact texture and flavour they require from breads from around the world, from baguettes to blinis and Aberdeen buttery rowies to bagels. She also has plans to launch a sister business which will produce more specialist Continental bread and cakes, specialising in Greek and other Mediterranean products.

A traditional bread from the far north of Sweden, Polarbr”d, is now available in the UK though Pain D‚lice. It's a light, aerated bread which comes as both a soft and a crisp bread in standard, rye and wheat varieties.

Fletchers Bakeries has added a Mighty Floured Bap to its floured range, suitable for hot or cold fillings, including steak and onions and BLT.

The Bread Roll Company has a range of Continental and artisan products for the summer social season. There's a Continental roll assortment, baby wholemeal loaves, flat foccacia bread and ciabatta loaves.