Bread is a staple foodstuff for Imperials. Being a constant fare, there are an equal amount of varieties and types, including rustic sourdough, grain breads, flatbreads, and baguettes, and even dessert breads with swirls of cinnamon and honey. The peasant loaf is a simple bread made from barley flour and is available anywhere. Quality is impacted by the bread’s age and how mouldy it is. Sometimes, poor quality bread is truly low quality, where an unscrupulous baker added sand or dirt to their flour. Sometimes a loaf features “crunchies", the remains of cooked weevils. Better breads are freshly baked and come from reliable bakers, who offer more variety, including some dessert breads.[1a]
Bread is a common component to a Dwarf's diet. Most Dwarfs eat bread alongside their midday or evening meal and many Dwarf travellers carry hardtack, a form of savory biscuit that keeps for a long time but requires a strong jaw to consume, whenever they journey long distances from home.[2a]
Dwarfen barley is a particularly hardy variety that can be grown on mountainsides and used to make beers and breads. Once harvested, barley grains are stored in vast, funnel-shaped granaries usually, but not always, located within their holds. The grains stored in the granaries inside holds are dried via residual heat from the hold's forges.[3a][3b]