While it is quite easy to call to mind various examples of bakery products, the range of ingredients that is used within them is diverse.
Bakeries commonly produce leavened products that may include bread, cakes, biscuits, pastries, pies and tarts.
Some of the components of these kinds of foods are clear, such as cereal products and carbohydrate-based sweeteners such as sugar.
Yeast and yeast extracts are obviously needed to allow dough to rise, while eggs feature as well.
Oils and fats are frequently used in preparing these types of foods.
Goods like these are often sweet. Cocoa is commonly used as well as fruit products.
Nuts, kernels and seeds are popular in bakery goods and so they are also high up the list of ingredients.
Dairy is another key ingredient along with salt or salt substitutes and some products are low in sodium.
In some cases, ingredients are added to lower the calorie count of a food or to substitute a more common or obvious ingredient.
Some of the less obvious bakery ingredients, though still well-used ones, include food enzymes, herbal substances, prebiotics, phytochemicals and amino acids.
While professional and commercial bakeries and caterers doubtless command a large proportion of this market, it has seen growth in recent years thanks to rising interest in home cooking within Britain.
Using data it has gathered, Mintel believes that by 2011, home baking products will form a market worth close to £550 million by next year.
It has also observed that shoppers tend to be more interested in premium baking products than "healthy" ones.
