Agege bread
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Agege bread being sold by a vendor in Nigeria. | |
| Type | Bread |
|---|---|
| Course | Street food |
| Place of origin | Agege, Nigeria |
| Associated cuisine | Nigeria |
| Main ingredients | wheat flour, yeast, sugar |
Agege Bread, is a sweet, yeasted white wheat bread originally from Agege in Lagos State, Nigeria. Agege bread is commonly baked in lidded rectangular metal pans, similar to a Pullman loaf. Agege bread spread in popularity from Agege to other parts of the country, where it is commonly sold by street vendors and in markets.
Agege bread's story starts in the town of Agege, Lagos State, during Nigeria's colonial period. Lagos, a major West African port city, was the entry point for foreign ideas. For example, European settlers and missionaries introduced new bread making techniques to the region[1]. Alhaji Ayokunnu is credited as the first to bake Agege bread when he founded a bakery nearly the newly constructed Nigerian Railway Corporation station in Agege. The railway station increased traffic to Alhaji's bakery, allowing his bread to reach far and wide across West Africa.[2].Though Bread traditionally was not an essential component of the Nigerian diet, which was dominated primarily by indigenous staples like yam, cassava, and millet, as urbanisation spread and Lagos developed into a commercial hub, bread became increasingly popular due to its convenience with some of the latter ingredients being incorporated[3].
