German 'Brot' and English 'bread' trace to PIE *bhrew- (to ferment) — bread is etymologically brewed dough.
German word meaning 'bread,' a staple food made from flour and water; cognate of English 'bread.'
From Old High German 'brōt,' from Proto-Germanic *braudą, likely derived from PIE *bʰrew- (to boil, to brew, to bubble), referring to the rising or fermenting of dough. The same root produced English 'brew,' 'broth,' and 'bread.' Some scholars alternatively connect it to a PIE root meaning 'to break' (*bʰreg-), but the fermentation etymology is now more widely accepted. The word originally meant 'a morsel' or 'a piece of food' before narrowing
Before 'bread' became the standard English word for this food, Anglo-Saxons primarily used 'hlāf' (loaf) to mean bread. 'Bread' originally meant just 'a morsel' or 'piece of food.' The older word 'hlāf' survives in 'loaf,' 'lord' (from 'hlāf-weard,' loaf-guardian), and 'lady' (from 'hlǣfdige,' loaf-kneader) — making 'lord' and 'lady' literally 'bread-keeper' and 'bread-maker.'