The history of baking dates back some 8 thousand years when men crushed grains by using stones and obtained dough by adding water to the crushed grains and then cooked it by spreading the dough onto a rock. Primal men crushed the grains they collected; because otherwise, they could neither chew nor digest it without softening. It is certain that the first men that developed baking had undergone much trial and error.
Egyptians took delight from baking; moreover, bread was one of the symbols of their life. Bread meant so much to the Egyptians that loaves of bread were put in their graves so that they would not be deprived of bread in their afterlife. Bread was their principal food and they took their wages in units of bread. The men that worked in the construction of the Pyramids received bread in consideration for their labor. The wealth of a person was measured by looking at the loaves of bread in his possession.
They used the yeast they obtained from the beer production in fermenting and shaping the dough for bread. However, how the dough fermented was a mystery for them. Egyptians, in time, learned to shape the bread just like a work of art by using different varieties of flour.
According to what is popularly believed, an Egyptian baker forgot to knead some portion of dough during his baking activity, and later added this piece of dough to the next round of dough to be baked, and he came to learn a new method out of this unintentional experience.
Ancient Egyptians exported their surplus grains to Greece. Greeks learned baking from Egyptians.
Bread gradually came to become a principal food of the people of Greece and Rome. With the introduction of eggs and oil inside the bread, it had become a luxury consumable product. Whiter breads were served on the tables of the rich, while the poor had to content themselves with lower quality bread that was not so palatable. It is believed that the first mechanical mixer was developed by a Roman. Horse power was used there as the source of energy. Bread was so indispensable for Romans that distributing bread to the subjects was enough to make them happy.
In Medieval Europe, Normans started using rye in baking and fermenting their dough under covers. Swedes experimented by adding the blood of reindeer to the dough while the French added ox blood. Broad breads were favored as they could be used as a plate and they were delicious at the same time.
Bakery Guilds were established in time in many societies based on the type of the bread baked. The guilds protected the bakers, and offered them a kind of social status. Someone who offended a baker was sure to be in difficulty. On the other hand a baker who violated the rules of the Guild was whipped before the people, dragged along the streets or was banned from the profession. The bakers who sold bread weighing less than the prescribed weight had no escape from the mentioned punishments.
Bread Courts which were first established by the British, decided and controlled the weight and price of the bread. Some settlements in medieval times had public fireplaces for the poor to cook their bread with the flour or the dough they brought themselves. This tradition also contributed to the start of the bakery profession.
There was great turmoil in Britain in the early 1800’s when a law fixed the bread price with weekly wages. The law had to be revoked as a result of consequent riots. Stealing bread was generally punishable with exile to Wales, which was one of the new colonies of the time. Outstanding achievements in 19th Century gained the baking industry its modern face.
In 1835, Scientists like Caignard de Latour, Scwann and Kutsing concluded that yeast was a living organism which they observed was reproducible through budding. Meyer named the bread yeast as "Saccharomyces cerevisia" in 1838.
In 1859, the famous French scientist Louis Pasteur found that the fermenting organism causing to fermentation was yeast.
Furnace designs and flour milling techniques were further developed. Emil Christian Hansen started producing Fresh (Wet) Yeast starting from 1870s after he managed to obtain pure yeast particles. This meant a revolution in term of the durability of the yeast. Bakeries and beer producers could then rely on the yeasts they bought.
More recently, bread additives, raising better quality grains, improvements in milling techniques as well as improvements in bakeries have all made it possible to better ferment the dough and to better bake the bread. Bread is the fundamental flavor of the meals. Bread is eaten everyday on all continents though in different forms. And the development of bread has been in parallel with the development of cultures and societies.
