The History of Bread

The History of Bread

OTR Food and History (2025)

Film Review

According to OTR, archeologists found the first evidence of bread making in 12,500 BC by the Natufians who were foragers and made flat breads from wild wheat, barley and rye flour and water.

It would be anther 3,500 years before the first grains were domesticated in the fertile crescent (emmer wheat, einkorn wheat and barley). All were easy to grow because they’re self-pollinating.

Around 1500 BC the Egyptians discovered how to make bread rise (sourdough). It was around this time independent cultures around the world developed their own unique breads. Sourdough Bread from the fertile crescent quickly spread to the Greeks, Etruscans, Assyrians and Central Asians.

In South America people made bread from corn and early Australians made it from millet. Bread is mentioned in Indian Vedic texts in 1500 BC. Mantou and mo bread appeared in China in 300 BC.

Throughout most of history bread was a staple for the peasants and a side dish for the gentry. Bread shortages in Greece (after the aristocracy confiscated all the grain for themselves) led to civil war and the ultimate collapse of the Greek empire. The Vandals’ invasion and occupation of Rome’s bread basket (North Africa) led to major flour shortages on the Italian peninsula, a principle causes of Rome’s collapse. Bread riots in France were a major impetus behind the French revolution.

Technology

The first water driven flour mills developed in Greece in the third century BC. The Romans introduced interlocking gears, which allowed grain mills to function in slow moving water. They also introduced animal powered mills. Mohamed’s father-in-law developed the first windmills in Persia in the 7th century AD.

Cake, Biscuits, English Muffins and Cookies

In Egypt, bread was dipped in honey a an offering to the gods, the origin of the first cake. By 800 BC honeyed bread appeared in Greece as baklava. In India, bakers began using sugar instead of honey in sweet bread. The English word cake derives from the Viking word kak meaning cake or cookie.

Biscuits date back to ancient Egypt where they were used a naval rations. Americans began making biscuits with the invention of baking powder in 1843.

English muffins first appeared in Wales in the mid 1700.

Cookies first appeared in Persia in the 7th century and spread to Spain with Muslim conquest

Pizza, Bagels and Donuts

Pizza first appeared in Italy in 997AD

Bagels first appeared in Poland in the 1800s.

Donuts were brought to New York in the 1800s, an adaptation of dough knots made in the Netherlands.

The Sandwich and the Baguette

The sandwich was invented by the Earl of Sandwich’s cook in the 18th century when the earl, while gambling at the Hell Fire Club, demanded a meal he could hold with one hand. As this was the start of the industrial revolution, it was also a convenient meal for factory workers who weren’t given meal breaks. This was facilitated by Dutch industrialists who began mass producing yeast (around 1780), which was less time consuming to deal with than sourdough.

French baguettes, which are steamed rather than baked, first appeared in Germany in the 18th century.