Bread has very ancient origins and its roots are in ancient Egypt, where several hieroglyphics testify to its production as far back as 3500 BC. The Egyptians were very imaginative and in fact produced various types of bread: round, with a hole in the center, pyramid-shaped or animal-shaped. The first forms of bread-making were then transmitted to the Jewish people who gave this food a notable religious significance.
History of bread making
The sacredness of bread has its roots in the dawn of civilizations that arose in the Mediterranean basin after the invention of agriculture (about 9,000 years before the Christian era). Pliny the Elder claimed that “Ceres discovered wheat, because before that people lived on acorns” and that previously the same goddess had taught “how to grind and make bread in Attica and Sicily”. According to the Greek bishop and writer Eusebius of Caesarea, the first land of bread was the Euphrates Valley; Strabo indicates India, De Bernard Egypt. However, it is documented that all Mediterranean peoples knew wheat since the beginning of their history, even if they began to bake bread at different times. The dough for bread, if we are to believe the legend, seems to have been born in Egypt around 3500 BC, following the overflowing of the Nile, which soaked the reserves of flour stored in the royal warehouses. Another legend says that yeast was also born in the land of the Pharaohs: “an Egyptian maid, to spite her mistress, threw the residue from the preparation of beer into the bread dough, which caused the dough to ferment.”
The Egyptians, the bread eaters
The history of bread begins many years ago, but we can say that the main great bakers were the Egyptians, who first applied natural leavening, and later taught it to the Romans.
Like all questions that at the time had no answer, it was believed that the leavening process was something magical and mysterious, but this did not prevent the study and improvement of the technique by these people.
How was this bread made?
How was this bread made?
In practice, to create a light and inviting dough, the Egyptians left a mixture of water and flour to ferment in the open air for a week, a process that is somewhat reminiscent of the “mother yeast” process that some bakers still do today.
After seven days, the dough had become slightly acidic and was ready to be baked.
At first, bread was baked on stone slabs, then special cylindrical ovens were invented, which were often built directly in families’ homes, for domestic use.
The shops offered a vast choice of shapes and flavors, they had piadinas (cheaper), large and well-leavened loaves, bread intended for offerings in temples, and even loaves that with their shape resembled dolls and animals, to be given to the little ones.
Spelt bread was instead used to make beer.
Surely the sweet flatbreads were the tastiest, seasoned with honey, raisins and dates.
The cereals grown in the Nile Valley were three: a variety of spelt that is almost impossible to find today, triticum aestivum (a type of wheat) and barley.
We cannot know for sure if their bread was as good as ours, but there is certainly a reason why in the ancient world, the Egyptian people were also called “bread eaters”: they were certainly greedy for it and loved it as much as we do.
In addition to being a simple food, bread was used as a unit of measurement for wealth and as a method of payment, since in ancient Egypt there was no money, but only barter.
Bread and beer, this was the diet of the workers who built the pyramids.
Bread is the backbone of Egyptian cuisine. The local bread is a form of cordial.
Culinary, bread is most commonly used as an edible utensil in addition to providing carbohydrates and much of the protein in the Egyptian diet. Egyptians use bread to scoop up food, dips, and to wrap kebabs, falafel, and the like in the manner of sandwiches. Most types of pita bread are baked at a high temperature (450 °F or 232 °C).
In ancient Egypt, people followed different diets, depending on their social status and health… but one food was common to all: bread (aysh).
A curiosity concerns the shape of the bread: it is said that there were at least 30 different ones, including the round and low bread that still exists in Egypt today…
Today in Egypt there are several famous types of bread among which we can find:
- Aysh Shamy: White bread, made with refined white flour
- Aysh Balady: made with lower quality flour
- Aysh Makamar: similar to Aysh Balady but dry; it is used mainly for the preparation of dishes such as (for example) made during Ramadan.
In bakeries we can then find many other types of bread that are also similar to European ones; first of all Aysh Feno.