History of bread

There is no other food as important in the history of humanity as is bread. As Harold McGee expresses in his book, On Food and Cooking, bread took the center stage of life early on as it was "a startling sign of the natural's world hidden potential for being transformed, and [man’s] own ability to shape natural materials to human desires."

Bread and bread-making lore infiltrated language and culture early on. Words such as "Lord" come from the Anglo-Saxon hlaford, which means "loaf ward" or the master who supplies food. The word "Lady" derives its meaning from “loaf kneader.” Even the word "companion" can trace its meaning to “one who shares bread.”

The development of bread in pre-historic times is thought to have come about in two ways: First, by cooking pastes of crushed grain and water to form flatbreads; and second, from setting the paste aside, allowing it to ferment, and baking it in an enclosed oven to form raised breads.

Examples of wheat flatbreads include Middle Eastern lavash, Greek pita, Indian roti and chapatti. Latin American tortilla and North American johnnycake are flatbreads made from maize.

The history of wheat bread dates to 8000 BCE. The earliest record of leaven bread comes from the Egyptians, around 4000 BCE. Yeast production, though not entirely understood, was a notable skill. By 300 BCE, it had become a specialized profession in Ancient Egypt.

The Greeks mark on bread was one of whiteness. The early Greeks developed ways to partly refine grain in a way that it produced white bread. The Romans treasured wheat bread enough that wheat was imported from Africa to satisfy the demand of the Empire.

The 17th century brought improvements in milling and in per capita income that led to a wide availability of whiter bread and the dissolution of the brown guild. The Renaissance gave birth to pastries.

In the 1800s, most bread was still baked in communal ovens. The Industrial Revolution led to bakeries, and adulterated flour with whiteners (alum) and fillers (chalk, ground animal bones). Such developments led to the decline of domestic baking.

Furthermore, some innovations came to leaving. Pearlash, a precursor to baking soda and baking powders, appeared around 1790s. Baking powder and baking soda appeared 1830-1850s. Their development increased the ability to leaven doughs that yeast could not, such as fluid cake batters and sweet cookie doughs.

Twentieth century industrialization and modernization led to a decline in the per capita consumption of bread. As incomes rose, more people had ability to eat meat, and high-fat, high-sugar pastries and cakes. Bread was no longer the staff of life. Bread making became more industrialized in that most bread was made in large central factories, not local bakeries. The result was affordable, white bread with uncharacteristic flavor.  

Europeans and North Americans began to eat more bread in the 1980s. Traditional bread making returned. Small bakeries began to produce bread with less refined grain, building flavor with long, slow fermentation, and baking small batches in brick ovens that produced small, dark loaves. The Japanese invented the home bread machine. Today, small fraction of bread is artisan. But manufacturers have started to ship partly baked and frozen loaves to supermarkets. These loaves are rebaked locally and sold while still crusty and flavorful. Currently, we are experiencing a return to flavor and texture characteristic of traditional bread.