History of bread in ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, bread was one of the most important food staples; it was eaten daily by both rich people and the lower classes. Bread was made of a kind of ancient wheat called “Emmer”. At that time, there were two types of grains that ancient Egyptians planted: wheat and barley.

The leavened bread was probably made by accident by a royal baker in the Nile Valley in Egypt. Perhaps a batch of dough was allowed to stand before it was baked. Wild yeast cells settled in and grew, producing tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide and making the dough rise.

It was between 3500 and 3000 BC, the Egyptian discovered – the fermentation. Using yeast, flour, salt, pepper, spices, cereal grains, and emmer – an ancestor type of wheat rich in fiber – they made the first loaf of bread.

Around 2000 B.C., a baker in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes captured yeast from the air and kneaded it into a triangle of dough. The ancient Egyptians later learned to control the kind of yeast on their bread. Each time they baked, they set aside some of the leavened dough to mix with the next batch.

During Pharaonic period (3100-330 BC), bread formed the basis of the entire administrative system, being both a unit of measure and currency.

Egypt's Middle Kingdom (2040 to 1782 BC) didn’t have mills, and flour was mostly produced by hand by the women. The result was coarse flour, which had ash, pieces of husk, and even sand.
History of bread in ancient Egypt