Bread during ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, bread was made as flat cakes from toasted grains of barley, whet or millet. Before the discovery of yeast all breads were unleavened. This was a type for bread which dates back to Neolithic times, which began in approximately 8000 to 10000 BC.

Ancient Egypt is where bread really began to take shape as the yeasty food people enjoy today.

The wheat produced in abundance in Egypt was the staple food for most people. Bakers and servants turned ground wheat into 40 different types of bread, cakes, roils and pastries.

The dough was left overnight to sour and then baked into round, triangular, oval and other shapes. Some loaves were cone-shaped, made of slices placed vertically and used for presenting to the dead. Bread was considered an essential item to be buried with deceased for the afterlife.

Bread was also baked in clay pots or molds, some of which were greased and reused, whole others were crudely modeled around conical wooden forms and broken to free the loaf after baking.

Bread was consumed in great quantities throughout the country, from the lowest worker who might be paid in bread, to the pharaoh and his family.
Bread during ancient Egypt