The leavened bread was probably made by accident by a royal baker in the Nile Valley in Egypt.
It was between 3500 and 3000 BC, the Egyptian discovered – the fermentation.
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.
The people of the Mediterranean are gradually obtained the knowledge of baking leavened bread from the Egyptians and contributed their own expertise to the baking process. But before that time, 8,000 year ago Swiss Lake dwellers already learned how to mix flour with water to make dough. They poured the mixture on heated stones to bake it.
As early as 200 BC, the Greeks established public bakeries. These were manned by former slaves. When Greeks conquered by Romans, the conqueror further improved the baking industry. When the English colonist migrated to America, they brought with them the art of baking.
In 1604, baking was a flourishing industry. In most New England homes, the oven was built into the side of a large fireplace. The Pennsylvania Dutch did their baking in brick ovens in bakehouses that were completely separate from their homes.
In the late 1700s, a new kind of oven was designed, the cats-iron range, which replaced both the brisk oven and the fireplace as the primarily choice for cooking.
In America in 1750, the first chemical leavening agent was used. Known as pearl ash –potassium bicarbonate), it was created from natural ash of wood and other natural resource.
History of baking process
