It is believed that the use of sourdough in bread leavening production developed in ancient Egypt in approximately 3000 BC and from there spread gradually to Europe, throughout ancient Greece and the Roam Empire until the present.
The ancient Egyptians developed the art of cooking leavened doughs in molds the first loaf pans. The molds were heated and then filled with dough, covered and stacked in a heated chamber. These were perhaps the first mass-produced breads.
During the Barbarian migration period in Europe, bread was not the primary food of the Barbarians and industry bread manufacturing disappeared.
The technology of sourdough bread appeared in the monasteries until the twelfth century when the profession of baker reappeared in France.
An important innovation in Roman baking was introduced by the Gauls, a European people who had been conquered by the Romans. They discovered that adding the froth from beer to bread dough made especially light, well leavened bread. This is the beginning of the use of a controlled yeast source for making bread doughs.
Since the nineteenth century, baker’s yeast has almost completely replaced sourdough in the leavening of bread.
History of baking leavened bread
