Bread is one of the world’s oldest foods and has an interesting history!

 

Around 3000 BC
•    First people to use yeast to produce risen loaves
•    Discovered wheat is only grain with sufficient gluten content to make raised bread
•    Developed ovens for baking several loaves at once

 

Around 150 BC
•    Bread was important so they needed to be able to produce in large quantities
•    Replaced hand mills by mills powered by animals
•    Sieves were introduced so flour was finer
•    Bakers’ Guild was formed in Rome
•    Even back then they argued whether white or brown bread was best

Around 1200 AD
•    Processing of grain was improved by the building of windmills
•    The idea of crop rotation was introduced
•    England adopted laws to regulate price and size of bread
•    As a result of the ‘bread trials’ in England, bakers were ordered to mark each loaf
•    The bakers’ marks were among the first trademarks

 
 

Late 1800s
•    Mills with steam power were introduced
•    Stone mills replaced by steel roller mills which improved the quality of the grain
•    Baking tins invented making it easier to slice the bread

 

•    Machines invented that allowed large scale production of bread
•    The first commercial toaster is launched in 1911
•    Bread slicers and automatic toasters introduced late 1920s
•    Toast consumption increased as a result of both inventions