Editing Bread (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of bread}}

Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods. Evidence from 30,000 years ago in Europe and Australia revealed starch residue on rocks used for pounding plants.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 October 2010 |title=Prehistoric man ate flatbread 30,000 years ago: study |work=phys.org |publisher=Science X |agency=Agence France-Presse |url=http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-prehistoric-ate-flatbread-years.html |access-date=19 October 2010 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805165329/http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-prehistoric-ate-flatbread-years.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Behrendt |first=Larissa |date=22 September 2016 |title=Indigenous Australians know we're the oldest living culture – it's in our Dreamtime |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/22/indigenous-australians-know-were-the-oldest-living-culture-its-in-our-dreamtime |access-date=8 February 2020 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=24 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240924053721/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/22/indigenous-australians-know-were-the-oldest-living-culture-its-in-our-dreamtime |url-status=live }}</ref> It is possible that during this time, starch extract from the roots of plants, such as [[cattails]] and [[ferns]], was spread on a flat rock, placed over a fire and cooked into a primitive form of [[flatbread]]. The oldest evidence of bread-making has been found in a 14,500-year-old [[Natufian culture|Natufian]] site in Jordan's northeastern desert.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Briggs |first=Helen |date=17 July 2018 |title=Prehistoric bake-off: Scientists discover oldest evidence of bread |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44846874 |access-date=17 July 2018 |website=BBC News |archive-date=16 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716234918/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44846874 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Amaia Arranz-Otaegui, Lara Gonzalez Carretero, Monica N. Ramsey, Dorian Q. Fuller, and Tobias Richter: ''Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan''. PNAS, 11 July 2018 ([http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/07/10/1801071115 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019005930/http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/07/10/1801071115 |date=19 October 2018 }})</ref> Around 10,000 BC, with the dawn of the [[Neolithic]] age and the spread of agriculture, grains became the mainstay of making bread. Yeast spores are ubiquitous, including on the surface of [[cereal|cereal grains]], so any dough left to rest leavens naturally.<ref>{{cite book | first=Harold| last=McGee | year=2004 | title=On food and cooking | publisher=Scribner | isbn=978-0-684-80001-1 |page=517}}</ref>

[[File:Woman baking bread-E 25213-IMG 4514-gradient.jpg|thumb|left|''Woman baking bread'' ({{circa|2200 BC}}); [[Louvre]]]]
An early leavened bread was baked as early as 6000 BC in southern Mesopotamia, cradle of the [[Sumerians|Sumerian]] civilization, who may have passed on the knowledge to the Egyptians around 3000 BC. The Egyptians refined the process and started adding [[yeast]] to the [[flour]]. The Sumerians were already using [[ash]] to supplement the dough as it was baked.<ref name=arzani11>Arzani A.: ''Emmer (Triticum turgidum spp. dicoccum) flour and breads''. In Preedy V.R., Watson R.R., Patel V.B. (Eds. 2011), '''Flour and Breads and their Fortification in Health and Disease Prevention''', Academic Press, California, pp. 69–78.</ref>

There were multiple sources of [[leavening]] available for early bread. Airborne yeasts could be harnessed by leaving uncooked dough exposed to air for some time before cooking. [[Pliny the Elder]] reported that the [[Gauls]] and [[Iberians]] used the foam skimmed from [[beer]], called [[barm]], to produce "a lighter kind of bread than other peoples" such as [[barm cake]]. Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of beer used a paste composed of [[grape]] juice and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in [[wine]], as a source for [[yeast]]. The most common source of leavening was to retain a piece of dough from the previous day to use as a form of sourdough [[Bread starter|starter]], as Pliny also reported.<ref>{{cite book | first=Reay | last=Tannahill | year=1973 | title=Food in History | publisher=Stein and Day | isbn=978-0-8128-1437-8 |pages=68–69}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Pliny the Elder |title=Natural History |date=1938 |publisher=Loeb Classics |pages=1.255 |url=http://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL371.255.xml?readMode=recto |quote=Generally however they do not heat it up at all, but only use the dough kept over from the day before; manifestly it is natural for sourness to make the dough ferment |archive-date=30 May 2023 |access-date=30 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530151907/https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL371.255.xml?readMode=recto |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[ancient Egypt]]ians, [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]], and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] all considered the degree of refinement in the bakery arts as a sign of civilization.<ref name=arzani11/>

The [[Chorleywood bread process]] was developed in 1961; it uses the intense mechanical working of dough to dramatically reduce the [[fermentation (food)|fermentation]] period and the time taken to produce a loaf. The process, whose high-energy mixing allows for the use of grain with a lower protein content, is now widely used around the world in large factories. As a result, bread can be produced very quickly and at low costs to the manufacturer and the consumer. However, there has been some criticism of the effect on nutritional value.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120522022319/http://www.allotment.org.uk/recipes/bread-making/chorleywood-process Chorleywood Industrial Bread Making Process]. allotment.org.uk</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-13670278 bbc.com: "Chorleywood: The bread that changed Britain"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613131117/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-13670278 |date=13 June 2018 }}, 7 June 2011</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fob.uk.com/about-the-bread-industry/history-of-bread-antiquity/history-bread-20th-century/ |title=fob.co.uk: "History of bread – 20th century" |access-date=14 May 2018 |archive-date=19 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419215109/https://www.fob.uk.com/about-the-bread-industry/history-of-bread-antiquity/history-bread-20th-century/ |url-status=live }}</ref>