Date of Award

12-1967

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Ralph E. Weber

Abstract

The history of baking is an ancient one. Some primitive man probably discovered that grains were more palatable mashed up and moistened. Another may have carelessly baked this mush and found the resulting product an improvement. We are able to approximate the year when yet another careless man, this one we know to be an Egyptian, set some dough aside and forgot it . The dough soured and expanded and was accidentally added to the regular batch with amazing results -- a light, serated bread which delighted the palates of the pharaohs in whose kitchens it was prepared from a bout 3000 B.C. on.

Though the Jews had to resort to unleavened manna in their flight from Egypt because of the impossibility of transporting the huge ovens used to bake the breads, it is they who carried the Egyptians' knowledge to the rest of the world, where they set up the world's first public bakeries.

The Greeks improved upon the milling process, making a finer bread. But the Romans improved the whole product, including the leavening agent and the oven.

Comments

A Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements For A Master's Degree

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