History proves that bread is one of the oldest prepared foods ever.
Hardly any other product is as deeply rooted in the culture of countries and people as bread and baked goods. History proves that bread is one of the oldest prepared foods ever. Finds have shown that wild oats and barley were ground into flour and probably watered and boiled or baked at least from the Middle Paleolithic period about 40,000 years ago. Corresponding finds were made in northern Iraq. In southern Italy, traces of grass starch dating back more than 30,000 years were found on mortar implements for flour production, and north of the Alps, wild plants were ground, as finds from Russia show. The oldest remains of unleavened bread to date (about 14,000 old) were found in northeastern Jordan. This allows evidence that bread baking was developed about 4,000 years before the development of agriculture.
In the course of the development of agriculture and with increasing population, bread became a fixed and very important part of the diet. In order to improve quality and also to distinguish themselves, bakers joined together in the Middle Ages and created strict regulations for the craft. Anyone who wanted to become a baker first had to be trained by a master baker. At that time, the baker’s profession was very physically demanding, as all work had to be done by hand. Only with the industrial revolution was it possible to use machines to help with heavy work. The development of mixing and kneading machines as well as special ovens made bakers’ work easier. Added to this were artificial baking additives, which made it increasingly easy to produce baked goods with consistent quality, good appearance and a long shelf life.
Although bread and baked goods are produced industrially in many places, the artisan culture still exists today or has been partially rediscovered in recent years.
Younger bakers in particular are trying to give bread products their original character by using traditional methods and raw materials. In addition to the bread grains wheat and rye, spelt or kamut, einkorn and emmer, all original forms of wheat, are increasingly being used. Other cereals such as barley, rice, corn, oats and millet cause the greatest difficulty in baking due to the lack of dough structure. However, these grains can be mixed in well to give the bread special flavors.
Today, a wide range of partially or fully automated equipment and systems are available for the artisanal production of high-quality baked goods. For example, raw material dosing systems, dough kneading systems in combination with pre-dough, sourdough and dough resting systems with sophisticated kneading tools are used. Accordingly, dough preparation systems with a wide range of variants for different doughs and shapes allow a very efficient and consistent working method. Finally, proofing systems with proofing stop functions and long-term guidance in combination with modern baking ovens open up new possibilities for quality improvement and automation even on a small scale.
Even with the use of modern machines and processes, the basic rule still applies: Quality in the bakery trade takes time.
