THE BREAD OF ANCIENT EGYPT

Mediterranean agriculture was born in the fertile Crescent about 10,000 years ago. Among the founding plants of this agriculture are several cereals: barley, wheat and later rye and oats. Barley is undoubtedly the most important cereal in the Neolithic and it was also in Egypt, attested in religious rites. The various types of wheat form a complex group that is still difficult to clarify today. At first the cereals were probably treated in the form of pasta and some of these were fermented. Taking into account that fermentation is a natural process that begins very quickly, the first cooks had to worry about knowing how to prevent fermentation rather than controlling it. After all, bread is a kind of thick dough that is cooked to preserve it, while beer is a mush of which fermentation is oriented. These two realities thus provided products with new and appreciated tastes.