Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #AncientBaking
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The #OldKingdom bread keeps rolling out. This is the bread that fed the pyramid work crews. Our genetic analysis are in progress on the yeast, and pottery and construction of the full Ancient Egyptian bakery are underway. #StayTuned #AncientBaking @drserenalove @rbowman1234 
Apparently Apple spell correct doesn’t like “analyses.” Or even know it’s a word. Sorry kids.
More. Here we have roasted coriander as an additive as we know that was used in Old Kingdom baking. It smells incredible. Really amazing. Grain, yeast, spices, comfort.
Just now, the dormant yeast I collected this week from Ancient Egyptian artifacts (with help from @drserenalove and @rbowman1234) is being fed grain for the first time in four and a half thousand years. Here is the story: #AncientBaking @ClubYeast
I’m sure this raises a lot of questions in your mind, including “how do you know it’s ancient,” and “why would a grown man waste his time with this.” Well, if you have nothing better to do, i.e. no paint to watch dry and no taxes to file, read on...
First, and foremost, why? Well, I am Egyptology hobbyist. The written record in hieroglyphs allows us to hear directly from our ancestors, from *thousands* of years ago, in their own voices. It’s incredible and moving to me, to hear them, to be able to feel close to them.
I’ve been working on a yeast (and prolly other stuff) sample that I got from (redacted source). It’s from scrapings of ancient Egyptian bread pots. Yes, yeasts can hibernate that long. Yes, I’m going to bake today using it, using Barley and Emmer, which the ancient Egyptians had.
OK! Sorry if this is boring, but I’m trying to learn to bake bread that tastes like it did 4000 years ago. Here’s the earliest wheat I can readily get, Einkorn. I mill it into flour from the seeds, as you can see here. The yeast is still getting started so now is the time to mill
Here’s what milling looks like. In that machine are two stone discs that rotate opposite each other, which grind the seeds to powder. Fineness is controlled with the spacing of the discs. This is very close to how ancient people’s did it, while take a lot less time.
