The History of Bread — The Food That Built Civilisation

Bread is the oldest processed food on Earth — older than farming, older than cities, older than writing itself. This documentary begins in a Jordanian stone hut, where archaeologists found charred crumbs of flatbread baked 14,400 years ago by hunter-gatherers who had not yet invented farming — and asks a startling question: did the desire for bread invent agriculture itself? Follow bread through Egypt, where bakers mastered fermentation and pyramid builders were paid in loaves and beer; through Greece's dozens of varieties and Rome's vast bakeries, where emperors ruled with bread and circuses; through the medieval world of manorial ovens and the Assize of Bread, the law that punished cheating bakers and may have given us the baker's dozen. Then meet Pasteur, who explained the magic of yeast, the machine that sliced bread and changed breakfast forever, and the artisan rebels bringing slow bread back. This is the complete history of bread. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome to History Lens 00:05 The World's Oldest Bread — Jordan, 14,000 Years Ago 01:13 Farming and the First Flatbreads 02:08 Egypt Masters Fermentation 03:00 Greece — Bread and Philosophy 03:55 Rome — Bread and Circuses 04:49 Medieval Bread — The Daily Loaf 05:39 The Assize of Bread — The Law of the Loaf 06:29 Sourdough and the Coming of White Flour 07:26 Pasteur and Industrial Yeast 08:16 Sliced Bread and the Chorleywood Loaf 09:10 The Artisan Revival — Bread Today #history #bread #documentary #historyofbread Subscribe to History Lens for more fascinating documentaries about the hidden histories behind everyday things!