The History of Bread From Pre-historic to Modern Times

Scarcely two centuries have passed since rye flour, by itself, or mixed with wheat, furnished nearly all the bread consumed by the labouring classes of England. With the exception of wheat, rye contains a greater proportion of gluten than any other cereal, to which fact it owes its capability of being converted into a spongy bread; and if anyone wishes to try it for themselves, here is a recipe for making Grislex Surbröd or Husholdinngsbröd (bread for the household), which is the ordinary bread for the eastern parts of Norway.

‘Contrary to our expectations we found white bread everywhere, but the common bread is a heavy bread, the chief ingredient of which is rye. It is always sour – the goodwife intends it to be so. They also have “flat bread” (flad bröd) made of potatoes and rye. It was this kind of bread that the two women whom we happened in upon were making. They were in a little underground room, unlighted except from the door.

‘The women making the bread were seated on either side of a long, low table, upon which were huge mounds of dough. The one nearest the door cut off a piece of this, and moulded it, and rolled it out to a certain degree of thinness; then the other one took it, and, with the greatest care, rolled it still more. At her right hand was the fireplace, and upon the coal was a red piece of iron, forming a huge griddle more than half a yard across. The bread matched this very nearly in size when it was ready to be baked, and it was spread out and turned upon the griddle with great dexterity, and as soon as it was baked it was added to a great heap on the floor.

‘The woman said she should continue to bake bread for thirty days. She had a large family of men who consumed a great deal, and they had to bake very often in consequence. In many places they do not bake bread oftener than twice a year, then it is a circumstance like haying or harvesting. We heard an Englishman say of this bread of the country: “One might eat an acre of it and then not be satisfied.”’

In Denmark, too, rye bread is the rule among the peasantry and small farmers – wheaten bread being to them a luxury, and used as cake is with us. In Russia, although its chief export is wheat from the Black Sea, and oats and rye from the Baltic, the peasant eats but rye bread dipped in hemp oil, and even then, as but a few years since, famine visits this granary, and the hapless peasants being reduced to mix orach and bark with their wretched bread, have at times been unable to procure even this, and have died in thousands of starvation. Although Austria-Hungary produces wheat which makes the finest bread-flour in the world, yet throughout the Austrian Empire the peasantry eat rye bread, whilst at Vienna the wheaten bread, especially the Kaiser semmel, which is what we should term a dinner roll or manchet, is simply perfection.

The excellence of the Viennese bread is said to be owing to the bakers, the ovens, and the yeast. The men work according to the traditions of the past, which have been handed down to them. The ovens are heated by wood fires lit inside them during four hours; the ashes are then raked out, and the oven is carefully wiped with wisps of damp straw. On the vapour thus generated, as well as that produced by the baking of the dough, lies the whole art of the browning and the success of the semmel. An ounce of yeast (three decagrammes) and as much salt is taken for every gallon of milk used for the dough. The yeast is a Viennese speciality, known as St. Marxner Pressheffe, and its composition is a secret. It keeps two days in summer and a little longer in winter.

Viennese bread is noted for the fantastic shapes into which it is made, but concerning the crescent shape the following legend is told: ‘Many years ago, when there was war between the Austrians and the Turks, the city of Vienna was besieged, and so closely invested that famine seemed inevitable unless the inhabitants yielded and surrendered to the hated Turks. One day a baker in his cellar noticed a peculiar noise, and, looking about, discovered that a boy’s drum on the ground in a corner had some marbles on the parchment, which every little while danced about and caused the odd sound. Surprised, he listened intently, and found that the noise was repeated at regular intervals. He put his ear to the ground and could distinguish a thumping sound, which, on reflection, he concluded must be produced by the enemy undermining the city. He went to the authorities with his story, but at first it was discredited. At last the general in command made an investigation, and found the baker’s suspicions correct. A counter-mine was made and exploded, and the Turks repulsed.

On the restoration of peace, the Emperor of Austria sent for the baker, and expressing his gratitude to him for having saved the city, asked what reward he could claim. The modest baker refused riches or rank, but only asked the privilege of making his bread hereafter in the form of the crescent, which had so long been their terror, so that it might be a reminder to those who ate it that the God of the Christian is greater than the God of the Infidel. So the Imperial order was issued granting the baker and his descendants the sole right to make their bread in the shape of the Turkish crescent.’

As in Austria, so in Germany. Good wheaten bread can be got in towns and cities, though not so fine as in Austria, by reason of the flour, and the peasantry are content to have rye and barley bread. Pumpernickel, to wit, is one of the oldest varieties of bread, and the first to come into general use. It is made of barley, and must be baked in an oven especially made for the purpose. This kind of bread is considered very nutritious, and is of a sweet taste. In many parts of Germany there are large bakeries where pumpernickel is baked as a speciality, whence it is sent into the smaller towns, and even exported to other countries in loaves of 4 lbs., 8 lbs., and 12 lbs. weight. At Soest, Unna, and Brostadt large quantities are made for exportation, for the expatriated German carries his love of Fatherland with him, and at Berlin there is also a bakery for making pumpernickel.

The Gauls reaped their wheat, and then threshed it out by means of oxen and horses; but they also cut off the ears, and then reaped the straw. To gather in the panic and millet, they held the stalks by means of a kind of comb, and then cut off the heads with shears. To prevent its being stolen, the corn was hidden in underground storehouses, and often in natural caves, which were afterwards walled up. They used mealing stones, as before described, in order to crush and roughly grind their grain, which was made into an unleavened cake, dry and thin, which was not cut, but was broken when served. They also had a kind of bread called ‘plate bread,’ which they ate soaked with sauce or meat gravy. The Gauls made beer from barley, and used it instead of water to mix their dough with. Thus, unconsciously, they discovered the secret of leavened bread; and, by-and-by, noticing that the beer if let alone frothed, and that when used for bread-making in this state the bread was lighter, they left off using the beer, and only employed the yeast.

Barley they called gru, which, in Latin, became grudum. Gruellum was husked barley, which the Gauls ate in soup and with boiled meat. This is the origin of the French word gruau (groats), which is equally applied to husked oats. Rye was used in the northern part of Gaul; and, from the time of Strabo, millet was in use among the Gauls as well as panic, but especially in Aquitaine. They also certainly knew of buck-wheat, which had been cultivated from time immemorial in Africa, for it has been found in several Celtic remains in the Camp de Chalons.

The Romans brought millstones with them, and introduced the water-wheel, which saved them the exertion of personally grinding their corn, and with the arrival of the Franks came Christianity, and they were taught the prayer, ‘Our Father, which art in Heaven … give us this day our daily bread.’

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in France, noblemen, the middle-class, and shopkeepers did not eat much white bread, and their best was equal to the ‘household bread’ of to-day, whilst whitey-brown, brown, and bran breads were to be found on their tables. The common folk fed on bread made of barley, rye, maslin, a mixture of wheat and rye, brown bread, black bread, and enormous pasties, of which the thick crust was composed of rye, bran, and flour mixed together.

Maize was introduced into France from America in 1560. Champier speaks of it as a plant recently imported, and says: ‘Some poor people, in default of corn, have made bread of it, especially in the Beaujolais, but it is less fitted for men than for animals, which fatten quickly upon it, and especially for pigeons who love it much.’

Vermicelli, macaroni, lazagnes (riband vermicelli) and other Italian pastas were brought into France during the wars of Charles VIII., and had no other rivals than rice.

At this time, in making bread, the yeast of beer was partially abandoned, and other ferments were made use of. The Flemings boiled wheat, and, after having skimmed off the froth, used it as a leaven, which gave them a bread much lighter than hitherto, or, according to Champier and Liébaut, who wrote in 1589, they employed vinegar, wine, and rennet; and from their writings we find that the farmers were their own millers and bakers.

‘It would be useless for the labourer to take so much pains with his land, if he only derived a profit from a sale of the grain which he has harvested, if he could not himself make cakes, flammèches (flaky pastry), flans (cakes made with flour, eggs, milk and butter), fritters, and a thousand other dainties, which he can make with a flour from his own corn; and it would be very unbecoming in him were he to borrow them from his neighbours, or buy them of the bakers or pastrycooks.

‘The farmer’s duty is to choose his corn, have it ground, and to keep the flour in the granary, whence he will soon take it in order to make bread. The handling of the flour and kneading the dough is entirely the care of the wife, who ought to give all her best energies to it, for of all food bread is the best; one gets tired of the most delicate meats, but never of bread.’

From this time till the present there is no great story to tell of bread in France. It has progressed in quality, as in every other country, until French bread is famous throughout the civilised world. But this is mainly in the towns; black bread is still in use in some of the rural parts of France, and one can imagine the relish with which the peasant tastes once more the bread of his youth after having been deprived of it for some time.

In Paris, at one time, the monks controlled the bakery business; they had the monopoly of the public ovens, where housewives brought the dough to be baked, just as nowadays they take a shoulder of mutton and potatoes. But no baking was allowed on Sundays and fête days. France thus observed Sunday as a whole holiday, and the oven-tax went towards the support and burial of the poor. Up to 1789 the bakers were compelled to sell nearly all their bread at stalls in the public markets, and 900 master bakers monopolised the privilege; for it was only in 1863 that the trade became free and thrown open to all. Previous to that, in order to qualify for a master baker, it was necessary to graduate five years as an apprentice, and four more as a journeyman; also the sale of fancy bread was obliged to be carried on in an underhand way, and it was delivered in secret, being subject to a tax, and the baker not being able to make it of exact weight, without prejudice, on account of its great extent of crust.

American flour is celebrated all over the world, and is more extensively used in England, especially the finest sorts for pastry; but, of course, the demand for it in the immense continent itself is something enormous. Take one instance, Philadelphia, which is celebrated for its good bread. Over one million barrels are sold in that city annually for home consumption, and two-thirds of this is made into bread. The 1300 bakers in Philadelphia use 600,000 barrels, a barrel of good flour making from 270 to 280 five cent. loaves, and the best flour is the cheapest to use. As a rule, the bakers use choice brands, and mix four grades to get the proper alloy, so to speak – two ‘Minnesota springs’ and two ‘Indiana winters.’ Some bakers, especially those who make the best breads, use only one grade of spring wheat and two of winter. In the olden time yeast was made of malt, potatoes, and hops, and it is still largely used, but the bakers of fancy breads use a patent yellow compressed yeast. There are seven large steam bread bakeries in Philadelphia, giving employment to three or four hundred hands. One large establishment manufactures the different varieties of Vienna bread exclusively. It is made of the best flour, and milk instead of water is used to mix the flour. The baking is done in air-tight ovens, and the steam generated in baking settles back on the bread instead of escaping. This makes the outer crust thin and tender, and gives the bread a particularly rich taste and pleasant aroma.

With the addition of maize and buckwheat, the Americans use the same cereals for making bread as we do; but, of course, as is the case with every nation, there are specialities which do not travel abroad. Graham bread is our wholemeal bread, and should be made with the unbolted meal of wheat, and not only that, but the wheat of which it is made should be good plump grain, otherwise there would be a disproportionate quantity of bran.

Then there is Boston brown bread, for which the following is the formula: One quart Indian corn meal, one quart Graham, one quart rye flour, one quart white flour, one quart boiling water, one pint yeast, one small cup of molasses, two teaspoonfuls of salt, half-cup of burnt sugar colouring. For rye and Indian corn bread it is only necessary to change the above recipe by leaving out the Graham and white flour and doubling the proportions of Indian corn meal and rye in their place.

Of rolls there are very many varieties besides the ordinary French rolls. Many hotels have their speciality in this class of bread, and, consequently, we have Parker, Tremont, Revere, Brunswick, Clarendon, St. James, Windsor, &c., rolls, besides which there are twist and sandwich rolls.

CHAPTER VII

Early English Bread

When the culture of grain in Britain really commenced we cannot possibly tell, but we know that the Phœnicians traded with this island in very early times for tin. All that we really know is from the fragments of writing left by Pytheas, who may, in one sense, be said to have been the discoverer of Britain. About 340 B.C. the Greek colony which the Greeks had planted at Massilia (Marseilles) wished to extend their trade, and, whether at their expense or his own, Pytheas, a learned man, a geographer and astronomer, set sail for parts unknown in the Western Ocean.

Diodorus Siculus, who lived just before the Christian era, must have taken his account of the Britons from Pytheas. In Book V., c. 2, he says: ‘They dwell in mean cottages, covered for the most part with reeds and sticks. In reaping their corn, they cut the ears from off the stalk, and house them in repositories under ground; thence they take and pluck out the grains of as many of the oldest of them as may serve them for the day, and, after they have bruised the corn, make it into bread,’

It is said, also, that about this time the Britons exported corn to Gaul and also up the Rhine. On Cæsar’s arrival he found them an agricultural people, with abundance of wheat and barley; and during the time of the Roman occupation they made great advances in agriculture. After their departure a hide of land was 180 acres if it was cultivated on the Roman three-field system, or 160 if on the English plan of two-field course. In the former, one portion was sown with winter wheat, a second with spring wheat, whilst the third lay fallow. The English way was to divide the hide, and in each half to sow alternately spring and winter wheat, and the chief crops raised were rye, oats, barley, wheat, beans and peas. In social rank, the yeoman, or geneat (tenant farmer), ranked next after the thegn and the priest, whilst even the baker was an important member of a thegn’s household – the bread being made in round flat cakes from wholemeal (for there is no mention of bolting it), ground in a hand-mill or quern. Such were doubtless the storied cakes which Alfred watched for the neatherd’s wife.

The peasants’ bread was principally made of rye, oats, and beans, the wheat being used by the ‘gentry’ only – ordinary bread being made of barley; and, connected with the latter, are derived our names of Lord and Lady, the first from Llaford, originator of bread, or bread-ward, the latter from Llæfdige, bread-maid, or bread-maker. So, too, we owe our wedding cake to the great loaf made by the bride to show her inauguration into housewifery, which was partaken of by the wedding guests.

The peasant baked his bread on iron plates or in rude ovens, and ground his coarse meal in hand-mills; but in later times water was made the principal motive power for grinding corn, and about 5000 mills are mentioned in Domesday Book; but they are not particularised as to what power they were worked by.

As a trade, the bakers of London rank from a very early date. They formed a brotherhood, or guild, in the reign of Henry II., about 1155. Stow says of them: ‘The Company of White Bakers are of great antiquity, as appeareth by their Records, and divers other things of antiquity, extant in their Common Hall. They were a Company of this City in the first year of Edward II., and had a new Charter granted unto them in the first year of Henry VII., the which Charter was confirmed unto them by Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and King James I. Their Arms were anciently borne; the crest and supporters were granted to them by Robert Cook, Clarencieux, the Letters Patent bearing date November 8 (32 Eliz.), 1590. The Cloud on the Chief thro’ which the Hand holding the Scales Cometh, hath a Glory, omitted in the edition printed 1633; and on each side of the Hand are two Anchors, here also omitted; as by the Visitation Book, Anno 1634, appears.’

Stow describes the Company of the Brown Bakers as ‘A Society of long standing and continuance, prevailed to have their Incorporating granted the ninth day of June, in the 19th year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James I.’

The Arms of both White and Brown Bakers are copied from Harl. MSS. 1464, 57e. (73), A.D. 1634 – the Arms of these and other Companies being copied from the Herald’s Visitation of that year, by Rd. Price, Armes-Painter.

Heraldically described, the Arms of the White Bakers are – Gules, three Garbs Or, a chief barry wavy of four, argent and azure, an arm issuing from clouds radiated of the second, the hand holding a pair of scales depending between the upper Garbs, also of the second. Crest: Two Arms embowed issuing out of clouds, proper, holding in the hands a chaplet of wheat, or. Supporters: Two Stags, proper, attired, or, each gorged with a chaplet of wheat, of the last.

The Arms of the Brown Bakers closely resemble those of their white brethren, but are not so dignified, as lacking supporters and motto: Vert, a chevron quarterly, or and gules, charged with a pair of balances, azure, holden by a hand out of a cloud, proper, between three garbs of beans, rye and wheat, or. On a chief barry of five, wavy, argent and azure, an Anchor couchant, or. Crest: An Arm quarterly of the second, the hand holding a bean sheaf, proper.

W. Carew Hazlitt, in his Livery Companies of the City of London (Lond. 1892) says: ‘In the Elizabeth, as in the Henry VIII. Charter, the White Bakers had taken the initiative in drawing the makers of brown bread, whose business was far more limited and unimportant, into union with them on unequal terms, and the latter body dissented and renounced; whereupon the Queen was advised by the Lords of the Council to recall her patent. This proceeding seems, for a time, to have caused the matter to drop; but in 19 James I., June 6, 1622, the Brown Bakers succeeded in securing separate incorporation, with a common seal, a Master, three Wardens, and sixteen Assistants, as well as all other usual rights and powers. We hear nothing further of the matter till 1629, when the two bodies were still separate, the White Bakers being assessed for a levy by the City in that year at £25 16s., the other at £4. 6s., a proof of the relative weight and resources of the disputants, which is confirmed by the proportions contributed by each to the Ulster scheme a few years prior, namely, £480 and £90. In 1654 the Brown Bakers had apparently relinquished their independent quarters at Founders’ Hall, Lothbury, as if an union had been arranged; and in 2 James II. the charter was received with the usual restrictions in regard to the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and conformity to the Church of England, but otherwise in such a form as to lead to the belief that it comprehended both sections of the trade.’

The Bakers’ Company ranks very high after the twelve great City Companies, on account of its great antiquity. Its Hall, in Stow’s time, was in ‘Hart Lane, or Harp Lane, which likewise runneth (from Tower Street) into Thames Street. In this Hart Lane is the Bakers’ Hall, some time the dwelling-house of John Chichley, Chamberlain of London.’ And in Harp Lane it still is. According to Whitaker’s Almanack for 1904 its livery numbers 152 and its total income is only £1900.

Much early legislation was passed regarding bakers and their calling, but, in spite of it all, some bakers did not amend their ways, and an amusing grievance was made by Fabyan as to their punishment. In his Chronicles, under date of 1268, and speaking of the harshness of Sir Hugh Bigod, justice, he says: ‘In processe of tyme after, the sayde syr Hughe, wt. other, came to Guylde hall, and kepte his courte and plees there withoute all ordre of lawe, and contrarye to the lybertyes of the cytie, and there punysshed the bakers for lacke of syze, by the tumberell, where before tymes they were punysshed by the pyllery, and orderynge many thynges at his wyll, more than by any good ordre of lawe.’ And Holinshed repeats the story.

Nor were their misdeeds confined to their trade, as we may learn from the Archives of the City of London. In fact, their evil deeds were so notorious that the King himself had to take cognizance of them.

That the bakers wanted looking after is well evidenced by the following extracts from the City archives:

26 Edward I., A.D. 1298. ‘Be it remembered that on Wednesday next after the Feast of St. Lawrence (August 10), in the 26th year of the reign of King Edward, Juliana, la Pestour of Neutone (the baker of Newington), brought a cart laden with six shillings’ worth of bread into West Chepe; of which bread, that which was light bread was wanting in weight, according to the assise of the halfpenny loaf, to the amount of 25 shillings in weight. [The shilling of silver being three-fifths of an ounce in weight, this deficiency would be 15 ounces.] And of the said six shillings’ worth, three shillings’ worth was brown bread; which brown bread was of the right assise. It was, therefore, adjudged that the same should be delivered to the aforesaid Juliana, by Henry le Galeys, Mayor of London, Thomas Romeyn, and other Aldermen. And the other three shillings’ worth, by award of the said Mayor and Aldermen, was ordered to be given to the prisoners in Newgate.’

3. Edward II., A.D. 1310. ‘On the Monday next before the Feast of St Hilary (13th January), in the third year of the reign of Edward, the son of King Edward, the bread of Sarra Foting, Christina Terrice, Godiyeva Foting, Matilda de Bolingtone, Christina Pricket, Isabella Sperling, Alice Pegges, Joanna de Cauntebrigge, and Isabella Pouvestre, bakeresses of Stratford [The bread of London, in these times, was extensively made in the villages of Bromley (Bremble), Middlesex, and Stratford-le-Bow.] Stow says, ‘And because I have here before spoken of the bread carts coming from Stratford at the Bow, ye shall understand that of old time the bakers of bread at Stratford were allowed to bring daily (except the Sabbath and principal feasts) divers long carts laden with bread, the same being two ounces in the penny wheat loaf heavier than the penny wheat loaf baked in the City, the same to be sold in Cheape, three or four carts standing there, between Gatheron’s Lane and Fauster’s Lane end, one cart on Cornhill, by the Conduit, and one other in Grasse Street. And I have read that in the fourth year of Edward II., Richard Reffeham being Mayor, a baker named John, of Stratforde, for making bread less than the assise, was, with a fool’s hood on his head and loaves of bread about his neck, drawn on a hurdle through the streets of the City. Moreover, in the 44th of Edward III., John Chichester being Mayor of London, I read in the Visions of Piers Plowman, a book so called, as followeth: