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The Ancient Egyptians had a varied diet, but most importantly their food was bread and beer. Each meal was accompanied by them, and meals were considered incomplete without them. Wheat and barley were the main crops cultivated wheat was used to bake bread and barley for making beer.  

The bread was the staple food of the Egyptians. Much of our knowledge about ancient Egyptian bread comes from archaeological digs have found bread dried in the tombs.  The bread was placed as a funerary offering to feed the dead in their journey to the afterlife.The process of baking bread is known from sources such as statues of the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom models, tombs of Beni Hassan etc.

Ancient Egyptian Bread

An illustration of the tomb of Ramses II depicted baking bread at the bakery Royal. Egyptian bread was made almost exclusively from emmer wheat, which was more difficult to process into flour from most other wheat varieties. Emmer needed a complete treatment, which was usually done by women in large families. Egyptian bread was very different from bread we eat today.  

The gritty and hard bread was very dangerous for your teeth. Many Egyptian mummies show severe abrasion of the teeth to eat bread with sand and particles from the wheels. Even Amenhotep III suffered a lot of these problems. The ball is in spikelet which needed to be removed by moistening and pounding with a pestle to avoid crushing the beans inside. 

 It is then dried in the sun, winnowed and sifted bleached and finally on a wheel seat, which operated by moving the wheel back and forth. Grinding was hard work, taking hours of hard work. Grit stone grinding wheel was released in flour and was baked in bread. Cooking techniques varies over time. Flavorings used for bread included coriander seeds and dates. There were other flavors such as honey, butter, eggs, oil and herbs, and fruit that were added to the occasion.  

Yeast could also be added to some recipes. But whether they were used by the poor. The most common type of pita bread is a type made either with refined white flour called aysh Shami, or with coarse, whole wheat, aysh belly. There were over thirty different types of bread. More than forty varieties of bread and cakes were made in the New Kingdom.  

There are many types of breads, including those shaped like animals. Breads also the form of human figures, fish, all of varying the texture of dough. The climate of Egypt, which is very dry in many places, is responsible for preserving a rich organic matter, including breads. Hundreds of specimens have survived, mostly from funerary offerings that have found their way into museums around the world.  

Ancient Egyptian Food video

Ancient Egyptian Bread video

Bread was often used as a synonym for food and hospitality. Extension of bread to the poor by the rich has been appreciated. The gods and the dead grass to an eternal life of the deity, were offered white bread. At times, the wages were paid in the form of bread and beer if the grain has been mainly used for this purpose. During the old kingdom, the daily ration of a worker was ten loaves of bread and two jugs of beer.

Ancient Egyptian Bread and Food Pictures:

 

Ancient Egypt Food

Ancient Egypt