Bread was central to the formation of early human societies. From the Fertile Crescent, where wheat was domesticated, cultivation spread north and west, to Europe and North Africa, and east towards East Asia. This in turn led to the formation of towns, as opposed to the nomadic lifestyle and gave rise to more and more sophisticated forms of societal organization. Similar developments occurred in the Americas with maize and in Asia with rice.

Antiquity

Charred crumbs of a flatbread made by Natufian hunter-gatherers from wild wheat, wild barley and plant roots between 14,600 and 11,600 years ago have been found at the archaeological site of Shubayqa 1 in the Black Desert in Jordan, predating the earliest known making of bread from cultivated wheat by thousands of years. Grinding stones dated at 30,000 years old, possibly used for grinding grains and seeds into flour, have in recent years been unearthed in Australia and Europe, but there is no definitive evidence that these tools or their products were used for making breads.

Bread is otherwise strongly associated with agriculture. Wheat was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. Bread is found in Neolithic sites in Turkey and Europe from around 9,100 years ago.

There is extensive evidence of breadmaking in Ancient Egypt during the Neolithic period, some 6-5,000 years ago, in the form of artistic depictions, remains of structures and items used in bread making, and remains of the dough and bread itself.

The most common source of leavening in antiquity was to retain a piece of dough (with sugar and water in) from the previous day to utilize as a form of sourdough starter. Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce "a lighter kind of bread than other peoples". Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of beer used a paste composed of grape must and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine, as a source for yeast. Also, different forms of currency were exchanged in Ancient Egypt before they began using coinage in the first millennium BC. Until this time, they did not rely on silver or gold, but instead exchanged everyday goods. For the poor, bread and beer were used to pay subsistence workers.

The idea of a free-standing oven that could be pre-heated, with a door for access, appears to have been Greek.

In the Americas, the Mayans were known as "the men of corn" and used that corn to create things like tortillas, tamales, and other breads. The people of modern-day Mexico have adopted these traditions, making corn and bread a popular part of Mexican dishes. 

Even in antiquity there was a wide variety of breads. In ancient times the Greek bread was barley bread: Solon declared that wheaten bread might only be baked for feast days. By the 5th century BC bread could be purchased in Athens from a baker's shop, and in Rome, Greek bakers appeared in the 2nd century BC, as Hellenized Asia Minor was added to Roman dominion as the province of Asia; the foreign bakers of bread were permitted to form a collegium.  In the Deipnosophistae, the author Athenaeus () describes some of the bread, cakes, and pastries available in the Classical world. Among the breads mentioned are griddle cakes, honey-and-oil bread, mushroom-shaped loaves covered in poppy seeds, and the military specialty of rolls baked on a spit.  The type and quality of flours used to produce bread could also vary, as noted by Diphilus when he declared "bread made of wheat, as compared with that made of barley, is more nourishing, more digestible, and in every way superior. In order of merit, the bread made from refined [thoroughly sieved] flour comes first, after that bread from ordinary wheat, and then the unbolted, made of flour that has not been sifted". The essentiality of bread in the diet was reflected in the name for the rest of the meal: ópson, "condiment", i.e., bread's accompaniment, whatever it might be.

Middle Ages

In medieval Europe, bread served not only as a staple food but also as part of the table service.  In the standard table setting of the day the trencher, a piece of stale bread roughly 6 inches by 4 inches (15 cm by 10 cm), was served as an absorbent plate. When food was scarce, an all-too-common occurrence in medieval Europe, the trencher when served would typically be eaten with or at the completion of a meal. In times of relative abundance, trenchers could be given to the poor or fed to the dogs. It was not until the 15th century that trenchers made of wood started to replace the bread variety.  In Britain the price, weight and quality of bread and beer was regulated by the Assize of Bread and Ale from the 13th century. Later in the 13th century, two further quasi-statutes were passed: The Judgement of Pillory and the Statute of English Bakers. Assizes were abandoned in Glasgow in 1801, in London in 1815 and in the rest of Britain in 1836.

To the 19th century

The Corn Laws inflated the price of bread in the UK. The Anti-Corn Law League demanded cheap bread.  After repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 cereal duties were substantially reduced and abolished in 1869.

From the late 18th century to the end of the 19th century, bread sold in England and the United States was often adulterated with hazardous materials, including chalk, sawdust, alum, plaster, clay and ammonium carbonate. Frederick Accum was the first to raise alarm to the food adulteration in 1820. In 1837, American health reformer Sylvester Graham published Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making, which described how to use unrefined wheat flour to make Graham bread at home, in response to adulterated bread sold in public bake houses.

This gradually came to an end with government action, such as the 1860 and 1899 Food Adulteration Acts in Britain. America had a more difficult time ending these processes of adulteration, however, as various states had varying policies regarding bread making.

In the mid-19th century, Britain imported much of its bread wheat from the United States.

Industrialization

Bread-baking was industrialized at the start of the 20th century. Otto Frederick Rohwedder developed a prototype bread-slicing machine in 1912, and a practical machine that both sliced and wrapped bread in 1928.

It was discovered early on that while a bran- and wheatgerm-discarding milling process can help improve white flour's shelf life, it does remove nutrients like some dietary fiber, iron, B vitamins, micronutrients and essential fatty acids. The US government has mandated since 1941 fortification of white flour-based foods with some of the nutrients lost in milling, like thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and iron. This mandate came about in response to the vast nutrient deficiencies seen in US military recruits at the start of World War II.

A major change in the United Kingdom was the development in 1961 of the Chorleywood bread process. This used the intense mechanical working of dough, and control of gases touching dough, to dramatically reduce the fermentation period and the time taken to produce a loaf at the expense of taste and nutrition.

For generations, white bread was the preferred bread of the rich while the poor ate dark (whole grain) bread. However, in most western societies, the connotations reversed in the late 20th century, with whole-grain bread becoming preferred as having superior nutritional value while Chorleywood bread became associated with lower-class ignorance of nutrition.

More recently, and especially in smaller retail bakeries, chemical additives are used that both speed up mixing time and reduce necessary fermentation time, so that a batch of bread may be mixed, made up, risen, and baked in fewer than three hours. Dough that does not require fermentation because of chemical additives is called "quick bread" by commercial bakers. The introduction of commercial yeasts during the 19th century was detrimental to sourdough as these speeded up the baking process making production much easier.  Common additives include reducing agents such as L-cysteine or sodium metabisulfite, and oxidants such as potassium bromate or ascorbic acid; this last ingredient is added to whole meal bread to increase the softness of the loaf. Calcium was added to flour in the UK to prevent rickets, which had been detected as common in women who joined the World War II effort.

However, in the 1980s, demand for sourdough in the UK grew to the point that in 1993, regulations were drawn up to define what could be sold as sourdough bread. In Germany, sourdough continued to be used for rye breads, even as commercial yeasts became more popular.

Since 1986, domestic bread makers that automate the process of making bread have become popular in the home.

See also

 Food history
 Cultural significance of bread

References

 
Bread
빵은 오래전부터 만들어진 음식 중 하나이며, 빵의 역사는 신석기 시대까지 거슬러 올라갈 만큼 오래되었다. 최초의 빵은 우연으로 만든 것인지 혹은 계획된 실험에 의해서 만들어졌는지는 모르지만 아마도 곡물 낱알 가루를 물과 섞어 만든 반죽을 익혀서 만들었을 것이다. 이런 초기의 빵은 전 세계에서 여러 가지 곡물들을 사용하여 토르티야, 난과 같은 형태로 만들어졌다. 일부 납작한 빵은 초기 문명의 주요 식품이었다. 수메르인들은 보리로 만든 납작한 빵을 먹었으며, 기원전 12세기 경 이집트에선 ta라고 불리는 납작한 빵을 길거리에서 구매하는 것이 가능하였다. 고대 그리스에선 빵을 죽음의 신께 제물로 바쳤는데, Psadista라 알려진 이 빵은 고운 밀가루와 기름, 그리고 와인을 이용하여 만들어졌다.

이스트를 넣은 빵은 선사시대까지 거슬러 올라간다. 이스트는 어디에나 존재하며, 특히 곡물 낱알의 겉표면에 포함되어 있어서, 도우를 내버려두면 자연적으로 부풀어 오른다. 최초로 이스트를 넣은 빵은 고대 이집트에서 발견되었다. 전자 현미경 검사 결과 몇몇 이집트 빵에서 이스트가 들어있는 걸 발견해내었다. 그리고 고대 이집트의 빵은 엠머밀(emmer wheat)을 썼으며 또한 빵 속의 밀도가 높다. 이 경우 이스트는 보이지 않게 되고, 빵이 부풀었는 지를 규명해 내는 것이 어렵게 된다. 결론적으로 고대 이집트에서 이스트를 넣은 부푼 빵을 먹었는지는 아직 정확하게 밝혀지지 않았다.

초기의 빵에 이스트가 사용되었다는 증거는 여러 가지가 있다. 공중의 이스트는 아직 요리되지 않은 반죽에 들어가 요리가 아직 되지 않을 동안 머물러 있을 수 있다. 대 플리니우스는 갈리아와 이베리아인들이 탈지유와 맥주를 가지고 "다른 사람들과 다른 가벼운 빵 종류"를 만든 것을 기록하였다. 다른 고대 세계에서는 와인을 마시는 것보다 포도즙과 밀가루를 섞은 후 발효시킨 맥주 혹은 이스트가 들어있는 왕겨에 와인을 빠트린 걸 마셨다.

예열할 수 있으며 문이 달려 안에 집어넣을 수 있는 오븐에 대한 아이디어는 그리스에서 처음 발견되었다.

고대 그리스에서는 빵이 귀했다: 솔론은 빵을 축제일에만 구워 먹을 수 있었다고 주장했다. 5세기 아테네와 로마에선 빵 가게에서 빵을 살 수 있었으며, 그리스 제빵사들은 BC 2세기 동안 등장하여, 헬레니즘화된 아시아 속주와 로마의 속주에서 활동하였다;
그리스 제빵사들은 데이프노소피스타이(Deipnosophistae)에서 모임을 만들었으며, 3세기 중반 작가 아테나에우스는 몇몇 종류의 빵, 케이크, 과자 등을 기술하였다. 아테나에우스는 그릴 케이크, 꿀과 기름을 넣은 빵, 위에 양귀비 씨앗을 뿌린 버섯 모양의 빵, 그리고 군대에서 많이 구워진 꼬챙이에 꿰어진 롤 모양의 빵 등이 언급되었다.

중세 유럽에서는 빵이 다른 음식들과 같이 주식으로 올라왔다. 식사를 할 때 빵은 대충 6X4 인치 (15X10 센티미터)로, 흡수성 높은 접시로 사용하였다. 식사가 끝나고 빵은 먹거나, 거지에게 주거나, 혹은 개에게 먹이로 주었다. 15세기가 되어서야 접시가 나무로 바뀌게 되고 빵과 자리를 맞바꾸게 되었다.

산업적인 제빵은 근대의 발명품이다. 오토 프레데릭 로웨더는 얇게 잘라낸 빵의 아버지이다. 1912년 로웨더는 빵 써는 기계를 발명하였으나, 제빵사들은 잘린 빵이 신선하지 않아서 그의 기계를 쓰는 걸 내켜하지 않았다. 1928년, 로웨더가 빵을 썰면서 포장하는 기계까지 만들자, 미주리주 칠리코 시의 한 제과점에서 처음 그 기계를 사용하였다.

예전엔 하얀 빵이 부자들이 좋아하는 빵이었고, 전체 곡물을 사용하여 만든 검은 빵은 가난한 사람들이 먹었다. 그러나, 20세기 후반 쯤의 연구 결과로 인해 전곡을 사용하여 만든 빵이 영양학적으로 더 좋고, 흰 빵은 영양학적으로 낮다는 사실이 밝혀졌다.

다른 발전은 1961년 개발된 콜리우드 제빵 과정(Chorleywood Bread Process)을 이용하여 발효 시간을 대폭적으로 줄여, 빵 만드는 시간을 줄인 것에 있다. 이 과정은 높은 에너지로 낮은 등급의 곡물을 섞어서 만드는데, 전 세계의 거의 대다수의 커다란 공장에서 이 공정을 사용하고 있다. 최근에는 작은 소매업에 종사하는 제빵사들은 화학 첨가물을 이용하여, 섞는 시간과 발효 시간을 줄여, 빵을 굽는 데까지 3시간 남짓 걸려 만들어낸다. 반죽은 화학 첨가물로 발효시킬 필요가 없어지게 되었다. 공통된 화학 첨가물은 속도를 빠르게 하기 위해 L-시스테인 혹은 메타중아황산나트륨을 사용하며, 산화제로는 브로민산칼륨, 아스코르브 산을 사용한다.

종종 이런 화학 첨가물들은 반죽 안에 미리 넣어진 상태로 있는데, 이건 반죽 안에 밀가루를 제외한 다른 재료를 넣거나 혹은 안 넣을 수 있게 해준다. 이런 기반과 정교한 화학을 바탕으로, 상업적인 제빵사들은 정교한 이스트를 넣은 빵의 모조품을 만들 수 있다.

참고 

음식의 역사