How was the usage of yeast for bread discovered?
From where did people get the yeast for their bread??
Best Answer
The first yeast was "just there" - in the environment, everywhere. People discovered very early on that leaving the dough (or just a flour-water slurry) out would lead to it getting "sour" and "bubbly", thus leavening the bread: What we today call sourdough is in fact a mixture of yeasts and bacteria (lactobacillae).
The origins of bread-making are so ancient that everything said about them must be pure speculation. (M.G. Gaenzle: Encyclopedia of Food Microbiology)
Early sources are the Bible (-> the explicit demand for of "unleavened" or "unsoured" bread during Passover suggesting that otherwise was the norm) and sources from Ancient Egypt.
The "modern" yeast that was explicitly added was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis historia as a foam skimmed from beer:
In Gaul and Spain, where they make a drink by steeping corn in the way that has been already described - they employ the foam which thickens upon the surface as a leaven: hence it is that the bread in those countries is lighter than that made elsewhere.
Source: The Natural History, Chapter 12: Wheat. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.
Sources from the 18th century describe how the yeast from the brewing process (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) was used for baking, leading to the "specialized strains" of bakers' yeast cultivated separately when the brewers switched to bottom-fermenting yeast (S. pastorianus) in the 19th century, which preferred cooler temperatures and was not as easy to harvest as the top-fermenting types.
The use of separately cultivated yeast allowed to bake "milder" breads than the sourdough types with their typical acidic undertones but is restricted to certain flour types.
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Quick Answer about "How was the usage of yeast for bread discovered?"
It is not known when yeast was first used to bake bread; the earliest definite records come from Ancient Egypt. Researchers speculate that a mixture of flour meal and water was left longer than usual on a warm day and the yeasts that occur in natural contaminants of the flour caused it to ferment before baking.When did we start using yeast in bread?
The first-known leavened bread made with semi-domesticated yeast dates back to around 1000 B.C. in Egypt, according to Miller. However, scholars debate the exact origin, as evidence suggests that Mesopotamians also produced yeast-risen bread, Rubel said.Who used yeast first?
Yeast in History It's likely that man used yeast before the development of a written language. Hieroglyphics suggest that the ancient Egyptian civilizations were using yeast and the process of fermentation to produce alcoholic beverages and to leaven bread over 5,000 years ago.Who found out about yeast?
The history of yeast started in Prehistoric times but took a decisive turn in 1857 when Louis Pasteur discovered the fermentation process. This discovery still influences our everyday lives.How did yeast first appear?
Baker's yeast, brewer's yeast, yeast that lives in infected toenails\u2014they all descended from a common ancestor. When scientists in France set out to sequence 1,000 yeast genomes, they looked at strains from all the places you might expect: beer, bread, wine.Here's Everything You Need To Know About Yeast
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Answer 2
It's from before history.
Cool fact I read in a brewing book: Brewers used to keep a "magic wand" that was used to stir the wort (sugary water). This wand had the brewer's yeast on it and inoculated the wort with yeast to ferment it into beer. This is part of the origin of the magic wand.
Bakers, brewers, krauts, and yogurts would have had similar experiences with their tools (mixers, vessels, etc) harboring the yeast needed to make the fermentations.
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