-
People started to eat the first form of bread. They did it by baking the combination of flour and water.
-
The Egyptians started to ferment the flour and water mixture with dry yeast. This allowed the first form of leavened bread to be made.
-
The Ancient Greeks learned how to make bread from the Ancient Egyptians. This then caused bread to quickly spread throughout the rest of Europe.
-
The Mesopotamians refined milling by using two flat, circular stones that were stacked on top of one another to grind the grain. The stones were continuously rotated by draft animals or slaves.
-
In Rome, the first bakers' guilds were formed because of the rules and regulations for bread. The wealthy Romans wanted the more expensive white bread, while the poor were given bread made from sorghum.
-
England made laws to limit the profits bakers earned by regulating the price of bread.
-
The bread trials in England ordered to mark each loaf of their bread in a special way, so if a non-conforming loaf turned up, the baker could be easily found. The bakers' marks were basically the first trademarks.
-
The United States had over 2,000 bakeries that employed more than 6,700 workers.
-
Americans were eating 210 pounds each of wheat flour per year... that's a lot of bread.
-
The invention of the commercial bread slicer lead to the invention of the toaster. Due to both of the inventions, toast consumption increased.
-
Bread was chosen as the foundation block for a diet enrichment program in the U.S. Pellagra, beriberi, and anemia had become widespread diseases because of a lack of B-vitamins and iron. Since bread was a daily food item, specific amounts of iron, thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin were added to white flour. This enrichment program was a major factor in the elimination of pellagra and beriberi in the United States, and helped in reducing anemia among Americans.
-
Despite sliced bread's widespread popularity, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture banned the sale of it in an effort to hold down prices during wartime rationing.
-
Americans were only eating 110 pounds of wheat flour, and the consumption of bread has not been the same since 1910.
-
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommended that Americans eat 6 to 11 servings of bread and other grain foods each day.
-
Americans' wheat flour consumption rises to 150 pounds. To compare, Egyptians eat 385 pounds per person pr year.
-
Folic acid, a key nutrient in preventing serious birth defects, was added to all enriched grain foods, including bread.
-
Americans eat about 53 pounds of bread per person per year.
