Some of the earliest techniques used to bake food include masonry ovens, smoke pits, and terracotta baking pans. These were used primarily for baking breads and flat cakes that required a constant source of heat that spread evenly around the food slowly cooking it from the outside in.

The discovery of some of these molds and techniques dates back to the beginning of the second millennium BC in the Middle East. Many ancient civilizations and empires used baking extensively to cook food.

Early evidence and records of baking tell of how humans made a broth-like paste of beaten wild grains and cooked it on flat, hot rocks in the desert where the heat of the sun “baked” the paste into a similar dough. to the bread crunchy food. The absence of suitable rocks or sunlight meant that they had to pre-bake and store the bread as long as they had access to both. Later, when fire was discovered, this paste was cooked over hot coals; this provided the advantage of being able to bake bread when necessary. Little by little, the custom of eating these baked breads in combination with meat and vegetables was gaining ground.

Baking, as a cooking method, flourished in ancient Rome. Around the year 300 a. C., the first references to pastry chefs known as ‘pastillarium’ gained respect and became a profession because the Romans as a race enjoyed celebrations and parties and took a great interest in gastronomically prepared delicacies. There were contests for chefs who invented and prepared new baked treats and Roman banquets were not complete without the presence of cakes that were baked in vast quantities for their lavish banquets. In 168 BC, Rome had a bakers’ guild and bread was baked in ovens with chimneys; Flour mills were established to grind grains and legumes into flour.

It is estimated that around the year 1 AD. C. there were no less than 300 professional chefs in Rome; the historian Cato writes of the various varieties of food prepared by these chefs who quickly rose to high social ranks due to their skill. Many types of bread such as Globus Apherica, Libum, Placenta, Savaillum, Scibilata, and Spira were precursors to today’s cakes, fritters, pretzels, and cakes.

In ancient Egypt, the Egyptians began to bake bread using yeast as an ingredient, which until then was used to brew beer. The Greeks began using closed heat chambers in 600 B.C. C. to bake bread; The closed kilns probably originated here. Ancient archaeological sites in Palestine and Turkey have unearthed ovens and baking workbenches dating back to 5600 BC.

The art of baking, as propagated by the Romans, became famous throughout Europe and spread to other parts such as South Asia. The 19th century saw great advances in the art of baking and the use of leavening agents to produce soft bread. Breads, pastries, pastries, and pancakes became popular foods in France and Germany, and many street shops and sidewalk cafes became especially known for their baked goods.

commercial baking

In the industrial age, the bakery became an industry with the use of automated machinery, allowing for mass production and wider distribution.

However, what started as an art primarily to preserve the freshness and flavor of food has undergone many changes to keep up with the demands of modern times and consumers. Chip and snack manufacturers use baking as a method of reducing the amount of fat or calories in food, which would normally have been done by frying.

Commercialization has opened the doors to baking as a process carried out in large ovens and ovens and has boosted the business of pastry shops and bread houses. What many people feel is that the aroma and feel of freshly baked foods cannot be offset by commercial producers increasingly using additives to enhance flavors. Therefore, the attractiveness and flavor that are highly dependent on the freshness of the product are compromised. To counteract this, manufacturers use imaginative labels to market products as ‘home baked’ to bring the association of freshness to a product that the consumer wishes to purchase.

Several restaurants, pastry shops, and bakeries have in-house ovens and ovens for baking their own products; Advanced equipment and machinery has allowed them to produce them daily to preserve freshness and flavors.