IIIIt's Egypt time!

 Fermented Egypt Bread 3 ways

*This bread has 3 different fermentation times*

6 cups Whole Wheat Flour

6 Tablespoons Wheat Bran

4 Cups Water

-Place a pizza stone on the second highest rack. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

-Mix the Whole Wheat flour and Wheat Bran in a large bowl. Pour in the water a little at a time into the flour and bran mixture, making sure that all the water is absorbed before adding more. Mix until a dough forms and all the flour is hydrated. 

-Divide the dough into 3 sections (roughly 613grams each), place 2 sections in bowls and cover them with a tea towel and set them in a warm place to proof. Oil your surface and place the last section of the dough on the surface. Separate the dough into 2 pieces. Gently poke and shape the doughs into the desired shape. Once the oven is ready, flip the dough on to the pizza stone. Bake the dough for 14 minutes, flipping halfway through. (This is also really good with sesame seeds pressed into the dough) 

-After 6 hours pull the second portion of dough and dump the dough onto an oiled surface. Separate the dough into 2 pieces. Gently poke and shape the doughs into the desired shape. Once the oven is ready, flip the dough on to the pizza stone. Bake the dough for 14 minutes, flipping halfway through. This dough should have more gluten structure!

-After 11hours, pull the third portion of dough and repeat the process for the second dough. WARNING, I did not cover this dough well enough and got a hard skin over the dough... don't eat it. When baked it turned out worse than the 6 hour dough anyway. 

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In early 1900s, the tomb of Senet was discovered in Thebes. In her tomb was a recipe for bread, this is the oldest written bread recipe that has been found so far. Senet died sometime between 1958 and 1913 BC, the recipe in her tomb says to "Crush the green with sticks in a wooden container, pass the crushed grain through a sieve to remove the husks, using a corn stone crush the grain still finer until you have a heap of white flour. Mix the flour with enough water to form a soft dough, knead the dough in large jars either by hand or treading on it gently. Tear off pieces of the kneaded dough and shape into rounds. Cook directly on a bed of hot ashes or place in molds and set on a copper griddle over the hearth. Be attentive while cooking and once the bread starts to brown, turn over and cook the other side."(1) 

According to H. E. Jacob, the Egyptians firmly believed that you could take it with you when you died. So there whole culture revolved around honoring the after life. As intricate as their cult of the dead was, it 's elaborateness stemmed from a place of confusion. They weren't sure where the realm of the dead was, so they did all they could to cover their bases. The Tomb served as a picture book to amuse the dead, but also to remind the dead who they where and what their mortal life was like.(2) With bread being an important staple of the Egyptian diet, this recipe would serve as a reminder to Senet that she ate bread while she was alive. The recipe would remind her how bread was made.

Legend has it that the Egyptians invented fermentation. The thought is that fermentation was born not out of intention but out of absentmindedness, as most things are. Egyptians also didn't fear decay, they most likely saw it as a part of life, so letting bread dough sit on the counter would not have seemed so wildly out of place. (3) 

Watching this bread come together was certainly fascinating! Especially watching the bread transform while fermenting. Honestly, the 6 hour bread was A LOT better then any of the bread I have made so far. I could see the gluten structure forming once it was baked which was the coolest thing! The third bake was not great though. I think I accidentally made a sourdough mother. I was really concerned about that hard, nasty smelling skin that formed over the dough. I did go a head and bake the dough but, I promise I didn't eat it. (Secret addition from husband while proofreading: I did eat it. It was bitter, tough, and left a bad aftertaste. I sanitized my mouth immediately with brandy.)

There are also a lot of other fascinating things about Egyptian culture relating to bread, so I will just list them here without context b/c it's fun. 

• Egyptians were the first to mix seed in their dough for flavor. Like sesame seeds, poppy and camphor. 
• In the ancient world, Egyptians were known as the "bread eaters."
• They made so much bread and with such consistency, that it was a cultural unit of measure. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode of Sam bakes bread and talks about it. See you next time! 

1https://youtu.be/jZZ-HSf-DLM  

2Jacobs pg 29-30

3(Parker 2014, 2-3)