Go read about how the original Xbox creator baked ancient Egyptian-style bread with 4,000-year-old yeast
As more people are faced with endless hours at home due to self-quarantine and social distancing, there’s been a surge in home bread baking show-and-tell on the internet over the past few days. But it’s safe to say that no one has been baking bread quite like Seamus Blackley, who finally has achieved his goal to re-create ancient Egyptian bread using yeast cultivated from samples that were over 4,000 years old and traditional tools and techniques dating back to that time period.
Today I achieved* something that I’ve been trying to do for a year. The slice of bread here was made with leavening cultures sampled from ancient Egyptian baking vessels, using ancient Emmer wheat, with an ancient Egyptian recipe, using ancient Egyptian baking tools, and NO OVEN. pic.twitter.com/msZpvlyK0F
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) March 30, 2020
The thread is actually a culmination of Blackley’s year-long efforts to bake bread using yeast cultivated by samples obtained from ancient pottery since their porous structures helped preserve some of the original microorganisms. (Blackley, when not trying to re-create ancient breads, is better known as one of the creators of the original Xbox and the man behind the infamous “Duke” controller.)
As Blackley explains on Twitter, the most recent development in the project saw the team build a custom, conical clay pot called a “bedja” to bake the bread outside in a series of fire pits, resulting in what’s likely the most authentic ancient Egyptian bread baked in thousands of years. An additional thread from Serena Love, the Egyptologist working with Blackley on the project, explains why the experiment is so significant and how archeologists have even figured out how ancient Egyptians baked in the first place.
The entire journey is worth a read, starting with Blackley’s original thread from last July In it, he describes the process in which he, Love, and Richard Bowman (the microbiologist who also worked on the project) worked together to sample the yeast and revive it to a live culture. A subsequent thread in August details when Blackley baked with it for the first time.
As more people are faced with endless hours at home due to self-quarantine and social distancing, there’s been a surge in home bread baking show-and-tell on the internet over the past few days. But it’s safe to say that no one has been baking bread quite like Seamus Blackley, who…
Recent Posts
- How to watch Apple’s May 2024 iPad launch event
- ‘Inspired by the human brain’: Intel debuts neuromorphic system that aims to mimic grey matter with a clear aim — making the machine exponentially faster and much more power efficient, just like us
- Quordle today – hints and answers for Sunday, April 28 (game #825)
- NYT Strands today — hints, answers and spangram for Sunday, April 28 (game #56)
- In the first Autonomous Racing League race, the struggle was real
Archives
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011