Egyptian Bread from Temple of Edfu

Edfu is a Ptolemaic Temple located in Edfu, Egypt. Edfu lies between Luxor and Aswan. It is most commonly visited by tourists arriving by boat on the Nile. For the bread obsessed, this temple is important for the variety of bread forms depicted in bas relief that are often very different from the styles found in older tombs and temples.

The Edfu loaves include shapes and markings that I am not familiar with from other sites. In this loaf, we seem to be seeing a deeply scored round loaf with a center decorative area created through four deep arced cuts.

2 Comments Add yours

  1. Can we presume these breads were raised by wild yeasts from beer making?

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    1. There were both yeasted and unyeasted breads. I think the ones depicted with slash marks — with patterning through cut lines were yeasted. As far as we know yes, the yeast came from the brewer. Setting aside the wild yeast concept, if they keep repitching their yeast from brew-to-brew then the starter will be consistent over time —the same yeasts. Whether one or more of these strains became domesticated in some way is not known.

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