Window into the Bible
Bread Making
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Model of a Bakery / Brewery
Date: c. 2200 BC (9th dynasty) Place: Egypt
Photographed at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Many models like this have been found in Egyptian tombs and depict scenes from Egyptian life. Here a group of people are preparing food for the deceased. Two grind grain, another collects flour, while another mixes the mash in a pot. In the background a man tends the oven and another kneads the bread.
While Joseph languishes in an Egyptian prison, he meets the chief baker of the Pharaoh who has also been put in prison (Genesis 40). |
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Woman Kneading Bread
Date: c. 500 – 475 BC. Place: Eretria, Greece
Photographed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts USA.
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So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.” (Genesis 18:6)
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Bread Mould
Date: c. 1539 – 1075 BC. Place: Egypt
Photographed at the M. C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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Conical shaped loaves of bread appear to be one of the most common in ancient Egypt. They were made in moulds like this.
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Bread Oven (reproduction)
Photographed at Nazareth Village, Nazareth, Israel.
It [wood] is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, … From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me! You are my god!” (Isaiah 44:15-18) |
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Portable Bread Oven
Date: 1070 – 664 BC Place: Egypt
Photographed at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
A fire set inside this stove would have heated the upper surface, which could then have been used for flat bottom pots or used a gridle.
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When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied. (Leviticus 26:26)
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Funerary Model of a Man Preheating Bread Pans
Date: 2477 BC Place: Tomb of Nykauinpu, Giza, Egypt
Photographed at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA. |
Woman with Bread
Date: 6th century BC
Place: Tanagra [Boeotia, Greece]
Photographed at the Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany.
Bowl with Bread
Date: 1070 – 715 BC
Place: Egypt
Photographed at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
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Loaf of Bread
Date: 15th to 4th century BC Place: Egypt
Photographed at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
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For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. (Exodus 12:15)
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Model Bakery Workshop
Date: c 2200 BC (9th dynasty) Place: Sedment el-Gebel, Egypt
Photographed at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
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This model shows Egyptians, grinding grain, baking bread, brewing beer and slaughtering a spotted cow. The model was placed in a tomb and depicts the preparations of a meal for the deceased.