Miller Magazine Issue 107 / November 2018

83 MILLER / NOVEMBER 2018 ARTICLE so far discovered in southwest Asia. The Mesolithic Natufian culture existed in the Middle East, in the areas that are now Israel, Jordan, the Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. As gatherers, the nomads roamed through forests and grasslands and cut wild grasses with simple blades. Modern historians regard the gat- hering of wild cereals as a transition to the agrarian societies, for during a temporary cold spell towards the end of the last ice age, about 13,000 years ago, Natufian tribes delibera- tely started to bury their grain in the ground. This early seed led to a cultural revolution: the gatherers settled as family clans and practised agriculture and animal husbandry in the Middle East from about 9,000 B.C. The wild grasses were cultiva- ted to suit human needs: the ears of einkorn became more robust, the grains larger, and bread gra- dually evolved into an essential element of human nutrition4. “Ötzi the Iceman” ate flat bread made from cultivated einkorn Starting from the Middle East, cultivation of the early whe- at varieties spread to Europe and the Far East in the course of the following 7,000 years. Via the Balkans and the Medi- terranean region, farming as a way of life eventually reached Europe in about 7,500 B.C. Until now, the oldest evidence of bread made from cultivated einkorn was provided by “Ötzi”, whose mummified body was discovered in the glacial ice of the Ötztal Alps. The mummy, found by German ramblers in 1991, is perfectly preserved and gives us an insight into the time 5,300 years ago, the early days of agriculture in Europe. In the remains of Ötzi’s fur coat, two grains of cultivated ein- korn were found, and in his intestines tiny charcoal particles were discovered – suggesting that the man’s diet included flat bread baked from einkorn. “Ötzi the Iceman” can now be seen at the South Tirol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano. A unique replica of the figure of Ötzi was prepared for the FlourWorld Museum in the north German town of Witten- burg in close cooperation with the Museum of Archaeology. The FlourWorld Museum is an initiative of Mühlenchemie GmbH & Co. KG, one of the leading companies worldwide in the field of flour treatment. The basis for the replica was a CAT scan of the mummy’s skeleton. The fur clothing, shoes and copper axe were made according to the original finds. Natufian bread – a precursor of modern Arabian flat bread? During excavations at the Shubayqa site, a total of 24 food residues were found and classified by the researchers as un- leavened products resembling flat bread. These were very si- milar to the flat loaves of a later date found at Neolithic and Roman excavation sites. In order to speak of flat bread in the archaeological sense, it was necessary for the finds to meet a number of criteria that also apply to these other ancient flat bread finds (5). In particular, they have to do with the gas cells up to 0.1 mm in size that develop in the dough after the flour and water are mixed and aggregate during the kneading process to form larger structures, and also with the changes in the microstructure of the dough during baking, when a network of enclosed cavities and pores forms. At Shubayqa 1, all 24 finds showed this starch-containing microstructure and the correspondingly irregular pore matrix. At an average of 0.15 mm, the size of the cavities was also similar to that of the Neolithic and Roman flat bread finds. An analysis of the residu- es showed that the wild precursors of wheat, rye, millet, oats and possibly barley were ground to make the bre- ad-like product. The flat shape of the residues was a sign that the flour was used without leavening.(6) Flat bread, generally known as pita bread, is still the bread type most of- ten consumed in the eastern Medi- terranean region, including Greece. However, the principles for baking today’s flat bread are only remotely similar to those for the Natufian bread of ancient times: the main difference lies in the use of yeast for fermenting the wheat flour. The dough made from wheat or wholemeal flour is baked at high temperatu- res of 400-600°C, comparable with the camp fire tempera- tures of the past. The shape and size of the loaves vary ac- cording to local customs. If the dough is very flat and baked at high temperatures, the sudden evaporation of the water causes the bread to inflate. The shell of the loaf has already dried, and the water vapour causes the interior to expand. The result is a pocket of bread that lends itself to filling or use as a wrapper. Has flat bread reached the end of its history? The last stage in the evolution of flat bread was reached with optimization of its baking properties and the quality of the end product with modern food technologies. In order to achieve features such as good shaping, high dough stability, ideal browning and – for the benefit of consumers – a long shelf life and ideal colour formation, bakers can now draw on enzyme toolboxes such as Alphamalt from Mühlenchemie. Since mills in the Middle East are confronted with fluctuating cereal qualities, just as elsewhere, food technologies in the field of flour improvement can make a huge contribution to stabilizing the quality of the bread. But these technical pos- sibilities are not always used, since flat bread is a very cheap staple food which is even subsidized by the governments of some Arab countries. The future development of Arabian flat bread is likely to be influenced strongly by new techniques of flour standardi- zation, flour improvement and flour fortification. Just as man learned to cultivate cereals to meet his needs nearly 14,000 years ago, flour technology now helps to meet the expectati- ons of millers, bakers and consumers. Sources: 1-Arranz-Otaegui, Amaia/ Gonzalez Carretero, Lara/ Ramsey, Monica N./. Fuller, Dorian Q/ Richter, Tobias (2018): Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan, [online] http:// www.pnas.org/content/115/31/7925 [22.8.2018] 2-Ibid. 3-Paetsch, Martin (2011): Die Geschichte des Mehls. Vom Mörser zur In- dustriemühle, in: Mühlenchemie GmbH & Co. KG (editors), flour art museum, Hamburg: Robert Wenzel Verlag, p. 325 4-Ibid, p. 325 5-Arranz-Otaegui/Gonzalez Carretero/Fuller/Richter 2018 6-Ibid.