Ancient Egyptian Yeast Is This Bread’s Secret Ingredient

Maybe the yeast strain is old, but the flour isn’t.

Is it only me who's horrified at eating something dug up from a several thousand year old tomb? Is it just me who likes my food *reasonably* fresh?

A very entertaining article. Thanks. And thanks to folks commenting below, especially : "Just like mummy used to make." Very clever.

Yes, Science! Anything that makes science cool again is sorely needed in this day and age. If old bread is better than a new circus, everyday.

In 1972 after my release from the Army, on my way to school on the G.I. Bill my aunt gave me a sourdough starter and educated me in its care and use. Between homemade sourdough bread, Ramon noodles, beat greens , swiss chard and fish I caught from local rivers I survived and graduated. Yeast helped fuel my body and provided relief to my soul. There is nothing like breaking apart a fresh warm loaf and eating the heart out of it.

Unless the yeast was maintained in a sterile environment (or one that perfectly replicated ancient Egypt), the bacterial components were also replicated, and the balance of the two was the same as way back when, this whole story is meaningless. The ancient starter myth runs contrary to what is known about starter microbiology. Even if the yeast is ancient, so what? Starters change from winter to summer, because the weather affects the ratio of yeast to bacteria. Move the same starter from South Carolina to Maine and the bread you make will be different. This story is a distraction from the important philosophy of bread master Jeffrey Hamelman: good bread results from good ingredients, long fermentation times, and respect for the dough. Watch a Jeffrey Hamelman video if you want to know the meaning of “respect for the dough.”

I can tell you the reason people are interested - it's a living link to the past. Just like JA Townsend's 18C fried chicken recipe going viral, food is something we can all relate to.

Other than having obtained the yeast from a 5,200-year old vessel, what evidence is there that this yeast is not a more modern contaminant?

"It is not yet certain that Mr. Blackley baked with an ancient yeast strain on Monday. His extractions may have been contaminated by modern spores." As a once celebrated baker (originally from the Carpathian Mountains) and owner of bakeries in US, and with decades long exhaustive international experience in bread baking I can say that the above lines are the ones pointing to reality; moreover, once "ancient yeast" is brought into an environment, it is not that (ancient) strain that acts but the colossal multitude the local yeast which takes over, yeast spores that overwhelmingly dominate in local air and immediately go to work. I have tested this importation of yeast countless times and the results were the same. The local yeast in the air overpowers whatever travels in space and time. It is the nature of natural yeast and not the wishful product of a rich and poetic imagination. It is as if a traveller walks into a market where the local language is completely different and later the phantasy of a writer claims that the whole market folks spoke the language of the traveller. So let's be realistic, applaud the gent for his contribution to the poesy of "ancient", "Egyptian" bread but consider other, most salient reality. I encourage bread baking at home which is inspirational, and which should be taught to children who don't fail to see the miraculous transformation till the bread comes cracking and steaming from the oven.

Since the yeast has been fed in CA, it's not really the same yeast. But interesting all the same.

"And often, or maybe always, we tend to think of people living in antiquity as being simple or stupid, and of course that’s insane. " If we're being honest - it's not "insane." Wrong, definitely. But because of willful ignorance. Ignorance both of history, and of the universal competence and expertise of primal peoples. It's really past time for us to give our ancestors - all of them - full credit. They survived the difficulties of their time and place. It's not at all clear today that we will be able to say the same.

“I don’t understand why everyone is so interested in this, but I’m happy that they are,” he said. For the same reasons you are, I'd expect. We are not all so fundamentally different from one another. Connecting with something ancient at a time of great upheaval (looming extinction?) is not difficult to understand. Thanks for sharing your passion.

Ed Wood, a retired pathologist who lived and worked in the Middle East for some years, has a company dedicated to sourdough cultures from indigenous sources. He has one that he collected from a bakery in Giza, in the shadows of the pyramids. www.sourdo.com

Funny that I'm about to comment on top of a post that says something diametrically opposed to what I'm about to say. And it seems to me both are valid. Mr. Blackley is quoted as saying he doesn't quite see why there's so much interest in his possible resurrection of ancient bread, via ancient yeast. I have an idea why: a collective nostalgia that becomes more poignant with each day of bad environmental news. Mr. Blackley's bread both confirms the nostalgia and suggests that all is not lost. On the other hand, there's Jurassic Park. But I would eat the bread.

Not verified yet

I'm a little surprised that the baker didn't test for toxicity first before sampling the bread. I suppose for him the DNA profile was sufficient to confirm that it is real, non-toxic yeast. I would have been more cautious. But that's just me.

I live nearby. Happy to volunteer as taste tester! Fascinating!

Just like mummy used to make.

Imagine, eating the same bread that Boris Karloff may have eaten!

Wasn’t it Moses who was commanded that what rises in Egypt, stays in Egypt?

I definitely would like to get that yeast and make a side by side comparison!

It would be nice if the scientists could publish a recipe or even a cookbook of this bread. While most people will not have access to this special yeast, it would still be fun to make bread in this ancient way. Actually, perhaps they could market the ancient yeast as well...? A very interesting story, thank you!