The Beginning of Baking
In ancient times people did just make some flat breads out of flour and Water. Like tortillas or pancake. Yeast was not invented to make higher Bread. Just easy Bread without any other Ingredients like sugar, honey, fruits, fat. Baking was just on a hot Stone besides the Fire. Baking as we know did take centuries to develop step by step.
The First known baker was an Egyptian. He was a slave working for the Pharaoh. He did make dough and did forget the dough in the bowl outside. Just this day it was happen that it was raining and the water did fall into the dough. For all the sudden the dough did raise and did become a light Acid smell. Not wanted to be punished, the Slave did bake the dough. After tasting the baked bread they did show the Pharaoh and he found this bread very exquisite. The Pharaoh did say this is to be of Divine origin as due to the rain falling from the sky. But nevertheless in this case the yeast and the sourdough was invented, which was a big step to the bakery goods in our time.
The habit of Food breaking
Especially on weddings or if you give a party to friends or somebody is invited to meet a family in Europe or Russia the guest will be intercept before the home door. The host is holding against him on a plate a round bread, salt and water.
This habit is coming from century’s ago when bread stands for soil and growing food out of it, salt for wealth (because salt was sometimes more expensive than gold), and water for the forces of nature. This habit was to make it happened that the guest always will be successful, that there is always enough food on his table and that all forces will be to him in a positive manner. In our times this habit is used to wish the people that there is always food on the table, nobody need to experience hunger and in this case it is connected to a wish for wealth, than just wealthy people can afford enough food all the time and a nice roof over there head.
The Invention of Puff Pastry
Long time ago in France there was a Baker. He has some Apprentice. One of them was always lazy and sleepy. The owner told him once to make dough for some cakes. So he made some dough by hand. But he did forget the butter and the yeast. The yeast, because this was a small amount he did hide somewhere in the bakery. But the butter? What to do with the butter? He was so afraid of punishment from the owner that he did roll out the dough and the butter put the butter into the flat dough and flips the dough over the butter to cover it. Than he was hoping that in a moment when the owner is not watching he can throw the dough into the garbage. But until than he needed to hide the dough in the cold basement. From time to time as he was thinking he can throw the dough out he did get the dough from the basement. But in this moment the owner did show up and he still was afraid of punishment. So he did pretend to be busy and do something with the dough and did roll the dough flat like for a big cake. Than he folded the dough each time to become a smaller piece and did hide it again. This was happen a couple times. What the Apprentice did not know that he was laminating the butter into the dough by doing this. On the end the owner did not leave the bakery and the apprentice had to finish the dough and make ready for baking. What a surprise as the dough did become different in the oven as all the other dough’s the have made before. They tried the new cake, found that the crispy layers of this product are very delicious and the apprentice had to tell the truth. But the owner was not mad at him and the puff pastry was invented.
The Italian Cake Panetone
Panetone is a word out of two words. Pane means cake, Tone means Toni. Together the meaning is cake of/from Toni. The saying about this cake is that there was a King in Italy. He was looking for a wife for his son. But the son did refuse all Princesses and all possible brides. So the King said that every woman can become the wife of the Prince, she just has to bring one gift to the Prince which he really likes and he cannot forget. There was a very beautiful young woman, but her family was so poor that she could not afford a gift for the Prince or a nice dress to go to the occasion. She starts crying and her Daddy Toni did hear that. So he wanted to help his daughter, but he was just a poor baker. He was thinking ”How about I invent a new cake for the Prince? He might like it.” But he was so poor and had just dried orange and lemon peel and some raisins besides a few other things. At night he baked a cake and the next day he sends his daughter to the Prince with this cake. The Prince did try the cake and loved it so much that he married the baker’s daughter. Since this time this cake is named Panetone (Cake of Toni).
