Seamus Blackley, a physicists, a video game designer and a bread lover has baked a loaf of bread using yeast he obtained from ancient Egyptian pots. After getting the yeast, he reactivated it and with the help of egyptologist Serena Love and microbiologist Richard Bowman, he baked a delicious-looking loaf of bread.
“Using a nondestructive process and careful sterile technique, we believe we can actually capture dormant yeasts and bacteria from inside the ceramic pores of ancient pots,” Blackley said in a tweet thread.
He used similar ingredients to what were used 4500 years ago and after the bread was baked, everyone was eager to see how it tasted. After taking a bite, Mr. Blackleg tweeted that the aroma was amazing and it tasted sweeter than the bread made from sourdough and all in all, it seems like the “prehistoric bread” is better than the bread we eat.
Two weeks ago, with the help of Egyptologist @drserenalove and Microbiologist @rbowman1234, I went to Boston’s MFA and @Harvard’s @peabodymuseum to attempt collecting 4,500 year old yeast from Ancient Egyptian pottery. Today, I baked with some of it… pic.twitter.com/143aKe6M3b
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) August 5, 2019
Here is a large batch of starter, carefully made from the Old Kingdom sample, added to water and some unfiltered olive oil. The idea is to make a dough with identical ingredients to what the yeast ate 4,500 years ago. The aroma of this yeast is unlike anything I’ve experienced. pic.twitter.com/vf6QwKZmFi
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) August 5, 2019
The crumb is light and airy, especially for a 100% ancient grain loaf. The aroma and flavor are incredible. I’m emotional. It’s really different, and you can easily tell even if you’re not a bread nerd. This is incredibly exciting, and I’m so amazed that it worked. pic.twitter.com/qGRmi2Yg8Y
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) August 5, 2019
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