Pliny Documented Beer-Foam Bread Leavening

In the 1st century AD, Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote that the Gauls and Iberians skimmed foam from beer and mixed it into bread dough. The foam carried yeast from the brewing process, causing the dough to rise and producing what Pliny called "a lighter kind of bread than other peoples." Bakers were harnessing yeast fermentation nearly 2,000 years before scientists understood the microorganisms behind it.

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