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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

BREAD

Food made from the dough of flour or meal from grain.

Kinds of Seed Used in Making Bread

The Bible tells us that wheat, barley, rye, beans, lentils, millet, and manna were used in making bread.

Wheat

Wheat is mentioned frequently in Scripture (about 48 uses of four Hebrew words in the OT; 14 uses of one Greek word in the NT). The hard winter grain (Triticum aestivuum) remains the most popular with farmers of Palestine, who still sow in the fall and reap in the following summer.

Barley

Barley matures faster and produces more prolifically than wheat. The hail plague in Egypt destroyed the barley crop because it had ripened; at the same time wheat and rye had not matured (Ex 9:31-32). Barley is mentioned 32 times in the OT. Barley produced a crop even in time of famine (Ru 1:22; 2:17, 23; 3:2, 15, 17) and sold cheaper than wheat (2 Kgs 7:1, 16). Poorer people depended on barley. The boy who contributed his lunch to Jesus to feed 5,000 had barley bread (Jn 6:9, 13). Palestinians fed barley to cattle (1 Kgs 4:28). Barley on the stalk carries a larger husk with a long, wiry hair (thus the name in Hebrew means “long hair”), making chaff separation more difficult. The greater likelihood of extraneous matter in the flour, combined with the less-liked flavor, made barley cheaper.

Rye

“Rye” translates a Hebrew word appearing in various versions as “vetch,” “fitches,” or “spelt” (Ex 9:32; Is 28:25; Ez 4:9). A hardy grass, it produces a crop even on poor soil. Rye bread gained popularity in northern Europe and to some degree in Egypt (Ex 9:32). Isaiah 28:24-28 summarizes the farmers’ work in growing and threshing various seed crops. Jews occasionally made bread from rye (Ez 4:9), but normally used it for cattle feed.

Other Seeds

Beans, lentils, and millet were ground and mixed to make a bread, along with wheat, barley, and spelt (Ez 4:9). The prophet Ezekiel ate this concoction as a sign of the “defiled bread” the Jews would eat in captivity among the Gentiles.

Manna

Numbers 11:8 tells us that the people ground the manna in mills or beat it in a mortar and baked it in pans and made loaves of bread. However, in its prime state God called it bread (see Ex 16:4-32). It appeared as coriander seed (Ex 16:31; Nm 11:7); therefore, the dull white grains were smaller than wheat. The Hebrews complained they had not bread, and their souls hated “this light bread” (Nm 21:5, KJB). The psalmist called it “the bread of the angels” (Ps 78:25).

Equipment Used in Making Bread

Bas-reliefs in Egyptian mastaba tombs illustrate most of the equipment used in ancient Near Eastern bakeries.

Sieve

A wicker strainerlike device helped separate small impurities from the grain.

Grindstones

A pair of stones were shaped so that a top stone turned against the bottom stone, crushing grain into flour.

Jars

Clay jars contained olive oil, water, and liquid leaven to be mixed with the flour to make dough (Lv 2:4; 1 Kgs 17:12-16).

Bowls

Kneading bowls (Ex 8:3; 12:34; Dt 28:5, 17), boards or tables made of wood, provided space for a thorough mixing of ingredients.

Pans

The poor used heated flat stones or the inside walls of their ovens as baking pans. Most people used iron griddles, plates, or pans (Lv 2:5; 6:21; 7:9; Nm 11:8; 1 Chr 9:31; 23:29; 2 Chr 35:13; Ez 4:3). These were often flat, with handles up to five feet (1.5 meters) long. The dough placed on the griddle was ready for the heat.

Ovens

Sometimes ovens had a chamber separated from the fire, but usually not. A fire of wood, dried grass (Mt 6:30), or dung (Ez 4:12, 15) heated the oven (Lv 2:4; 7:9; 11:35; 26:26; Hos 7:4-7). While the coals and oven walls retained their heat, the plate carrying bread was inserted. Flat, hard unleavened cakes, or small leavened cakes (Mt 14:17; Mk 6:38; Lk 9:13) were done in a few minutes. Large loaves about one foot in diameter would swell to more than three inches (7.6 centimeters) thick, would weigh more than two pounds (.9 kilogram), and required about 45 minutes for baking (1 Sm 17:17; 2 Sm 16:1).