Yeast-freeMystery Breads of the World

What all these breads have in common is the "rise" from the fermentation of wild bacteria.

The bread types are arranged on this page according to the oldest at the top.

Bread is a human invention, tens of thousands of years old. At first, bread was not raised, just a ground up mash of grains and tubers, which was baked in a hearth fire. Thousands of years later, fermentation techniques for beer were developed. Some of the earliest recipes for beer describe a bread-like mashed grain mixture added to the fermentation process to enhance the flavor. The microbes involved in the fermentation were primarily wild yeasts with some wild bacteria. What evolved next is easy to imagine. The fermenting mixture of wild yeasts and bacteria became a separate entity and voila - a risen bread. Yeast fermented beer and bread have nourished much of humanity for the last six thousand years. Yeast-free breads, on the other hand, were invented subsequently, in what appears to be a void, where yeast was either not accessible or not desirable. By examining the historic context of the few locations around the world where yeast-free bread traditions exist, an intrepid researcher can attempt to explain how and why a yeast-free bread tradition was invented.

Gergoush - a Sudanese bread using lentils + milk + salt. See RECIPE.

Gergoush bread may have been invented on the banks of the Nile River around 900AD.

Learn the HISTORY.

Karahoyuk or Nohut Mayali Ekmek - different name but same ingredients that describe a bread from Turkiye using chickpeas + water + salt. SEE RECIPE.

The story of Karahoyuk goes back to possibly the 1300's. SEE HISTORY.

In Syria and Lebanon, they call this bread Ka'ak.

Nohut mayali ekmek (chickpea yeast bread) is similar to Karahoyuk - from Turkiye using chickpeas + water + salt, so the HISTORY and RECIPE are the same.

This Nohut Mayali bread is from the Tokoglu Bakery in the ancient village of Birgi, Turkiye. Tokoglu Bakery is over a hundred years old.

Arkatena bread - from Koilani, Cyprus using chickpeas + water + herbs + salt.

The Arkatena bread in Cyprus was written about in 1545, see the HISTORY.

This bread is unique because they gather the foam. See the RECIPE.

Eftazymo - from Crete using chickpeas + water + herbs + salt.

This bread likely came from Turkey over a thousand years ago, see the HISTORY.

It is similar to Karahoyuk, but the Eftazymo RECIPE varies slightly.

Salt rising bread: from Appalachia, USA using potatoes or cornmeal, milk, water and salt.

The HISTORY of this bread is thought to have been invented by Appalachian women in the 1700's. See the RECIPE.

Soetsuurdeeg - from South Africa using potatoes + water + salt.

The HISTORY seems to be tied to the Dutch East India Company and the French Huegonots.

The RECIPE is similar to salt rising bread because it includes potatoes, but no corn. Perhaps this bread was invented earlier on the other side of the world.

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