- By 30 BCE, Rome had 300 bakeries, often owned by Greeks. Bread was sold at the front of the shop like today, whilst the preparation was done behind.
- After all the day’s bread had been baked, people could bring meals to be cooked in the oven for a small fee.
Description
- Mill room:
- milling performed by female slaves.
- In large bakeries a donkey would rotate the mill wheel to grind the flour.
- Kneading room:
- kneading by hand
- a mechanical kneader, a large basin sculpted from lava with wooden teeth inserted around the edge. It had a central wooden shaft with 2 or 3 arms which rotated, this pushed the dough into the outer teeth which held the dough back.
- The oven:
- this was fired all day with baking taking place continuously.
- Storage room:
- for storing the finished breads.
Types of Bread
- Loaves were usually circular, and scored into 8 segments (From Bakeries found in Pompeii)
- Roman Pizza
- called ‘Maza’ was unleavened bread (flat bread)
- Leavened bread (using yeast)
- ‘Picenum’
- speciality bread made with dried fruits in an earthenware mould which was broken after baking. It was served dipped in milk sweetened with honey.
- Other speciality breads
- these included bread made using honey with oil, cheese bread, suet bread, circular loaves sprinkled with poppy seeds.
- Roman Pizza
Pompeii Archaeological Park
- Examples of Roman Bakeries have been excavated in Pompeii with the bread on display.
Pompeii Archeological Park