Latest news with #KulluobaHoyuk
BBC News
2 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Ancient bread recipe in Turkey has been recreated
Archaeologists in Turkey have teamed up with a bakers to bring an ancient bread recipe back to life!Around 5,000 years ago someone buried a piece of very burnt bread in the soil by their house in Eskisehir in central a few thousand years and a team of experts found it during a dig at Kulluoba Hoyuk, an ancient Bronze Age settlement, in September one of the oldest baked breads to be discovered during an excavation, and the ancient loaf is now on display at the Eskişehir Archaeological Museum in Turkey. Archaeologist and director of the excavation - Murat Turkteki - said it is very difficult to find ancient bread like this one during a dig - as only crumbs usually survive - but because this bread was burnt and buried, it helped to preserve city's mayor, Ayse Unluce, said she was very moved by the team's discovery, as it showed what life was like for people living there thousands of years ago, and she wondered if the bread could be recreated today as a tribute. How did they work out the secret recipe? The archaeologists studied the flat round-shaped bread in a lab to work out what ingredients it was made research showed that the bread was made of ground emmer flour - an ancient type of wheat - and lentil seeds, as well as the leaf of a plant which was used as a type of yeast to help the bread to ancient emmer seeds no longer exist in to find an ingredient that would be as close as possible to the original recipe, the team decided to try using Kavilca wheat, which is similar to ancient scientists then worked with a team of bakers from the Halk Ekmek bakery (meaning "People's Bread" in Turkish) to try to make the made around 300 loaves and sold out within the first few hours of opening.
Gizmodo
5 days ago
- Business
- Gizmodo
5,000-Year-Old Bread Recipe Recreated in Turkey—and Locals Can't Get Enough
Scientists have discovered an ancient bread recipe in Turkey—and now the local bakery that recreated it can't keep up with demand. Some 5,000 years ago, someone buried a piece of charred bread beneath the threshold of a house in what is now Eskisehir in central Turkey. Archaeologists unearthed it in September 2024 during an excavation at Kulluoba Hoyuk, a Bronze Age settlement that has been under investigation for decades. The remarkably preserved bread has been on display at the Eskişehir Archaeological Museum since March 28. 'This is the oldest baked bread to have come to light during an excavation, and it has largely preserved its shape,' said Murat Turkteki, archaeologist and director of the excavation, in an interview with AFP. Analysis revealed that the bread was made from coarsely ground emmer flour—an ancient wheat variety—along with lentil seeds and a plant leaf used as a natural leavening agent. Flat like a pancake and disc-shaped, the bread measures about 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) in diameter. Curious to see if the recipe could be recreated, local officials contacted Halk Ekmek, a bakery in Eskisehir. Since ancient emmer seeds are no longer available in Turkey, the bakers used Kavilca wheat—a closely related variety—along with bulgur and lentils to approximate the original ingredients. And apparently, it's delicious. The first batch sold out within hours, and the bakery has been selling around 300 loaves of 'Kulluoba bread' daily ever since. With municipal subsidies, the bread is sold for just 50 Turkish lira (about $1.30). Another compelling aspect of the bread is that it's made from drought-resistant crops. This has caught the attention of both archaeologists and local officials. Turkey currently cultivates water-intensive crops like corn and sunflowers, but Kavilca wheat is resistant to both drought and disease. 'Our ancestors are teaching us a lesson. Like them, we should be moving toward less thirsty crops,' Ayse Unluce, the mayor of Eskisehir, told AFP.
