insideKENT Magazine Issue 54 - September 2016 | Page 47
FOOD+DRINK
BAKING FEVER
Baking – we just can’t seem to get enough of it these days, and TV programmes
such as The Great British Bake Off are feeding our addiction to all things cake,
bread and pastry. Although it may feel like the baking craze is a reasonably new
phenomenon, it has actually been around forever. Or very close to it.
It was in ancient Egypt that baking first began to
take shape – in around 2600BC. Although some
of the bread was certainly used for eating, much
of it was made solely as a sacrifice to the gods,
to ensure a good harvest for the coming year. In
order to keep the gods happy, sweet cakes and
treats were baked as well as bread. It was thought
that something sweet would calm any wrathful
god’s temper, and stop any hardship from befalling
the people.
As time went on, and times got harder, the sweet
bakes were considered frivolous and decadent
– which is possibly why the Romans loved them
so much. By 300BC, it was only the rich and
powerful who ate sweet baked goods, and those
who made such delicacies were revered.
The first pastry chefs emerged at this time who
were known as the pastillarium, and they were
in severe competition with one another. Whoever
could make the biggest, most elaborate, and
most delicious cakes was the best of the best,
and was handsomely rewarded by Roman
noblemen, and the emperor himself.
As with everything the Romans did, the art of
baking soon spread throughout Europe and into
Asia, and the idea that bread was the ideal
sustenance and anything sweet or ‘pretty’ was
for the upper classes continued.
In the Middle Ages in Britain it changed even
more; if you had money your bread would be
made with the more expensive wheat bread. If
you were poor, you had rye bread. It was much
tougher to eat, and it certainly didn’t taste as
good.
Pies were a big feature of the kitchen by this
time, but it was a rare thing for a poor commoner
to have enough meat to fill theirs. Being able to
make good pastry, therefore, was essential.
Bakeries sprang up (it was far too expensive to
have a fire working at home simply to cook on)
across the country. These bakers would use a
cart to take their goods from door to door, selling
as they went.
The 15th century saw some major changes in
the baking world. With the explosion of spices
and different fruits and ingredients that were
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being brought into the country by merchants, it
became possible for the poorer people in society
to buy much better tasting bread, and even to
indulge in treats made with cream, butter, and
fruit. Over the next one hundred years, pioneers
in baking began to create recipes that we still
use today, and if we could go back in time and
see what they were making, we would certainly
recognise the pies, buns, loaves and cakes that
they created.
Since then there has been no going back. We
are officially addicted to baked goods. And as
for baking competitions, we’re not so much
different to the Romans in that regard – after all,
when it comes to The Great British Bake Off,
whoever can make the biggest, most elaborate
and most delicious creations is handsomely
rewarded.