I. Bible

Together with water, bread was the staple food in the ancient Near East and was prepared with barley, millet, spelt, or wheat. It was the task of the housewife to prepare fresh bread daily (Prov 31:15). She began before daybreak to crush, pound, and grind the grain on a grindstone, in a mortar, and later in a hand-mill, then to knead the dough in a trough and, after the dough had risen, to shape it into round fla…