(Cross-posted from here over at /r/AskCulinary) Just curious, but how did bakers get their quick breads to rise before the advent of baking powder and baking soda? Did they use natural yeasts and just let them do a rise step before baking (like traditional loafs) or was something else used?
I've heard (and been said in the other post) that starters were used (like in sourdoughs) or pot-ash. Others mentioned that bread was often just "burnt" and the bottom layers were cut off and only the unburnt bit was kept and given to the "upper crust" for consumption.
Thank you!
Yeast leavened bread were discovered millenias ago (after all beer was also invented around the same time) because there are naturally occurring yeast spores in the air, if you leave regular dough in a warm environment it will rise eventually even without added yeast.
According to Food Timeline (they have a lot of resources on this subject matter):
Archaelogical evidence confirms yeast (both as leavening agent and for brewing ale) was used in Egypt as early as 4000 B.C. Food historians generally cite this date for the discovery of leavened bread and genesis of the brewing industry. There is an alternate theory regarding the invention of brewing. Some historians believe it is possible that brewing began when the first cereal crops were domesticated. Sources generally agree the discovery of the powers of yeast was accidental.