Oven - History

History

The earliest ovens were found in Central Europe, and dated to 29,000 BC, it was used as roasting and boiling pits located within yurt structures. They were used to cook mammoth. In Ukraine from 20,000 BC they used pits with hot coals covered in ashes. The food was wrapped in leaves and set on top, then covered with earth. In camps found in Mezhirich, each mammoth bone house had a hearth used for heating and cooking.

Ovens have been used since prehistoric times by cultures who lived in the Indus Valley and pre-dynastic Egypt. Settlements across the Indus Valley had an oven within each mud-brick house by 3200 BC. The obvious explanation for the popular use of the oven in the homes would most likely involve its use for cooking food. However, baked brick sewers were also found at the Indus Valley civilization, which shows that they used the oven for masonry as well. Other ancient cultures that had use for the oven were pre-dynastic civilizations in Egypt. An early form of blacktopware was produced there which required a kiln. This is another hint showing how ovens were used from about 5000–4000 BC.

Culinary historians credit the Greeks for developing bread baking into an art. Front-loaded bread ovens were developed in ancient Greece. The Greeks created a wide variety of doughs, loaf shapes, and styles of serving bread with other foods. Baking developed as a trade and profession as bread increasingly was prepared outside of the family home by specially trained workers to be sold to the public. This is one of the oldest forms of professional food processing.