With as few as three ingredients, dough can transform into some of the world’s most seminal dishes - pizza, pasta, bread, and more. Join As We Eat as we rise to the occasion and dish up some fascinating history and cultural impacts of dough.

The Limitless Capacity of Dough

Dough has a nearly limitless capacity depending on its ingredients, leavening or fermenting process, or how the dough is shaped and cooked. Called “the spark that led to the development of state and large political units,” a humble bowl of dough represents not only all the potential of what it might become, but also as a reminder of how much humans relied upon basic foodstuffs to imagine, build, and sustain whole civilizations. In this episode of As We Eat, Leigh and Kim take you on a journey through the history of dough and its mainstay ingredients and techniques. We also discuss how dough has its place within nearly every cuisine across the globe, and still grows its impact every day.

A Culinary Building Block

Dough is a culinary building block that enriches our lives from basic nutrition to agricultural development to large-scale trade. 

As a mother to all manner of popular food mainstays, a ball of dough is inherently hopeful because it could turn into so many wonderful, cherished things. It's no wonder that in the midst of a global health concern, we found space on our counters for jars of dough starters that perhaps reminded us that we could nurture and care for ourselves even as time seemed to stand still.

For today’s episode, we travel back in time to review how the mixture of a few simple ingredients influenced and was influenced by the cultures and dynasties of the people who relied upon the foods that dough created. Leigh shows how the concept of mixing flour made from wheat, rye, barley, and other cereals with water not only contributed towards the development of some of our greatest ancient civilizations, but also how long-held beliefs about the rise of agriculture were shaken by discovery of 12,000-old-old breadcrumbs

Kim enthuses about how dough represents a common, shared foodway through unleavened flatbread as a natural container for roasted meats or vegetables. This simple food is found in all corners of the planet revealing a way in which we are all alike rather than different.

We conclude with memories of a recipe for friendship bread that produce a sweet dough meant to be shared with family and friends -  until it threatens to take over the house!

Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode 

14,000-Year-Old Piece Of Bread Rewrites The History Of Baking And Farming

Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan

Friendship Bread Kitchen Website

Books We Think You’ll  Enjoy Reading

You and I Eat the Same: On the Countless Ways, Food and Cooking, Connect Us to One Another edited by Chris Yang

Considered the Fork by Bee Wilson

Bread, A Global History by William Rubel

Recipes You Really Need to Try

Amish Friendship Bread Starter from Friendship Bread Kitchen

Apple Oatmeal Amish Friendship Bread from Friendship Bread Kitchen

Herman Friendship Cake from Cherished by Me

Episode Transcript

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