Genesis 40:1 - "Some time after this, the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord the king of Egypt."

1 Samuel 8:13 - "He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers."

Have you ever been near a big bakery early in the morning and smelled the aroma of newly-baked bread? It’s got to be the greatest perfume that has ever been made! And have you walked into a bakery and had to chose between all the delectable goodies spread out to view? It’s often a difficult choice! They all look and taste so good!

The profession of baker is very much with us today, and an ancient profession it is indeed. In Egypt, the chief baker at the royal court seems to have been a person of some importance. During the period of the monarchy, when cities developed to a hitherto unknown degree in Israel, the development of commercial bakeries was a natural one. A street of Jerusalem was known as Bakers’ Street, and was protected by a fortress called the Tower of the Ovens. There were also public ovens in the villages that were available to the people.

Generally, the women of the family did all the baking, but in wealthy families and for the royalty, slave girls worked as bakers. In fact, there was some concern about their women at the time of the formation of the monarchy. The feudal landlords in Canaanite Palestine used to draft maidens to serve as cooks and bakers, and the Israelites were concerned that their kings might do the same!

There were three ways in which baking was done:

1. A fire was built over a large stone, then the ashes were removed and the dough placed on the stone, and, finally, the ashes were replaced, over the dough.

2. A fire was built in a pit and a clay or iron griddle was placed over it, on which the dough was baked.

3. The most popular method used an oven that was like an overturned earthenware jar. The evening before baking, a fire was prepared in the oven. The ashes were taken out the next morning, and the dough was cooked on the stones at the bottom of the oven. This is the method still in use by Bedouins.

In many ways, ancient bakers were similar to ours today. For example, we mentioned the many varieties of baked goods available to us. Well, this was also true among the Hebrews. By the first century of the Christian era, pastry bakers in Caesarea made 100 different kinds of egg pastries! And our bakeries that work through distributors rather than with the consumer directly aren’t so new, either - the bakers of ancient Jerusalem did the same thing!

Although originally the baker was concerned only with the making of bread, and, on occasion, of cake, he soon learned to branch out and became almost as diversified as his brother of today.