DISCOVERY OF LEAVEN 3 



It was known in prehistoric times that grape juice would 

 ferment into wine and that dough would rise on standing, 

 and one can only guess as to which discovery was made first. 

 This much, however, is beyond question : back in the days 

 when wine-making was still an uncontrolled process, yield- 

 ing a somewhat uncertain product, some housewife had ap- 

 parently discovered a crude method of cultivating yeast and 

 controlling the process of bread-raising. She seems, therefore, 

 to deserve more credit than the wine-maker in the matter ; 

 and one cannot question that her product has been of more 

 value to mankind than that of the vineyards. 



We suppose that the following must have happened. The 

 early cooks discovered that dough became more palatable 

 if allowed to stand in a warm place overnight, or possibly 

 longer, before baking. This simple process may have been 

 followed for centuries before any attempt to improve it was 

 made; although it must have been noticed repeatedly that 

 some batches of bread were better than others. Some batches 

 would be light and sweet, others heavy, and others sour. 

 The important discovery came when some cook who had a 

 lot of dough rise unusually well decided to save a little of that 

 lot without baking it and to add it to the lot she was going 

 to make the next day. Much to her delight she foimd that 

 in this way she could insure good batches of dough every day. 

 The method was simple enough, and was followed by other 

 cooks until it became well known, although no one dreamed 

 that she was actually cultivating a microscopic plant. The 

 small portion of dough saved over to raise the next batch 

 was called leaven. That leavening dough was a common 

 accomplishment in early days is shown by the casual refer- 

 ences to it in the Bible, such as the well-known passage 



