†. Gen 19:3 . . He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread,
and they ate.
Lot's is the very first mention of unleavened bread in the Bible and it won't
show up again until Exodus 12:8 in the Passover meal.
The Hebrew word for "unleavened" is matstsah (mats-tsaw') which means,
specifically: an unfermented cake or loaf; in other words: bread made with
sweet dough rather than sour dough.
It's easy to make sour dough bread without the addition of cultured yeast
simply by putting fresh dough in a warm place and letting nature take its
course because even fresh non-yeasted dough contains a quantity of
naturally-occurring yeast which will cause fresh dough to go bad all by itself
over time without the addition of cultured yeast. So it's not the yeast
content that categorizes bread as leavened or unleavened; it's simply
whether the bread is made with spoiled dough or fresh dough.
†. 1Cor 5:6 . . Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
In the days prior to baking with cultured yeast, cooks kept a supply of
spoiled dough on hand for mixing with fresh dough and thus considerably
reduced the time required for fermentation by taking advantage of the
spoiled dough's yeast content. They probably didn't know all that much
about the properties of fungi in those days but one thing they did know was
that when they mixed old dough with new and let it set for a bit, the blended
batch tended to make puffy bread due to minute bubbles in the mix; which
today we know was carbon dioxide.
But either way, bread with leavened dough takes longer to make because
time has to be allotted for the yeasts-- either the naturally-occurring yeasts
or the spoiled-dough yeasts --to do their job. So if you're in a hurry to feed
someone, then unfermented dough is the wiser choice; for example: at Ex
12:1-11 the Lord's passover instructions dictate the use of unleavened bread
no doubt due to the urgency of the Jews' departure from Egypt.
†. Ex 12:11 . . And thus shall you eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes
on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste
Point being, the Lord's last supper was a Passover seder: so the bread he
blessed and broke for his men at Mtt 26:26 was made with unfermented
dough. But does that mean communion breads absolutely have to be made
with unfermented dough too?
Buen Camino
/
and they ate.
Lot's is the very first mention of unleavened bread in the Bible and it won't
show up again until Exodus 12:8 in the Passover meal.
The Hebrew word for "unleavened" is matstsah (mats-tsaw') which means,
specifically: an unfermented cake or loaf; in other words: bread made with
sweet dough rather than sour dough.
It's easy to make sour dough bread without the addition of cultured yeast
simply by putting fresh dough in a warm place and letting nature take its
course because even fresh non-yeasted dough contains a quantity of
naturally-occurring yeast which will cause fresh dough to go bad all by itself
over time without the addition of cultured yeast. So it's not the yeast
content that categorizes bread as leavened or unleavened; it's simply
whether the bread is made with spoiled dough or fresh dough.
†. 1Cor 5:6 . . Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
In the days prior to baking with cultured yeast, cooks kept a supply of
spoiled dough on hand for mixing with fresh dough and thus considerably
reduced the time required for fermentation by taking advantage of the
spoiled dough's yeast content. They probably didn't know all that much
about the properties of fungi in those days but one thing they did know was
that when they mixed old dough with new and let it set for a bit, the blended
batch tended to make puffy bread due to minute bubbles in the mix; which
today we know was carbon dioxide.
But either way, bread with leavened dough takes longer to make because
time has to be allotted for the yeasts-- either the naturally-occurring yeasts
or the spoiled-dough yeasts --to do their job. So if you're in a hurry to feed
someone, then unfermented dough is the wiser choice; for example: at Ex
12:1-11 the Lord's passover instructions dictate the use of unleavened bread
no doubt due to the urgency of the Jews' departure from Egypt.
†. Ex 12:11 . . And thus shall you eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes
on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste
Point being, the Lord's last supper was a Passover seder: so the bread he
blessed and broke for his men at Mtt 26:26 was made with unfermented
dough. But does that mean communion breads absolutely have to be made
with unfermented dough too?
Buen Camino
/
