Sourdough Bread and Romans in Horningsea

Sherds from Roman pottery Horningsea (1) showing distinctive pattern

I noticed some pottery with an interesting lined pattern on its exterior surface, amongst the pottery sherds that Rodney Scarle was sorting for the Norris Museum. To my surprise, Rodney told me that they came from the Roman potteries not far from Milton, in Horningsea. The patterning was quite distinctive for this region.

Rodney had taken part in an excavation with some colleagues from the Archaeology RheeSearch Group just north of Horningsea, where they found what was thought to be a Roman bread oven (1). This could possibly have been to support the nearby pottery.


As a bread maker myself, this was a particular interest! Since this was a historic period before the availability of commercial baker’s yeast, the Romans most likely used sourdough starters (2, 3). This is something that I’m reviving again at home. I have an established wheat culture, named William, and I’ve just started a rye sourdough culture, Reilly.

Sourdough is a mixture of natural cultures of yeast and bacteria (4). Sourdough starters (bit of live dough retained from the last loaf) are used to seed the next loaf. Some sourdough cultures can be maintained for generations.

The interesting find with Rodney’s Roman bakers oven, was the remains of a pewter dish within the rubble. We speculated that perhaps the baker had died and some of his key goods were placed in the oven which was then ritually destroyed so it could not be used by anyone else.

All speculation, but something to think about when eating my next loaf of sourdough bread.

References:

1. Rodney Scarle, (2011) Report on excavations in the garden of The Lodge, Clayhithe Road, Horningsea in 2011 (revealing a possible Roman bread oven). Report stored at the Heritage database at Shire Hall, Cambridge.
2. The History of Bread - Roman & Greek Bread http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/about/the-history-of-bread/the-history-of-bread-roman-bread-and-greek-bread/
3. Coquinaria blog article, Roman Sourdough Bread, http://www.coquinaria.nl/english/recipes/Rombread.htm
4. History of Sourdough, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough#History_of_sourdough