Perhaps the most significant beginning-of-the-year revelation is the shattering of the myth that the first bread was leavened in Egypt. Researchers at Necmettin Erbakan University (Konya, Turkey) have unearthed an 8,600-year-old “bread.” The discovery was made near a structure identified as an oven at the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük. The spongy residues, evaluated as leavened bread, originate from a mixture of wheat, barley, and peas. It appears that this piece of bread managed to be relatively well preserved due to a layer of clay covering it shortly after production. Carbon dating, conducted at TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center (MAM), showed that the bread sample was obtained around 6,600 BCE.

Bread production likely predates...