Talk:Herculaneum loaf

shape of bread
Pure conjecture here as a bread baker: I can’t think of a way you could stamp a loaf of bread with a name unless you put raised type into the bottom of the baking pan. Nor can I imagine how slashing the dough could produce such deep and well-formed divisions. I think they must have had round ceramic pans with raised ridges to create the divisions. Each Baker might have special pans made with his name incorporated, or a ceramic or metal strip with his name in raised letters could have been placed in the bottom of the pan before plopping in the dough. The bread rises over the edge of the shallow pan, making the wider and less even bulge at the bottom of the loaf. The loaf is turned out of the pan and served upside down after baking. The groove for the carrying string would have been formed by the rim of the baking pan. Brxiupo (talk) 15:44, 13 July 2021 (UTC)