The duty of preparing bread was usually, in ancient times, committed to the females or the slaves of the family (
Genesis 18:6 ;
Leviticus 26:26 ;
1 Samuel 8:13 ); but at a later period we find a class of public bakers mentioned (
Hosea 7:4 Hosea 7:6 ;
Jeremiah 37:21 ).
The bread was generally in the form of long or round cakes ( Exodus 29:23 ; 1 Samuel 2:36 ), of a thinness that rendered them easily broken ( Isaiah 58:7 ; Matthew 14:19 ; 26:26 ; Acts 20:11 ). Common ovens were generally used; at other times a jar was half-filled with hot pebbles, and the dough was spread over them. Hence we read of "cakes baken on the coals" ( 1 Kings 19:6 ), and "baken in the oven" ( Leviticus 2:4 ). (See BREAD .)
These dictionary topics are from
M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition,
published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain, copy freely.