Seamus Blackley, known as the creator of the Xbox and also a physicist and amateur baker, baked a naturally leavened loaf using yeast recovered from a 4,500-year-old Egyptian ceramic object. He described the finished bread’s aroma and flavor as “incredible.”
How the ancient yeast was obtained
Blackley detailed the project on his then-active Twitter account in 2019. He worked with microbiologist Richard Bowman of the University of Iowa and archaeologist Serena Love of the University of Queensland to locate and extract the ancient yeast.
With permission from staff at the Peabody Museum at Harvard University, the team recovered traces of yeast from the pores of an Egyptian ceramic vessel dated to approximately 4,500 years ago. Blackley summarized their extraction technique as a kind of “microbiological fracking.”
Cultivation and baking process
Back at home, Blackley spent a week cultivating the recovered microorganism until it was viable for use in breadmaking. Once the starter was active, he used it to bake a naturally leavened loaf and even carved a hieroglyph into the crust.
Describing the result, Blackley said the bread’s aroma and flavor were “incredible,” noting that it tasted sweeter than modern breads. He added that he had to stop himself from eating more because it was late at night.
Background and context
Blackley had previously experimented with a variety of bread recipes and gradually developed an interest in ancient fermentation methods. His 2019 posts laid out both the technical steps and the collaborative path that led from museum sample to finished loaf.
Sources and reporting
Although Blackley’s account is no longer available, his detailed thread from 2019 was reported by other outlets that documented the collaboration with Bowman, Love and the Peabody Museum staff and described the week-long cultivation and the final tasting notes.
