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It’s not just ordinary bread. It looks to be prosphora, or communion bread [1]. In Eastern Orthodox churches communion bread is leavened and it is prepared by hand often by laity [2].

I find it beautiful that such a small but sacred action still looks to be done the same way 1300 years later.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosphora 2: https://www.stdemetriosmi.org/parish-resources/prosphora-bak...

Is "carbonised" a euphemism for "overbaked" here?

Usually you can freshen up stale bread by putting it in the toaster.

Staling is a transformation in the starch molecules that is reversed by heat.

A good way to freshen up stale bread without toasting it is to steam it.

If it doesn't need moisture, a few seconds in the microwave oven does the job.

Would this have been done using a pan with a reversed pattern or hand skills?

A pan, the dough would not hold such detail through baking if done by hand.

It would likely have been done using a mold similar to the ones in this article about Roman breadmaking in Pompeii. [0] This story did make it to HN a couple or three years ago, maybe longer, and has been updated since.

[0]https://tavolamediterranea.com/2018/06/14/baking-bread-roman...

There's some bullshit about no part of the website being reproduced, etc at the bottom of the article but I ignored it since they posted it online where anyone can read it and they mentioned earlier traffic from HN so I'm sure they're totally okay with us abusing their materials, maybe as long as we all purchase something from their shops. /s

"NO PART OF THIS WEB SITE [...] MAY BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED, COPIED, PLAGIARISED, OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, INCLUDING [...] VERBAL CONVEYANCE"

Imagine asking people not to talk about your work. Astonishing.

The entire website seems fake! The quoted archaeologist sounds like GPT.

Author: https://www.anatolianarchaeology.net/author/oguz/

They may be using AI for some language conversions, but I think they are real.

Somebody tell Seamus Blackley. Maybe there is some salvageable yeast.

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