This research applies a multi-disciplinary approach based on the archaeological record, to bread, a staple item of diet in ancient Egypt. Desiccated ancient loaves and artefacts connected with post-storage crop processing at settlement sites are the prime sources of data. They have been interpreted with reference to appropriate ethnographic analogies and to information about starch microstructure and its transformation under different processing techniques. These sources of evidence, together with experimental replication, have established that New Kingdom Egyptians obtained clean grain from emmer spikelets by dampening and pounding the spikelets in limestone mortars with wooden pestles, which shredded the chaff and freed whole grain. The mixture was dried, winnowed and sieved.

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