A Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making

Detailed information about the chemistry and cooking of homemade breads by the early American dietary reformer who created graham crackers.

Published in 1837, Sylvester Graham’s A Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making includes a history of bread, discussion of various grains and which make the best breads, preparation of flour and other ingredients, the process of fermentation, how to prepare and bake bread dough, and discussion of bread varieties. The book describes Graham’s preference for unadulterated flour that is free of chemical additives (used even in those early times to make bread whiter in color). He believed that firm bread made of coarsely ground whole-wheat flour was more nutritious and healthy. The treatise enthusiastically supports making bread in the home instead of buying commercial products, and the recipes were so popular that after publication, Graham was attacked by a mob of angry bakers in Boston. 

This edition of A Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making was reproduced by permission from the volume in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas, a Revolutionary War patriot and successful printer and publisher, the Society is a research library documenting the life of Americans from the colonial era through 1876. The Society collects, preserves, and makes available as complete a record as possible of the printed materials from the early American experience. The cookbook collection includes approximately 1,100 volumes.