Archaeologists have discovered a piece of Bronze Age bread buried beneath the threshold of a house in Turkey, and are helping a local bakery recreate it.

The bread, estimated to be 5000 years old, was found in excavations at Kulluoba, a site near the Anatolian city of Eskisehir. Round and flat like a pancake and measuring 12cm in diameter, the bread is thought to be the oldest baked bread to come to light during an excavation.

Speaking with AFP, archaeologist and excavation director Murat Turteki said the bread’s shape has been largely preserved. A piece of the bread was torn off before the bread was burnt and then buried when the house was built.

“Bread is a rare find during an excavation. Usually you only find crumbs,” he said.

Unearthed in 2024, the charred bread had been on display at the Eskisehir Archaeological Museum since late May 2025.

The city’s mayor Ayse Unluce said they had been very moved by the discovery.

“Talking to our excavation director, I wondered if we could reproduce this bread,” he said.

Analyses showed the bread had been made from an ancient variety of wheat called emmer – which no longer exists in Turkey – along with lentil seeds and an as yet undetermined plant used as yeast. After the analysis it was decided Halk Ekmek bakery would use Kavilca wheat as it’s close to ancient emmer, as well a bulgur and lentils.

It is here bakers have been hand-shaping 300 loaves of Kulloba each day.

According to news.com.au the bakery’s manager Serap Guler said the combination of ancestral wheat flour, lentils and bulgur resulted in a rich, satiating, low-gluten, preservative-free bread.

It is the second time an ancient bread recipe has been recreated, with Turkish chef Ulaş Tekerkaya successfully recreating an 8600-year-old bread recipe that had been found Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.