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Who Invented the Bread Machine?

Our Daily Bread
Wheat might have been the original chew. Cultivated and stored by Egyptians and Mesopotamians, it was eventually pulverized, made into a paste, and baked into flat bread. By 1000 B.C., yeast was added. Greeks adopted the techniques and bread-making spread through Europe. Roman soldiers regarded bread as more important than meat. Welfare was based on distributed wheat, and eventually the government distributed baked bread to sustain the poor.

Man's place in society was determined by the color of his bread. Bread riots broke out during the French Revolution. Bread became part of religious ceremonies and became known as the "staff of life."

Dough-Kneading Machines
The first bread machines were commercial kneading machines. The Solignacs claim to have invented the first dough-kneading machine in 1751, and are still producing breads and pastries in La Jasse de Bernard, a small village in France. However, the only mention of their invention is on their family website.

Credit for the invention of the bread machine goes to an African-American inventor named Joseph Lee. Lee worked in a bakery as a boy, eventually opened two successful Boston restaurants, and later owned and managed a hotel in Massachusetts. Lee also owned and operated a catering business and managed a summer resort. Lee's automatic bread-making machine (patented in 1902) mixed the ingredients and kneaded the dough. It drastically cut costs by doing the work of six people.

Finally, Bread Machines!
The first home bread machines were released in Japan in 1986. When first released at American trade shows in 1987, the bread machine was viewed as a novelty that would never catch on. To everyone's surprise, it received recognition in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Although it's not clear which manufacturer receives sole credit for the export, Sanyo and Zojirushi both exported bread machines to the U.S. in the '80s. Originally bread machines were priced above $200. Today, bread machines have improved their features and are available for as little as $50.