Baking bread: prehistoric, biblical and classical times -- Slaves, plagues and famines: from the Anglo-Saxons to the agricultural revolution -- The best thing before sliced bread: the steam engine and the Albion Mill -- Corn laws to cookery books: condition of the people 1792-1870 -- The bread basket: the opening-up of the North American wheatlands -- Spread the dough: purifiers and roller mills -- Decline of the small baker: the mechanization of the industry -- 1870-1914: the National Bakery School and the brown bread controversy -- Two world wars, the interim and the aftermath -- A byte of bread: technological change -- Using your loaf: the big players -- On the rise: luxury loaves -- Sandwiches and summaries -- Bread chemistry for gluten gluttons -- Units of wheat, bread and money -- Bread and wheat statistics.