Around the 13th century BC, Moses led the Hebrews on the Great Migration, bringing bread-making techniques out of Egypt.
By the end of the 2nd century AD, the Roman bakers' guild standardized bread-making techniques and yeast strains.
Before the invention of the bread machine, people could only make bread by hand. Making bread required first mixing flour, water, and other ingredients to form dough.
In the latter half of the 19th century, an African American named Joseph Needham (born in 1848) invented the world's first commercially available bread machine prototype.
However, this bread machine could only knead and mix the dough. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, various bread machine manufacturers continuously improved and developed Needham's bread machine, eventually enabling it to automatically make whole loaves of bread, thus giving birth to the modern bread machine. However, due to its large size and the significant space it required, the bread machine did not become widespread in households.
With the widespread application and cost reduction of large-scale integrated circuits, a Japanese electronics manufacturer developed the first home bread maker in 1986. In 1987, it was shipped to the United States for a trade show, where it was treated as a novelty and no one actually bought one. Subsequently, Sanyo began exporting bread makers to the United States. Unexpectedly, due to its compact size, diverse appearance, and practical functions, the bread maker quickly became popular in households, especially in the US and UK markets. To this day, the US and UK remain the two largest markets for home bread makers.
In the mid-1990s, bread makers entered China. Some Chinese factories purchased prototypes from abroad and began researching and developing their own. Benefiting from lower prices and rapid product updates, domestically produced bread makers quickly captured over 70% of the international market share, primarily through OEM manufacturing.
After 2000, bread makers underwent a second-generation technological optimization, incorporating a Chinese interface, and officially entered Chinese households.
In 2009, the third-generation bread maker was launched, incorporating more Chinese-style elements into its bread-making function, such as functions for making rice wine, yogurt, and jam.
To date, no home bread maker truly caters to Chinese dietary needs; it remains primarily focused on bread making, while the function for making steamed buns, a favorite among Chinese people, has stalled due to technological difficulties.
