How did ancient humans see tall growing grass (wheat), think to harvest it, mill it, mix it with water then put the mixture into fire to make ‘bread’?

Question

I am trying to comprehend how something that required methodical steps and ‘good luck’ came to be a staple of civilisations for thousands of years. Thank you. (Sorry if this question isn’t correct for ELI5, I searched and couldn’t find it asked. Hope it’s in-bounds.)

In: 1505

Answer 1

Hunter gatherers ate nuts, berriers and other gathered things.

Wheatgrass was essentially a grass with 1-3 small seeds, but wheatgrass could grow where no verdant nut plants that require lots of water cannot. This helped during seasonal migrations to hunt game. Wheatseeds also store for a long time if you could spend time to gather them. Pre-cultivation wheat dropped seeds on touch to the ground so gatherers would have to be careful. When the early cultivators learned they could select better plants for breeding each time they selected plants that had a stronger connection to the stalk from the seed that could be easily picked.

When you crushed the seeds to water you could make a paste that you could dry that would raise your blood sugar and feel good to eat. And making the drying process faster by drying by fire they would learn how to make bread, initially. Also the wet seed paste would ferment to make it last for a longer time and the bacterial process would increase the digestability and calorie intake.