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

Ancient wheat was not “breadable.” The wheat that can make flour and then bread is something that we have selectively breeded.

Ancient hominids probably found this plant that was chewable that also didn’t kill them. After several millennia of chewing it into a pulp some guy realized you couldn’t grow it yourself.

Add another few millennia of figuring out you could selectively breed this chewable plant it to so much more you had semi modern wheat.

Then over a few centuries some other guy probably realized you could grind the shit out of it to purify it.

Then some other asshole realized you could mix it with water and when heated it would make something far more digestible and tasty that chewing the stalks.

Here’s the thing about anthropology, discoveries take several dozen to several hundred lifespans to happen. We, as modern humans, have trouble even beginning to comprehend that long between discoveries.

The first hominid stone tools are like 2.6 million years ago and it wasn’t until 200,000 years ago that hominids began attaching sharpened pieces of stone to wooden handles or spears

That means it took hominids over 2 million years to realize that fastening a hunk of worked over stone was actually more effective if you tied a piece of wood to it.

Us moderns cannot even begin to comprehend how long initial technologies take to develop