"The duty of preparing bread was usually, in ancient times," committed to the females or the slaves of the family (Gen. 18:6; Lev. 26:26; 1 Sam. 8:13); but at a later period we find a class "of public bakers mentioned (Hos. 7:4, 6; Jer. 37:21)." "The bread was generally in the form of long or round cakes (Ex. "29:23; 1 Sam. 2:36), of a thinness that rendered them easily" broken (Isa. 58:7; Matt. 14:19; 26:26; Acts 20:11). Common ovens were generally used; at other times a jar was half-filled with "hot pebbles, and the dough was spread over them. Hence we read" "of "cakes baken on the coals" (1 Kings 19:6), and "baken in the" "oven" (Lev. 2:4). (See [44]BREAD.)" "Baked provisions (Gen. 40:17), literally "works of the baker," such as biscuits and cakes.