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Abstract Introduction: Bread is the most sacred, valuable and cheap food of most the people in the world. The familiarity of human with this nutritional substance goes back to about 4-5 thousands years BC. Bread loss in Iran, despite all of the efforts made, seems to be a basic social problem. Further- more, in Ilam province, this problem is more complicated. Materials & methods: This analytical-descriptive study was performed in urban Ilam during 2007 – 2008 to investigate the bread loss in the province. In this study, 200 urban bakeries were selected. The data gathered through questionnaires, technical observations, check-lists and private tests were analyzed using x2 test and SPSS software program. Findings: The results showed that about 20/4 percent of baked bread applied traditional and about 79/6 percent used technologic approach. In terms of the kind of baking machines, 33/3 percent used revolving oven, 46/3 percent tunnel oven and 20/3 percent the traditional (brick – made) kind. 62/7 percent of the considered bakeries spent 15-24 minutes on processing the paste. 71 percent of major bakers knew how to work with baking machines (oven) and 69/7 percent of them were relatively able to work with mixing machines. 73/6 percent of the bakeries were without primary paste and 26/4 percent of them used the primary paste for fermentation. The results of the test showed that there was a significant difference between the paste separated from the bread and the oldness of the baking machines (p <0/014). In addition, there was a significant difference between the burnt part of the bread and amount of salt and the ferment used for fermentation (p < 0/0 19 and p < 0/0 24, respectively). However, there wasn't a significant difference between the paste detached from the bread and the salt consumed in baking. Conclusion: Considering the research findings, if it is desired to have usable and healthful bread, we should plan an appropriate program to promote the knowledge and technical skills of the baking agents. Some fundamental changes also seem necessary to be replaced for the current technology of baking and processing the paste in the bakeries.