Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-10-27
From Once a woek.
BREAD-MAKING IN SPAIN.

Finding myself about two leagues from Sc
vile, in the pcturesqne village Of Alcala de
Guadara, but commonly called Alcala dc los
Panaderos, (or bakers as almost all the bread
consumed in Seville Is made there, deter
mined to learn how it was made. No traveller
who visits the south Of Spain ever fails to re
mark, "How delicious the bread ISL II is
white as snow, close cake, and yet very
light; the flavor is most delicious, for the wheat
is good and pure and the bread well kneaded.
As practical demonstration is better than
hcarsay OF theory, would not content myself
with the description of the process Of bread.
making, but went to the house Of baker,
whose pretty wife and daughter / had often
stopped to look Mt as they were sorting the
wheat, seated ON very low stools in the porch
of their touee. II was a pretty picture: their
dark sparkling eyes, rosy cheeks, aud snowy
teeth; their hair always beautifully dressed, ,
and ornamented with natural flowers from their
little garden in the background; their bright
colored neckerchiefs rolled ia at the top, show
ing the neck; their cotton gowns with short
sleeves; their hands scrupuously clean, and
50 small that many an aIistocratic dame might
have envied thcm surrounded by large round
panniors filled with wheat which they {. ok
out handful at time, sorting it mOst care
fully and expedltiously, and throwing every de-
icctiye grain in another basket.
When this is done, the wheat is ground be-
tween two large circular stones, in the way il
was ground in Egypt two thousand years ago,
the rotary motion being given 10y a blindfUlded
mule, which PAGES rouud and round with un
tiring patience, bell being attached to his
neck, which as long as he is IN movement tin
k es on and when it stops, he is urged to his
duty 10y the shout of " ARE, mula,' from some
one within hearing. When ground, the wheat
is siited through three sieves, the last being so
fine that only the pure flour can pass through
/ it; it is of pale apricot color.
The bread ls made of an evening" and ailer
( sunset l returned to the bakers and watched
his pretty wife first weigh the flour, and then
mix it with only Just sufficient water, mixed
with a little salt, to make it into dough. A
reJy small quantity to leaven is added The
I Scripture says, " A iutic leaven leayenelh the
whole lump" But in England, to avoid the
/ trouble OF knoadmg, they put as much leayen,
or yeast, in one batch of household bread, as
IN spain would last them week for the six or
eight donkey loads of bread they send every
night from their oven.
When the dough was made, it was put in
sacks, and carried on the donkeys' backs TO
the oven in the centre Of the village, SO as to
bake it Immediately after kneading. On ami
wing th-Ie, the dough was divided into portions
weighing three pounds each. Two long ar.
down the room, and to my surprise, about
twenty men came 10 and ranged lhemself on
one side of the tables A lump of dough was
handed TO the nearest, which he commenced
kncading and knocking about with all his
might for about thres or four minutes, and
then passed it to his neighbor, who did the
same, and 80 on successlvely, until all h. d
kneaded 1t, when it was us soft Us dew puttg,
| and ready for the oven. OF course, as soon as
the first baker hands the loaf to his neig hbOr,
another is given to him, and SO on til the
whole quantity of dough is successfully knead-
ed by them all
The bakers wife and daus hters shape them for
the oven. Some of the lOaves are divided into
many smaller ones, and Of various shapes, and
Immediately baked. The ovens are very large,
and not heated by fires under them; Tut
quantity oftwigs ofthe herbs of sweet marie
ram and thy me, which cover the hills in great
ploiusiOn, are put in the oven and ignited.
They heat the oven to any extent required;
and as the bread gets baked, the oven gets
gradually colder, so the bread is never burned
Oh, if our English bakers would but use less
yeast, and knCad their bread more, and not
adultelate the -four, how many a heartburn and
fit OF indigestion they might prevent Bread
would then be the stall Of life, as Providence
intend, d it to bel
They knead the bread in Spain with such
force that the palm Of the hand and the sec
ond joints of the bakers ingeIs are covered
with corns end it so affects the chest, that
they cannot work for more than two hours at a
timo They can be heard from some distance
as they give kind ofgutturll sound, (ha, ha,)
as they work, which they say eases the chest
Our sailors have the same fancy when hosting
a sail.
have kept small loaf of Spanish bread
for several months in dry place, aud then i'm
mersed it in boiling water and re baked il, and
can assure my readers that il was neither
mustV unr sour