The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1859-12-21
Bread-Making in Spa1n

Finding myself about two leagues from
Seville, in the picturesque village of AL
cade de Guadaira, but commonly called
Alcala de los Panaderes-or bakers-as
almost all the bread consumed in Seville
is made there, | determined to know how
ii was made No traveller who ever visi-
ted the south Of Spain ever fails to remark,
How delicious the bread is J." 1t is
whito as snow, close as cake, and yet very
light the flavor is most delicious, for the
wheat is good and pure, and the bread is
well kneaded.
As practicie demonstration IS better
than hearsay or 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 at,
as they were sorting the wheat, seated on
very low stools IN TIE porch Of the house,
ltwas pretty picture; their dark, spark
ling eyes, rosy cheeks, and snowy teeth 4;
their hair always beautifully dressed, and
always onamented with natural flowers
from their little garden in the back
ground their brigbt-ooored neckerchief5
rolled in at the top, showing the neck !;
their cotton gowns with short sleeves ;
their hands scrupulously clean, and so
small that many an aristocratic dame
might have envied them surrounded by
panniers filed with wheat, which they took
out, handful at time, sorting it most
expeditiously, and throwing every defec-
tive grain in another basket.
Whom this is done the wheat is ground
between two large circular stones, in the
way it was ground in Egypt two thousand
years ago, the rotary motion being given
by blindfolded mule, which PAGES round
and round with untiring patience, a bell
being attached to his mock, which, as .ong
as he is in movement, tinkles on and
when he stops he is urged to his duty by
the shout OF Z" are muda,' from some
one within hearing, When ground, the
wheat is sifted through three sieves, the
last being so fine that only the pure -four
can pass through it it is of pale apricot
color.
The bread is made of an evening and
after sunset | returned to the bakers and
watched his pretty wife first weigh the
-four, and then mix it with only just sufi-
cient water, mixed with little salt, to
make it into dough. a very small guam
tity of leaven is added The Scriptures
says ." A little leaven leaveneth the whole
lump;" but in England, to avoid the
trouble of kneading they put as much
leaven or yeast, in one batch of household
bread as in Spain would last them a 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 center Of the vii
lage, so as to bake it Immediately after it
was kneaded. On arriving there, the
dough was divided into portions weighing
three pounds each. Two long, narrow,
wooden tables on tressels we're then placed
down tho room, and, to my surprise, about
twenty men came in and ranged themsel-
yes on one side of the tables. A lump of
uOuHu was uduuCl " luG lCtlShtt Mu4Cu
he commenced kneadius and knocking
about, and then passed it to hls nc4ghbor,
who did the same, and so on successiyely
till all had kneaded it, when it was as
soft as new putty, and ready for the oven.
OF course, as soon as the first baker hands
the loaf to his neighbor, another is given
to him, and so on till the whole quantity
OF dough in kneaded by them all. The
bakers wife and daughters shape them
for the oven, Some of the loaves are di-
yided into many smaller, ones, and i'm
mediately baked. The ovens are very
large and NOT heated by fires under them;
but a quantity of twigs Of herbs o. the
sweet mauoram and thyme, which cover !
the hills in great profusien, are put ll'o |
the oven and ignited. They heat the
oven to an extent required and as the
bread gets baked the oven gets gradually
colder, SO the bread is never burned,