The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1860-03-22
Bread Making in Spain.


Seville, iii the picturesque village Of Al
cade de Guadaira, but commonly called
Aicala de los Panaderos-or bakers-as
almost all the bread consumed in Seville
is made there, | determined to learn how
it was made. No traveller who ever visits
the south of Spain ever fails to remark.
CHOW delicious the bread is ~ 1t is white
as snow, close as cake, and yet very light;
the favor is delicious, for the wheat is
good and pure, and the bread well knead-
ed
i practical demonstration is better than
heresay or theory | would not content
myself with the description of the process
OF bread making, but went to the house
OF a baker, whose pretty wife and daught-
er had often stopped to look at, as they
were sorting the wheat, SEATED on very
low stools in the porch OF theil house
1t was pretty picture; their dark spark
ling eyes, rosy checks, and snowy teeth ;
| their hair always beautifully dressed, and
always ornamented with natural flowers
from their little garden in the back ground
their bright colored neckerchiefs 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 pannicrs filled with
wheat, which they took out a handful at Il
| time, sorting 1t most eXpeditiously, and
throwing every defective grain in another
basket. When this is done the wheat Is
ground between two large circular stones
Ill the way it was ground in Egypt two
thousand years ago, the rotary motion be-
ing given By :, bhntoided mule, which pa
ces round and round with untiring patience,
a bell being attached to his neck, which,
as long as he Is moving, tinkles on; and
when lie steps he is urged to his duty by
the shouts OF "ayre muid," from some one
within hearing. When ground the wheat
is sftcd through three sievcs, the last being
SO fine that only the pure -four can pass
through 1t is OF pale apricot color.
Ihe bread is made Of an evening; and
after sunset I returned to the bakers and
watched his pretty wife first weigh the
flour and then mix it with only just
sufiient water, mixed with little salt,
10 make it into dough y very small
quantity Of leaven IS added. The scrip
ture says, "a little leaven Ieayeneth the
whole lump" :" bat in England, to avoid
the trouble OF hneading, they put as much
ieaven, or yeast, in one batch OF house
hold 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, ana carried on the dOnkeys
back to the ovens III the centre OF the vii
ia@e, so as To bake it Immediately after i,
! is kneaded. On arriving the dough was
divided into portions weighing three
pounds each Two long narrow wooden
tables on tressels were then placed down
! the room, and, to my surprise. about TWEEN
/ ty men came in and ranged themselves on
one side of the tables 4 lump OF
| dough was handed to the nearest, which
| he commenced kneading and knocking
| about, and then passed it 10 his neighbor
who did the same, and 50 on successfully
! till all had kneaded it, when it was as
soft as new putty, and ready ior the oven
7 OF course as soon as the first baker hands
| the loaf to his ncighbOr, another is given
to him, and so on till the quantity Of dough
is kneaded by them all. The Bakers
wife and daug hter shaped them for the
oven. Some Of the loaves are divided into
smaller ones, and immediately baked
The ovens are very large, and not heat
ed by fire under them but quantity OF
twigs OF the herbs Of the sweet majoram
and thyme, which cover the hills in great
prof'usion, are put in 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
They knead the bread in Spain with
such force that the palm of the hand and
the second joints Of the bakers fingers
are covered with corns and so affects the
chest that they cannot work for more than
two hours at a time. They can be heard
from some distance as they give kind oI
cultural sound-ha, ha-as they work
which they say eases the chest. Our sail
ors have the same fancy when hosting {
sail.
l kave kept a small loaf of Spanish
bread for several months IT a dry place
and then immersed 1t in boiling water and
rebaked it, and | can assure my readers
that it was neither musty nor sour.