Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-11
HOW CRACKERS ARE MADE.
The Crisp Disks Of the Dining Table
"SpOnge' and Hard" Goods.


We Will to-day 20 on trip to the whole
! sale cracker bakery and find out what we
NAV of the processes that are there prac-
ticed for the production of the crisp disks,
ovals or diamonds that are so generally
used for table purposes. 1t is not very
many years since the first machine for
cutting out crackers was put to work, but
the genius of invention has now succeeded
in constructing a machine so autOmati-
cally perfect that it takes the dough, rolls
it out to the required thickness, stamps
out the shapes desired and puts them in
the pans ready for the ovens.
The foreman of the shop, dirty as a
miller and up to his elbows in the sponge
being prepared for the next days work,
IS a very polite man, well informed about
his own business, and he evinces no re-
luctance to give us all the information
that can reasonably be asked for. He
tells us, first, that it requires a certain
kind of flour to make the best cracker
that is, cracker that is white, bright
and brittle. What is called sEshort'' -four
its color being suitable, is preferred. 1t
Will produce the most brittle, flaky crack
ers. But good crackers cannot be made
OF the poorer grades of flour any more
than good bread can be made OF cheap
-four. The other staple that enters more
extensively into the production of crack
ers is lard OF this the kettle-made-
rendered out in the old style, and not that
produced by the modern tanking and re-
filming prOcesses-is the best. The refining
process takes out of the lard quality Of
strength that is retained IN the kettle
rendered. In other words. it takes less
pounds Of the latter than of the former,
to each barrel Of -four, to produce a GER
tain quality of goods.
Crackers may be divided INTO two gen.
eral classes, sponge and shard'' goods.
A further description would class them
as ''plain' and ''sweet' goods-the latter
being those in which more or less sugar
is used. The mixing Of the s'spOnge" and
'hard" goods is precisely the same; and
in each dough the same kind of yeast is
7 used. The former is allowed to stand and
eighteen for some time before baking,
while the latter is worked as soon as the
dough is mixed.
You must know that all cracker-bake-
ries west OF Pittsburg-with, perhaps,
| half dozen exceptions organized
into an association known as the Western
/ Cracker Bakers Association, which. in
the intervals of its stated general meet
ings, works through an executive COM
mlttee endowed with extensive powers of
discretion and control. This association
establishes the grade of goods fixes prices
and does what it can to protect its men,
| bers against the warfare waged against it
! by outsiders.
1t has established three grades Of plain
/ goods, known as ''XNN ""XN" and ~ -
the former beng the highest grade, and
/ this is determined by the pounds Of lard
! used to the barrel of flour Of the standard
/ quality. The quality of flour is fixed by
/ certain well-knOwn varieties recognized
/ by the association as standards. The NXX
/ goods must contain not less than twenty
! four pounds of lard to the barrel Of flour.
{ Y Hg fix-r 81 10
! less.
Everybody knows that cracker dough
requires more kneading than bread dough,
and in order to do this work the cracker
/ bakers use heavy iron rollers, set in pairs
and driven by steam power, through which
/ the dough is passed and repassed until it
IS sufficiently toughened for the purpose
| CT these rollers or brakes there are two
! three sets. decreasing in size, and from
the smallestpair through which the dough
! passes last, il goes directly to the table Of
the machine.
Here it passes between two small roll
ers, Just wide enough apart to give out
sheets of the precise thickness demanded.
a revolving brush-part of the machine
takes off the adhering -four dust, and the
sheet passes Immediately through a cutter
made of two parts, the upper portion con-
1 tanning the stamp, which, working per-
I pendicularly, cuts out the crackers and
/ they drop on the pans, which, as fast as
/ they are loaded, are taken by a revolving
4 belt of canvas directly to the door Of the
/ oven. The scrap dough coming from the
/ spaces between the crackers as they are
1 cut out is taken 10y a set of fingers and
+ deposited in box to 90 back again to the
/ brakes and so pass again to the machines.
The revolving oven is a remarkable con-
/ trivance. 1t is heated by the fierce power
/ of.burniRg coke or hard coal, and glance
! into its cavernous depths, with their beds
/ of living fire, is suggestive of something
/ hotter than a MONDAY in the tropics.
( Across the centre of the oven space
| stretches a short shaft of iron, from which
| extend at frequent and regular intervals
stout arms, reaching to the circumference
of the oven all around. From the outer
ends of their arms depend swinging
/ shelves, or pans, on which the unbaked
/ crackers are deposited, and swing around
the entire circumference of the oven. The
/ pans always keep the perpendicular posi-
ton and so their under side is continually
toward the fires at the bottom of the oven.
When the skill and judgment of the
/ Oven-man tells him that the baking is
/ complete, the shifting of the pulley stops
! the pan at the mouth OF the oven, and the
! goods are pulled out and sent to the pack
/ ers' department, where, after sufficiently
| cooling, they are put into boxes or bar
reIs and are ready for the markets.