Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1885-11-26
AN IMMENSE BAKERY.
How the Staff of Fife IL NTads In a
Big Esfabli>hment.


been through an immense Brooklyn
bakery-the largest in the city-says:
Here bread is turned out by the ten
thousand loaves and enough is made
daily to supply the wants of many a
thriving village. The proprietor Of the
bakery was kind enough to conduct the
reporter all through the various depart
ments aud explain the whole process of
bread making, from the time the barrels
4 of -four are rolled in and hoisted bv ele-
vators to the loft to the hour when the
bread is delivered to the retail stores all
over the city.
The two upper floors are used for the
storage of the -four. They will hold
about $4,000 barrels and are piled in
great tiers and taken down again at the
rate of 800 barrels day to be worked
up into bread. The lower floor is used
for the delivery of the finished product.
In one part is blacksmith's shop for
the repair of the wagons and harnesses
and the making of horseshoes. The
stable for the horses occupies the half of
another block few hundred feet away.
In order to make the business lucrative
the scale on which the work is done be-
ing so large that the margin of profit is
very small, it must be as self-sustaining
as possible. Hence the firm has its own
stables, its own wagons and its own re-
pair shops. In fact nearly everything is
done by the establishment except the
growing Of the wheat and the grinding
Of the flour. That is bought already in
barrels as it comes from the West.
The lower floor was covered with lit
tie carts on wheels to transfer the boxes
Of fresh-made loaves from one part Of
the building to another. There is about
an acre and half of ground under roof
and every inch is cconomized. One lit
tie room is used for the sale of bread
returned from the retail bakeries, sign
conspicuously posted stating that ''no re-
turned bread moro than one day old will
be allowed for" That which is less than
one day old is taken back at full rates
and sold in the little room at half price.
Crowds of people from the neighboring
tenement houses were squeezing in to
purchase the rejected bread. This was
being emptied from the large crates 4
feet by 2 and about ~ feet deep and
rapidly transferred to barrels, whence it
was sold over the counter.
processes OF mixing ana Kneaung are
carried on, while around under the side
walks are the immense ovens. The -four
is first poured into great mixing pans,
six barrels at time. The pans are of
iron, about eight feet in diameter and
four feet deep. Two bent bars of iron,
V-shaped and connected with machinery
that rises in cylinder in the center of
the pan, serve to mix the dough. They
are moved in a peculiar manner up and
down and through every part Of the
pasty mixture, thoroughly comming-
ling all its components.
The yeast is made in small room and
transferred to large cullenders, where
little salt and milk and water is added
in varying proportions according TO the
style OF bread desired. Then it is shaken
up with little flour and finally squeezed
by hand through the holes in the bottom
OF the cullender into the mixing pans.
Then the machinery is started, the great
iron bars begin to revolve, and the pasty
mass is stirred for little while until it
attains the proper consistency. In this
manner six barrels of -four can be made
up into dough in from twelve to four
teen minutes. The -four is emptied from
the barrels into bins on the floors above
and falls through wooden shutes into the
pans beneath.
After the dough is properly mixed the
machinery is stopped and the two strong
kneaders who stand BY begin to punch
and mold the dough into round masses
about three feet in diameter. 1t then
sticks together pretty firmly, like large
lump Of molasses- candy. Then with
jerk the men liftthe ball of dough and
throw it into large trough standing
near by. These troughs are exactly like
wooden washtubs on wheels. The dough
is thrown in, ball after ball, until the
trough is full 1t sinks down and coal
esces into one mass even with the top of
the tub. There it standsuntil ''proved,
about four or five hours. The weather
has much to do with the process. In
cold weather warm water is used to mix
the dough and in hot summer seasons
ice-water must be employed.
The kneading rooms are about a hun
drcd feet square. all open underneath.
and large shaft about forty by twenty
feet with brick walls gives air and light.
There are several party walls with iron
doors, SO that the different sections may
be isolated in case Of fire. The upper
floors are separated by walls into SO
many different buildings, and they could
be turned into dwelling houses, as their
outside appearance indicates.
The weather causes the length Of time
for proving to vary from four to six
hours At the end of this time the
dough is taken out in small quantities
and transferred to tables, where thirty
or forty kncaders make it up into loaves
of the proper shape Then it is placed
in shallow pans and stands short time
for further proving in high wooden