Wichita eagle., 1888-10-27
A CRACKER BAKERY.
AN EXTENSIVE BRANCH OF THE
STEAM BAKING BUSINESS.

CftNu 6SbI<uHS SSStN6SSs
Mixing tho Doush-Work Of tho Dough
Reel Overlooking the Crackez-Psck-
ing-Preparing Cakes, Etc.
The first step in the manufacture Of crack
ers, which is by far the most extensive branch
Of the steam baking business Is to mix the
dough. A half barrel or so OF -four is dumped
into wooden vat and lard, yeast, salt and
possibly one or two other Ingredients to vary
the grade Of the manufactured product, are
mixed with the mass. Several buckets Of
water are thrown in, and white aproned
kneader, with . square canvas bakers cap on
his head, rolls up his sleeves to the armpits
and pitches in When he has agitated the
mass sufficiently it is allowed to stand over
night and rise" Not only one, but num-
Der of watts are filed with embryonic crack
ers and left to ferment in the same way.
In the morning the hands come to work at
8 o'clock and begin the task of the day. The
dough is exhumed in masses from the depths
of the receptacles end flung down chute to
q lower floor. The dough presser, machine
whose name expresses its use, absorbs the
sticky mass into its great iron jaws and rolls
1t out into cakes about en- inch thick by
forcing it through an elongated aperture Of
the required diameter 1t is now ready for
the cutter, which machine divides the dough
into squares Of proper dimensions ready
for baking
The process Of division Is very simple The
dough is forced under a roller, which presses
it to the proper thickness and runs it under
a stamper worked by steam. The stamper
cuts the fat cake into squares and dents the
surface with a number of little depressions.
The firm name of the proprietors Of the
factory is also stamped upon the top. The
thin ribbons Of surplus dough which run
along the margin of the batch are removed
by the hands of two small boys who occupy
seats by the machine.
The next process is to shovel it into the
oven. The reel oven is the variety most used
for baking crackers, which are considered a
comparatively coarse product. An immense
pair Of wheels connected by transverse bars
of iron are suspended over q seethins brick
furnace in such a manner as to be easily re-
volved by the hand Of an operator A num-
Der of huge fat sheets Of iron are suspended
from the transverse rods somewhat after the
fashion of scale pan hanging from beams
end. One Of the sheets is kept constantly at
the mouth Of the aperture in the side Of the
oven where the unbaked crackers are to be
put in for baking
COOKING THE CRACKERS.
An operator with large, thin wooden
shovel runs the fat blade under section Of
the cut and pressed dough, and placing it
upon the iron sheet. suddenly withdraws it
This process is repeated until the sheet il
filed, when a turn Of the wheel shoots it out
over the heated Goals in the furnace, and at
the same time brings the next sheet, whose
freight has been cooking for some time and
is now entirely done before the mouth Of the
orifce. A huge wooden rake, operated by
hand, pulls the crackers off into the baskets,
where the force of the fall breaks the thin
strips of brittle bread which bind them to-
gether, and they are full fledged, ready baked
crackers.
II the crackers were packed into boxes i'm
mediately after being raked from the oven,
they would "sweat" and retain an enlarged
thickness given them by the excessive heat.
So they ore dumped upon large, fat counters
to dry before they are put into the labeled
boxes or barrels in which they are sold. This
is the usual process employed in the manu-
facture Of crackers In some Of tho larger
factories they arc raked OFF when cooled into
troughs with sliding bottoms, which empty
them into chutes by which they are conveyed
up or down stairs. Nearly all of the reel
ovens have the same capacity. Twelve fat
sheets are the usual complement, and each
sheet is just large enough to contain six rows
of seventy two crackers each. Each row is
spadeful. Each oven, therefore, contains
LISA crackers baking at one time. The large
houses have from three to five ovens. II
these ovens are operated, the number baking
at one time would be ,7o2.
The finest grades Of cakes, such as maca-
rooms, citron, cream and jelly rolls, are too
delicate to be trusted always to reel ovens,
and in many factories arc baked in the old
fashioned Dutch affairs, which impart such
a delicious flavor to the cooking Of our grand
mothers The methods Of preparing these
cakes differ widely. Chocolate icing is put
on by dropping the cake upon its fat surface
into bucket Of liquid chocolate and scrap
ing off the surplus from tho edges with
knife Stampers Of proper design will i'm
print upon dough almost any variety OF de-
vice Horsecakes, 30 dear to the heart OF
the rural urchin, are cut ont In large num-
bers from molassas dough by number Of
stamps operated at once. The devices re-
sorted to In the manufacture Of the almost
numberless grades Of cakes and crackers
which are turned out by first class factory
areof endless variety. Herald