Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-01-23
A CRACKER BAKERY.
An Extensive Branch OF the Steam
Baking Business.


The 6rst step In tie manufacture OF
crackers, which is by far the most ex-
tensiye branch OF the steam baking
business. is to mix the dough. A half
barrel or so of -four is dumped into a
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 a 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 1t is allowed to stand
over night and "rise." Not only one,
but a number or watts are Hlled with
embryonic crackers and left to ferment
IN the same way.
In the morning the hands come to
work at O'Clock and begin the task
of the day. The dough is exhamed in
masses from the depths Of the recep-
tacles and flung down chute to q
lower floor. The dough presser. ma
chine whose name expresses its use,
absoi bs the sticky mass into its great
iron Jaws and rolls It out into cakes
about an inch thick by forcing 1t
through an elongated aperture OF the
required diameter. 1t is now ready
FOR the cutter, which machine divides
the dough into squares or pIoIer d.
mensions ready for baking.
The process Of division Is very SIM
pie. The dough is forced under q
roller. which presses IT to the proper
thickness and runs 1t under q stamper
worked by steam. The starnper cuts
. ., lot lra ~
surface with a number OF little de-
pressions. The firm name Of the pro-
pr;etors of the factory Is also stamped
upon the top. The thin ribbons OF
surplus dough which run along the
margin or the batch are removed by
the hands of two small boys who oc-
cupy seats by the machine.
The next process is 10 shovel it into
the oven. The reel oven is the variety
most used for baking crackers, which
are considered comparatively coarse
product. An immense pair of wheels
connected by transverse bars OF iron
are suspended over a seething brick
furnace In such a manner as to be
easily revolved by the hand OF an opera
tor. a number of huge fat sheets Oh
iron are suspended from the transverse
rods somewhat after the fashion OF a
scale pan hanging from a beams end.
One OF the sheets is kept constantly at
the mouth of the aperture in the side
of he oven where the unbaked crack
ers are to be put in for baking.
COOKING THE CRACKERS.
An operator with large, thin
wooden shovel runs the fat blade un-
der a section of the cut and pressed
dough, and placing 1t upon the iron
sheet, suddenly withdraws it. This
process Is repeated until the sheet is
filed, when turn or the wheel shoots
IL out over the heated Goals in the fur
mace, and at the same time brings the
next sheet, whose freight has been
cooking for some time and is now en-.
t.reiy done before the mouth of the
orifce. u 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 together, and they
are full fledged, ready baked crackers.
If the crackers were packed into
boxes immediately after being raked
from the oven, they would sweat
ard retain an enlarged thickness given
them by the excessive Lsat. SO they
arc dumped upon large. Cat 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 manufacture of crack.
ers- In some OF the larger factories
they are raked of 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
1n~ eli Ia
usual complement, and each sheet is
just large enough to contain six row:
of seventy-two crackers each. Eact
fore, contains l, ,5S4 crackers baking al
one time. The large houses have from
three TO five ovens. If these ovens art
| operated, the number baking at onE
time would be 5,152.
The finest grades of cakes, such a!
macaroons, citron, cream and jelly
rolls, are too delicate to be trusted al
ways to reel ovens, and In many fac
tories are baked In the old-fashionet
| Dutch affairs, which impart such /;
delicious favor to the cooking of ou
grandmothers. The methods of pre-
pairing these cakes differ widely
Chocolate icing is put on by dropping
the cake upon its fiat surface into /;
bucket of liquid chocolate and scrap
ing off the surplus from the edges will
a knife. Stampers OF proper desigl
VIII imprint upon dough almost an.
variety OF device. Horsecakes, so dea
to the heart OF the rural urchin, ar,
cut out in large numbers from mo
lasses dough by number of stamp
operated at once. The devices re
sorted to In the manufacture of the al
most numberless grades of cakes an;
crackers which are turned out by
flrst-class factory are OF endles
variety.