The times., 1899-07-30
BREAD And ITS MAKING
Modern Methods of Preparing the
staff of Life.
LonYes Turned Out by Thousands Mt
Time, and altogether Different
Cocked-The Machinery Required
in Lntter-Day baking House.


It is impossible to pick up news
paper or take ride in the street cars or
go anywhere nowadays without coming in
contact with the inevitable advertisement
setting forth the virtues of 'Grandma's
Bread" aunt Smanthas Biscuits I'm
Gle Josh's Doughnuts," some other rela-
tlve's cakes, and every possible thing man
ufsctured with the aid of cereals and given
some homely title to make 1t sell. Bread.
however, is one OF the most important
things in life's daily routine. 1t is the staff
of life and as such has been made of Ger
tain things from time immemorial. There
have been wonderful improvements in the
manner of making it, but the finished
product contains the same ingredients now
that it did years ago.
Flour. yeast, salt. water, sugar. and
lard are ali that is necessary for the con-
struction of wholesome loaf; that is,
these are all the materials that are put
in the loaf. Considerable skill is required
to make it pure white and of the proper
weight. and many q housekeeper has wept
bitter tears over heavy sodden loaf over
which she has worked probably for hours.
The interior of one of the modern bake
houses would make a great impression
on the nom bread making housewife. The
long, deep troughs, in which the materials
| are poured and mixed, the huge receptaeles
| in which il is kept until 1t has risen the
| heavy steam rollers which roll II into long
white strips and pass il along 10 the white
| robed bakers who silently hurry about their
ri Of lin shn and r1o
| them in the deep-mouthed ovens and f.
nally the huge racks of finished loaves,
| crisp and brown, that are hurried out OF
| the bakehouse to the wagons in which 1t
| will be delivered to the consumer, would
| be calculated to astonish the lady OF the
| house who cannot make bread. These men
| in the bakeries make such a quantity OF
| bread and do 1t so mechanically that fail
ure is almost an inrpossibility. They often
have what they call ''cripples. loayes that
| have fallen from their resting place in the
| ovens and have become broken on the floor,
but heavy loaf is thing unheard OF and
q sodden loaf never comes out OF profes-
| sional bakers oven
| In one OF the largest bakeries in the city
the manner of making the bread is simple
as well as startling From the top floor
| OF the building in which the bakery is
situated, the flour goes through q regular
course of changes, always going steadily
onward until il is turned out of the ovens
and into the wagons at the door OF the
bakehouse finished in shining loaves or
bread The top floor OF this building is
used as a storage place for -four, as it IS
in most bakeries. Here six brands OF Hour
are kept. There are very few bakers in
the country who do not prefer TO blend
i their own -four and in most OF the baker
! les the number of brands carried ranges
from three to eight. Six brands is a good
number, however. and that is what was
used in the bakery which furnished the
facts for this article. These different
| brands of flour are stored in piles IN
place that will hold four thousand barrels.
In one end of this large storage room
bin. which will hold about six barrels OF
-four is situated. This bin is used 70
blend the various brands and has con-
nected with it a pipe which runs through
the floor and ends about five feet above
the level of the story below This pipe.
which is square and very large, has Sc
ries of sieves fixed on its interior and the
flour is thoroughly sifted as it comes from
the blending bin. The end Of the pipe is
closed automatically so that the operator
of the machine can shut off the fow or
flour whenever he desires A few lneneS
below the end OF this pipe Is another bin,
set on a delicately balanced scale, which
in turn is set in the flooring.
On the floor below a huge mixing ma
chine is situated over which is pipe
connected with the scale bin The lndi-
Gator for the weights is also near the mix
ing machine, as well as the water tank,
the yeast tank and the receptacles for the
sugar and the lard, each having its grad
uated system OF measurement in order that
the mixer of the dough can tell exactly
how much OF the different materials ne
uses A lever connects with the end OF the
blending and sitting pipe on the upper
floor and the mixer allows the flour to flow
into the hopper on the scale until the
weights are lifted then he closes the mouth
of the pipe with the lever and allows the
-four to flow into the mixing machine ca
pable of holding enough dough to make
200 ioayes of bread. As soon as all the
ingredients are in the mixer it is closed
and by twisting another lever the entire
machine is set to working which thor
oughly mikes the dough When the dough
has been mixed it is taken from the mixer
and placed in long troughs where it is al
lowed TO remain until ii ripens and rises.
After this has been accomplished it Is
placed in huge patches on an inclined
I plane which leads to the steam rollers
through which it passes. II IS then taken
in hand by the bakers who place it on
long table and knead it into loavss- These
/ loaves are placed in large racks and are
! then placed in the ovens. The ovens in
the bakery visited by The Times reporter
had capacity Of $50 long or Vienna or $50
home made ioaves each and there were
sixteen of them. II requires about four
tons of coal day to keep the ovens heated
and the temperature is generally about $50
degrees Fahrenheit. When the lOaves are
removed from the ovens they are all ready
for the consumer and he can get either
mothers bread or grandmother
bread" or the bread Of any of his relatives
by the payment of cents per loaf.