Omaha daily bee., 1911-12-24

the east. All have been in operation for
some time and all are graduating a num-
Der of cooks and bakers every year. The
Washington school was established in
1906 1t is now under the charge of Cap
tain Elliott and its chef is a sergeant
who is famous for his cooking, as was
his father before him.
Armed with a letter. from the commits
sary general, l visited the school this
afternoon, and saw about twenty bare
armed, white-capped husky young men,
with their sleeves rolled to the elbows,
; kneading dough, putting bread in and out
| of ovens and presiding over large
number of ranges where food of all kinds
was being cooked for the troops at the
| Washington barracks. In one room
was shown a chemical laboratory where
the student-cooks are taught how to test
| flour and to know whether II is pure or
not They ascertain the amount Of mois
ture in the flour, and also its feeding
value. They learn something of arith-
metic and of the keeping OF accounts,
and each must know just what goes into
| the dishes he prepares and how much
they cost when given to the soldiers.
Everything is done by weights and meas
ures, and it takes a man Of more than
| ordinary intelligence to pass through the
school and become a graduate.
A Kitchen as BiR as n Barn.
The kitchen of the school is an inter-
esting place. 1t is about seventy-five feet
square with a high roof, the whole cover
ing the most of the one-story building
which has been built for It, The walls
are of white tiles, and the floor is cement.
There are long tables running through
the center, and near them great dough
trough of iron.
AT the back are two huge bake ovens
one which is permanent and is faced with
white tiles, and another made of iron
coated with porcelain. The latter can be
taken down and moved at moments
notice.
A part of the education of the students
is connected with this oven. They are
made to take it apart and put it together
and upon graduation any one of then
could go with 1t TO the Philippines ol
anywhere else and start bakery there
The oven Is twelve feet wide and abou
fifteen feet long and higher than mans
head. 1t will cook 40 loayes at once anC
can bake thousands OF loayes In a day
In addition TO this the students ar
: taught to bake In field ovens. which car
/, be put up and knocked down and car
red from one place TO another on was
, ons. A fun bakery OF that kind and al
of It's equipment can be put I'm a two
horse wagon, and there are enough o
} them here to turn out 10000 loaves o
bread a day. Each of the other balSlnI
, schools has a similar equipment, so tha
l Uncle Sam could put into the field baker
: les and men to run them sufficient I
supply GO,OOO pounds OF bread a day I
r his soldiers. He has, In addition, so III
5 icommissary general tells me- a sufficien
{ equipment for ten other divisions, 3
J ,hat upon occasion he can now suppl
( enough bread for 100000 men, giving eac
1 a pound loaf q day.
Could supply Bread for goo, 900 STel
During my stay at the bakery ] locke
. at some OF the bread. The loaves ar
larger than those sold in the prlvat
bakeries. They are white and crisp an
the crust is delicious. They come out
:, great sheets of six loaYes each, all bake
= 10 a turn. While looking at them
talked with the sergeant in charge aboI
+, the cost Of the bread and was told this
u IL was just about equal TO the flour r.
. quired TO make II. Said the man:
I'VE are required to run this bakery Z
: over 90 per cent profit. and. TO tell {
d truth. we run It AT about 40 per cen
Il we find that We can do that and sell
N loaf of bread at just the cost OF a
e pound OF flour that IL supposed 10 G
n into the making OF that loaf, This seen
l., strange 10 you but you must Temsmb'
Ie that there is a great deal OF water
II bread Now, the water weighs, and TN
y weight is taken into account when Il
d pound loaf OF bread is sold. The man wi
'f knows Gnything about baking need n