Mixed by hand and foot
Back when I was still employed our company had a slogan. We were told that learning was a lifetime activity. And I concur. With that in mind I have been watching content that will help me to learn about things that were until now mysteries. At the basis of everything there is food. I come from a culture where bread is important. I have made bread in different ways with different recipes and with very different goals. So today I came across a video that talked about how bread was made just over a century ago. In England. At the time when industry got into the game. I learned a lot of things that I had never considered. I have made bread one loaf at a time. The company in this video made several 100 loaves a day. By hand. In a coal-fired oven. And because everything in industry revolves around cost I learned that sometimes you cut corners. You employ ingredients that are suspect. I had never considered the idea of adulterating flour with chalk. But others did. I learned that offering loaves that were too small upset the clients so probably the only thing that was closely regulated was making sure that the loaves were as large as listed. I also learned that when you do not have machines you do things by hand. Or by foot. In this case they would mix the flour using their bare feet. Night after night because the bakery tended to be open after sundown to reduce the ambient temperature. I learned that people like their white bread to be white and that there are minerals that you can add to your flower that increase the illusion that’s your bread is of the proper colour. There was more but I have no reason to make this into a script. Just take it from me that we are better fed now then we used to be. My bread is probably fit to eat.
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