Anyone who finds a certain romance in bread will want to watch the recently-aired three-part series Victorian Bakers (BBC2), if they haven’t already.
(Photo credit: BBC)
The series charts the role and work of the baker throughout Queen Victoria’s reign.
The week episode 1 was shown, television critic Alison Graham wrote in the Radio Times:
… come on, it’s bread. Just bread. It pretty much all looks the same, so it’s not televisual. They aren’t making artworks like they do on Bake Off. What emerges from the magnificent bread oven is no-nonsense stuff; fortifying, dull, heavy; a bit like Victorian bakers itself.
“For me this is actually tasting history,” says one of the historical experts.
But it’s not though, is it? Again, it’s just bread, but the participants are encouraged to melodramatise, to over-empathise with their baking ancestors. “It’s like retreading history,” says one. But, yet again, no it isn’t …
After the series ended, Graham wrote an apologetic blurb in her column saying that, actually, the series was rather informative after all.
I enjoy watching bakers make bread. SpouseMouse and I are currently watching the first series of La Meilleure Boulangerie de France (‘The Best Bakery’) on M6 which takes the viewer to 84 family-owned firms to find the very best in the nation. I am applying many of their techniques at home in my own bread and pastry making.
Back now to the UK and the Victorian bakers. The first episode takes us back to 1837. Three modern-day bakers and one cake maker are put in a restored bake house to make dozens of loaves by hand. Two historians tell them they must use a large, deep trough to mix and prove the dough. There is no machinery, so two of the three men try to cope with heavy bags of heritage wheat flour, getting the contents in the trough and, after water and brewer’s yeast are added, getting everything combined to a smooth, even consistency. Not easy. It involves bending down into the trough and a few hours of back-breaking kneading. The third baker was in charge of the oven, stoking it with wood and maintaining it at the right temperature. If I remember rightly, the cake maker was allowed to help shape the loaves before baking. Overall, it was man’s work.
An Independent reader indirectly — politely — stated the men should not have added all the flour at once:
The method for hand mixing dough in a trough is to work a little at time from end to end , I learned that from a bakery tutor in 1982 who had actually done it for a living and delighted in making my class of fellow bakery students perform the exercise. I believe the procedure for checking the oven temperature was to wet your hand and touch the oven sole (oven floor for non bakers). They were fit tough folk in those days too, probably why they didn’t live as long as we do now.
Every loaf had to be consistent and edible because most Britons relied on bread as their main foodstuff — every day. The bakers also had to sell their loaves door-to-door. There was no shop. So, after all the backbreaking work, they had to walk around their village or, if in town, their local district. After that, it was back to the bakery to begin all over again.
The 21st century bakers surmised that the heritage wheat, whilst making a dense loaf, would have been more nutritious than most wheat available today. They pointed out that there were no gluten allergies then, possibly for this reason.
Episode 2 put the bakers in the 1870s during the Industrial Revolution. Although the historians said that bakers’ conditions had improved, the bake house — at the Black Country Museum in Dudley — did not look much different. The huge trough was still there and one of the bakers did what some did in the 19th century: knead the dough with his feet. There was no mechanisation, although there were now coal-fired ovens, which the 21st century bakers said were a huge improvement. By this point in history, being a baker was not considered a very good occupation. Society looked down on bakers in general, possibly because of the additives they had been forced to add (e.g. chicken feed and other questionable substances) when there were poor wheat harvests. However, the historians explained that Canadian wheat was being exported to the UK in the 1870s and sugar from the West Indies was becoming cheaper. The cake maker was delighted to be able to experiment with the new wheat as she made London buns, the closest one could get to pastry or cake at the time.
Another change that was taking place during this period was the movement of poorer people from towns and villages to cities for work in factories and mills. Yet another was a demand on the baker from the middle class for lighter, sweeter creations. These two developments meant more business for bakers but much more work. Our 21st century participants found they had to bake through the night to satisfy their customers.
In Episode 3, mechanisation finally arrives in the form of the electric dough mixer in 1900. The bakers could not have been happier. The cake maker was able to finally take charge in this episode as she taught the bakers how to make cakes and sandwiches for afternoon tea. They said they were quite relieved they did not have to do that in real life. Bread making was much more their thing — and much easier.
We saw how the late Victorians craved brightly coloured icings — the gaudier, the better. The trend persists in commercial British baking to this day. The look was also rather inelegant, which did not bother the Victorians. The unrefined appearance remains the same today and its familiarity reassures Britons of continuity through the generations.
(Photo credit: Bakingmad.com)
Another development in the late Victorian era was the insistence of trade unions on new health, hygiene and safety rules. These brought about a much better working environment. With that came an increased appreciation for bakers, and it was at this time that the number of Master Bakers began to grow. Bakeries now had a clear hierarchy of a knowledgeable boss with assistants who specialised in one task every day. Hats and caps were worn, and the Master Baker had the floppy toque.
Some readers will remember the respect and awe they felt when buying bread in the late 20th century and seeing ‘the man in the white hat’ walk from his place by the ovens into the bake shop. Nowadays, nearly all of us buy bread from the supermarket. Another slice of history has vanished.
Spa towns in England still have vintage tea rooms which are more popular than ever. If you have the opportunity, make time for afternoon tea.
And, if you enjoy bread and history, Victorian Bakers is an excellent series. Watch now to avoid disappointment. It might only be on iPlayer for another few weeks.
4 comments
February 19, 2016 at 5:44 pm
Boetie
Thank you, Churchmouse for this advice. I have just checked: episode one and two are already available on Youtube. I haven’t had the time yet to watch a full episode but from what I have seen in the first few minutes it seems worthwhile.
There is a custom over here in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and probably elsewhere too: before cutting a loaf of bread you scratch a little cross with your knife into the bottom side of the loaf. Also, a short prayer can be said when you’re doing this. With Christian faith and practice on the wane of course this custom is dying too – at least most of my friends look somewhat bewildered the first time round. But as I grew up with it I follow it to this day and it is probably one of the reason I never buy sliced bread.
And as you have mentioned tea rooms in your last paragraph. If you find the time it might be a nice idea to introduce your readers to a few of the more traditional kind, e. g. for me no trip to Yorkshire is complete without an afternoon at Bettys Tea Room.
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February 19, 2016 at 10:56 pm
churchmouse
Thank you, Boetie — great to hear from you again!
I did not know about the custom of cutting a cross into the bottom of a loaf before cutting it. I shall have to remember that for future. Yes, saying a prayer whilst doing so is an excellent idea. After all, our Creator provided food for our daily sustenance and temporal enjoyment. Even today, something as simple as bread continues to delight everyone — young and old, rich and poor alike.
I did write about Betty’s in Harrogate back in 2012, as well as a few other tearooms in northern England. That was no doubt before you began reading my blog:
You’re right. I should have mentioned that post in this one. Limited time prevented me from going back for a search!
Am I correct in thinking Boetie is the German equivalent of Betty?
My compliments on your excellent command of English. May God continue to bless you and yours. Hope to hear from you again soon.
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February 20, 2016 at 9:51 am
Boetie
“Boetie” is not even German, it is Afrikaans. I used to play rugby – so I am definitely not a “Betty” 🙂 – with a rugby side of South African expats in Germany. And as they found it hard to pronounce my German Christian name they just called me “Boetie”, which is a diminutive of “boet” (=brother) – literally meaning little brother. But in a wider sense it is a term of endearment for friend, good comrade or mate. I rather liked the idea behind it, the name stuck and so I use it from time to time.
But if you are looking for diminutives of Elisabeth (spelled with an “s” in German), quite a few to chose from: Sissi, Elisa/Elise, Elsbeth, Elsa/Else/Ilse, Lissy/Lizzy, Lisbeth, Liesa/Liese/Liesel, Lil/Lili/Lili, Ella/Elli, Betti
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February 21, 2016 at 12:25 am
churchmouse
I’m so sorry on all counts, Boetie. Please accept my most sincere apologies!
Thank you for the diminutives of Elizabeth, which I shall try to commit to memory in recompense.
If it weren’t so pathethic on my part, it would be funny. But no. Hope you have taken no offence at my ignorance.
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