Bakehouse

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bakery in Gönnern (1712)
Bakery in Dahenfeld (1838)
Bakery in Serrières , Jura (France)
Video: Backhaus in Löhndorf , 1970

A bakery , also called community bakery (in some areas of Germany just called "Backes"; English bakehouse , French four , Spanish horno ), is a simple functional building with a central oven or an oven that partially forms the outer walls . Bakehouses were and are in many areas of Europe, where they are mostly on the outskirts, and in the Islamic world, where they can be found in the middle of the larger cities. Women brought the dough that had been prepared at home and was covered with damp towels, which - depending on the type of bread and the temperature of the oven - was baked through within 5 to 25 minutes.

history

Cooking food and baking bread was basically a woman's business. Originally the dough was placed on the burned embers and turned after a short time. Later almost every house had an open hearth where a kettle could be hung and - separately from it and mostly in the courtyard - a usually vaulted oven in which the bread dough was placed on the hot stones and at the same time received top heat . With the development of cities, this practice was gradually abandoned and the first bakeries appeared .

The origin of communal bakeries is obscure; they probably already existed in antiquity. In medieval Europe they are proven in the 14th century; Their widespread distribution did not begin until the 17th century, when domestic ovens were officially prohibited in several territories of the Holy Roman Empire due to the risk of fire and the higher consumption of wood. Baking houses were widespread in rural regions until the 1960s; in larger towns with their own bakers, many were demolished before and later.

Regular baking days for parishioners saved the baker , their own oven and energy. In addition, the baking day, which usually takes place once a week, with its fixed baking time, was an important event that promoted interaction and community. While waiting for the finished bread (and, more rarely, cake) news was exchanged; there were often stone benches in the room in front of the stove. Another reason for building the bakehouse was to reduce the risk of fire from baking in individual households. In addition to the actual furnace room, there are also ancillary rooms in some places in which the preparatory or follow-up work could be carried out.

Construction and function

The construction of the bakehouses , which were regularly equipped with a smoke outlet and mostly vaulted, but otherwise completely differently designed, was partly taken over by specialized craftsmen, who in individual cases even formed guilds . The ovens, lined with oven stone, were heated with locally available heating material, mostly sticks, e.g. B. from fruit tree pruning and wood. Before the baked goods were introduced , they were preheated; the embers created were removed before loading.

In recent times, the old bakery houses have been used in some places for tourist or village social purposes, where "bakery festivals" take place once or several times a year. Residents bake bread and other regional baked goods, tourists bake themselves under supervision. There are also small bakeries on individual farms or on former wineries.

Examples

Germany

See also

Web links

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