TRENTHAM'S DAILY BREAD

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 3, 2 August 1916, Page 7

TRENTHAM'S DAILY BREAD

TURNING OUT A LOAF. A DAY IN THE FSEJ.D BAKERY. By Corporal i) uighboy.) To tlic gem-ral public the immensity of providing bread for the troops* in our two military cump§jvt Trentham | »>,} rYathersion is, not generally j iino-.vii, nv.i niu'ii it is stated that the m.iiiho. i}i' men in these two camps i ; : somewhere between 10,000 and .1,000, i and that each of the soldier, is entitled to l.',U)s of bread as Ids daily j ration of that article of Afood—close Kvpon 7001) | turned out to feejj.jbjs multitude—then, and only then, can the scope of j the task lie imagined, From the time these two great camps were started ' (and even to-day in Fea .herston). the I bread supply has all been done by eoutraet, from fcendt rs called for by the ; authorities from bakers in aiiid around . Wellington, "Y*iq.'majority of these |.contracts'felt to the lot of the Wel- ' lhigton Automatic Bakeries, who. with their new ami up-to-date machine plant., were able to cope with this supply without in the least interfering with their big family trail.- in Wellington and suburbs. The pUwi of calling 'tenders went on for a considerable period, but owing to the long distance the bread had to be transported, and the number of times it had to be hand-

led, also the inadequacy of the trucks in which it was packed for transit, when the bread arrived at the mess' table it was not all that it should be. for this article of food. Therefore, ibecame necessary to look for a remedy I in some direction or other, and this came in the birth of an infant Field Bakery at Trentham last December. This child of circumstances saw the light of day owing to an inauguration by Major Wright (D.S.T.) Director of Supplies and Transport, and was at first a pure experiment, and comprised of four Aldershot held ovens, and three bakers and a master, who, by working twelve hours a day, could turn out about one-third of the bread needed for a day's supply. However, the experiment proved to be the remedy, ami plans were at once laid for a Field Bakery t () bake enough broad Ifor the whole of Trentham camp. At Ithe beginning of May last, for the first time since the war started, the whole of the bread issued that day came from the ovens of the Trentham Field Bakery. Now, take a short survey of a day's work at this Kick! Bakery working at full pressure. The reader must imagine lie or she is up and about a 4.3 U la.ni. to see the start of the day's work. At that time one of the two dough-makers who have been working [since six o'clock the previous evening I emerges from the wooden building j wherein the 'doughs are made. He |proceeds along the line of Indian tents,; j where the day bakers are sleeping, and 'rouses the occupants of each tent with. '., greeting such as "Bi.se and Shine for ('"••:go he '■'.," for which lie receives ihonks amounting to a grunt or ' ;\ mutt'led sound I'rom "somewhere uuder he Id." iken ." Five a.m. and all's v c||. ill,. :jvst bnfeli is in one mass in the chape of dough on the, trough top. Straight away, three sets of scales, operated by one of the bakers at each, 'are set in motion, and the dough is cut out and weighed into 2',lb pieces, which are picked up by the moulders, worked with dexterity, and placed six on a tray, which are put in racks and left to ''prove." j Though this' scene of activity has. 'been going on inside, outside is not all quiet. Imagine six huge iron drain pipes, oft. Gin. long and 3ft, 6in. in diameter, nil \v half lengthwise, and then each oi those halves placed

.side by sifle making 12 arches, botrtc.Hi tneso, around uic sicks anu th«j backs, tufts or sods arc built up to aji.u. six inches above the height of the e irelies. Around the entire structure a trench is (lug, the one in the ■ i'ro'il of the arches being two feet wide and eighteen inches deep, and 'am remainder around the sides and . hack somewhat smaller. The earth i from this trench is thrown on top ol the arches, and when all is levelled oft' you have what is called the "Aldershot Field Cv :<-." 'While we ' ■ve heen watching th.' ' goings on inside, in each of these ovens outside has b.H'U burning •• huge wood . fire, the (lam ■• from which have by now somewii \ subsided, leaving nothing but, i : • urighL glowing embers. These are raked level pie: the earthen floor, and one of the bakers proceedalong the in lieu in front and test.j the neat of each iuu nclual oven in turn by just waving his hand across the mouth of each. It the ovens are ready, he reports the same to the I master baker, who gives the signal to ! the men inside the building, and they [ in turn take a knife and cut a cross ! on each loaf. This answers two difi'erI ent reasons: firstly, it gives the dough ! a better chance to spring upon first i going into the intense heat of the ! oven, and seconchv, tnves tne loal a i - . I better appearance than if it had just been left in a round bad. As soon a:. all is ready, the trays of dough aiv carried out and handed to one of tiie bakers standing in tne trench ready to place them in the oven. This is done by means of an iron-headed

"peel." and each tray of loaves is lifted clear of the embers and drop ped into position in the oven. When the oven is full mine brays) another baker places into position the door of the oven, which resembles a half-circle of iron, and then plugs up the join ol the door of the oven with clay. Ihis procedure .is carried out along the whole length of the ovens until each one is idled, and the loaves are left to bake, which take, from 50 minutes to an hour. While this lot is baking, the next batch in the shape of dough is being thrown out from the troughs on to the iids of others and is weighed and moulded. If time permits, the .bakers are now (6.30 a.m.) a Die. to jsiiiitch their breakfast. The time to (draw the first batch has arrived, and ".'•eh oven is opened, a cloud of steam Escapes, bearing with it the appetising odour of good hot bread; then We are enabled to have a peep into the ovens, and there in each are fiftyfour golden brown-baked loaves. These are lifted out. in the same manner as they were put in and carried from there to the marquee, which serves as a bread store. As each oven is emptied of its contents of bread, it is in tarn filled with wood, and before the last oven is drawn, the first is again ablaze heating up for the next batch. Suffice to say, the same routine is carried out for the-remainder of the batches which number five, and as each batch trices about two hours to complete, and comprises some 018 21b loaves, the magnitude of the task of baking bread for the troops in Trentham can well be left to the reader's imagination.