What does "baker's dozen" signify?

Answer 1

A baker's dozen is 13 pieces instead of 12 (a dozen).

The origin of the term has to do with baker's being fined for shorting people... They threw in the extra piece to make sure the weight was over the minimum.

Origin (wikipedia)
The oldest known source and most probable origin for the expression "baker's dozen" dates to the 13th century in one of the earliest English statutes, instituted during the reign of Henry III (r. 1216-1272), called the Assize of Bread and Ale. Bakers who were found to have shortchanged customers could be liable to severe punishment. To guard against the crude punishment of losing a hand to an axe, a baker would give 13 for the price of 12, to be certain of not being known as a cheat. Specifically, the practice of baking 13 items for an intended dozen was to prevent "short measure", on the basis that one of the 13 could be lost, eaten, burnt or ruined in some way, leaving the baker with the original dozen. The practice could be seen in the guild codes of the Worshipful Company of Bakers in London.

Answer 2

A baker's dozen is 13. Long ago, when people used to go to bakeries to get a dozen muffins or rolls or whatever, the baker would add an extra one to insure that the customer wasn't shortchanged. People tend to remember mistakes far longer than bonuses; if a customer asked for 12 items but got 13, then the baker would be out the cost of 1 item. If the customer asked for 12 items but only got 11, chances are that customer would take their business elsewhere, and the baker would lose their business forever.

Answer 3

The oldest known source and most probable origin for the expression "baker's dozen" dates to the 13th century in one of the earliest English statutes, instituted during the reign of Henry III (r. 1216-1272), called the Assize of Bread and Ale. Bakers who were found to have shortchanged customers could be liable to severe punishment. To guard against the crude punishment of losing a hand to an axe, a baker would give 13 for the price of 12, to be certain of not being known as a cheat. Specifically, the practice of baking 13 items for an intended dozen was to prevent "short measure", on the basis that one of the 13 could be lost, eaten, burnt or ruined in some way, leaving the baker with the original dozen. The practice could be seen in the guild codes of the Worshipful Company of Bakers in London.

While modern bakers no longer fear medieval law, they have found other reasons for a baker's dozen, as seen in the tidy way 13 disks (loaves, cookies, biscuits, etc.) can pack a rectangle (baking tray) of appropriate proportions. Modern standard sized packing trays have a 3:2 aspect ratio, and the most efficient two-dimensional array is hexagonal close packing, which has sixfold symmetry, such that each baked item is equidistant from its six nearest neighbors. The corners of a cookie sheet heat up and cool off faster than the edges and interior, so any item placed near a corner will not bake at the same rate as the other items. A 4+5+4 arrangement provides the dense hexagonal packing while avoiding corners, and would have been discovered empirically by bakers with the goal of baking the maximum number per batch with optimal uniformity. Continued use also stems from tradition, and some customers see it as a sign of appreciation from the baker for continued patronage.

Answer 4

13

baker's dozen, also known as long dozen, is 13, one more than a proper dozen. The expression found its genesis in 13th century England.

The oldest known source and most probable origin for the expression "bakers dozen" dates to the 13th century in one of the earliest English statutes, instituted during the reign of Henry III (r. 1216-1272), called the Assize of Bread and Ale. Bakers who were found to have short-changed customers could be liable to severe punishment. To guard against the crude punishment of losing a hand to an axe, a baker would give 13 for the price of 12, to be certain of not being known as a cheat. Specifically, the practice of baking 13 items for an intended dozen was to prevent "short measure", on the basis that one of the 13 could be lost, eaten, burnt or ruined in some way, leaving the baker with the original dozen. The practice could be seen in the guild codes of the Worshipful Company of Bakers in London.

Answer 5

A baker's dozen, also known as long dozen, is 13, one more than a proper dozen. The expression found its genesis in 13th-century England.

Bakers who were found to have shortchanged customers could be liable to severe punishment. To guard against the crude punishment of losing a hand to an axe, a baker would give 13 for the price of 12, to be certain of not being known as a cheat.

Answer 6

The oldest known source and most probable origin for the expression "baker's dozen" dates to the 13th century in one of the earliest English statutes, instituted during the reign of Henry III (r. 1216-1272), called the Assize of Bread and Ale. Bakers who were found to have shortchanged customers could be liable to severe punishment. To guard against the crude punishment of losing a hand to an axe, a baker would give 13 for the price of 12, to be certain of not being known as a cheat. Specifically, the practice of baking 13 items for an intended dozen was to prevent "short measure", on the basis that one of the 13 could be lost, eaten, burnt or ruined in some way, leaving the baker with the original dozen. The practice could be seen in the guild codes of the Worshipful Company of Bakers in London.

Answer 7

A baker's dozen is 13.
this expression resulted in the old days when loaves were not weighed and when bought a dozen the baker was not very sure of the weight and not to be punished by law to give short weight he"threw" one on top of the dozen to compensate any lesser weight.
So he wanted to make sure that he got it right even if the loaves 13 in number might have exceeded the exact weight.

Answer 8

13. It has long been tradition that a baker will pass around samples of his cookies, so that when he bakes a dozen of them he always makes a 13th one and that's the one used as a sample. A baker's dozen implies you get your dozen - of cookies or whatever - plus one more for good measure. A dozen being a standard number of such things commonly purchased in the Western world...also, some products designed to be used in making other products often are sold by the "baker's dozen" so that if one of the dozen parts fails, you have a spare to replace it.

Answer 9

OK, back in the old days in England and France a baker cooked a dozen pastries or whatever and if he ever miscounted he would be severely punished so bakers got into the habit of putting 13 pastries or whatever into the package to be on the safe side.
Now if you hear a baker's dozen it means 13 or extra.

Answer 10

A bakers dozen is 13