How did bakeries work in the 1700's?

Answer 1

In the 1700's immigrants from Northern Europe made yeast from buttermilk whey or the dried flowers of the hops plant. (The same flowers used in beer-making). Housewives would even grow their own plants in garden plots for use in yeast-making. The hops acted as a natural antibiotic, encouraging yeast but keeping bacteria and harmful organisms from growing. Unlike the commercially produced yeast of today, home grown yeast contained many species, each giving the baked product a slightly different flavor. Our modern prepared dry yeast by contrast, only contains one or two robust species. These species have been specifically bred for our hurry-up modern culture where time is valuable. The commercially produced yeast of today makes bread rise twice as fast as did the home grown yeasts of past centuries (a frustration factor for cooks who try to recreate very old bread recipes). By the early twentieth century, modern dry yeast was readily available in stores. Rural yeast-growing gradually became a lost art.

The mid-1800's introduced so-called "quick breads" (like corn bread for instance) made with a chemical leavening agent (usually baking powder or baking soda). Other chemical agents to speed up or enhance the leavening effect of yeast were developed as businesses strived to produce more bread, faster, for an increasingly urban population. New forms of transportation allowed bakeries to sell their products over wider areas. But how to keep the products fresh on store shelves

Answer 2

First, many people in cities did not have ovens, (think apartment) so they had to buy baked bread, or pay to have something baked.
Second, ovens were not heated, they had to build a fire in them, then take it out when the oven was hot, and baked in it until the oven cooled. Bakers had at least two.
The oven was usually a bee hive shaped brick affair with an iron door. The bricks absorbed the heat, then released it to bake.
Yeast was not used- they used either new beer- naturally fermenting, or just exposed the wet flour to the open air for a time so it naturally picked up yeast from the air.

Answer 3

Much bread made commercially was made with the use of 'sourdough'. In other words, as commercial yeast was not available, or expensive, part of the leaven from one batch was retained and used for the next. This was looked down upon by the upper classes as 'cheap and nasty'. It is interesting, however, that at least here in the UK sourdough bread now tends to command premium prices!

Answer 4

Earthen ware.