The Howell Works Bakery | The Howell Works General Store

During the time of the Howell Works Company it is unclear if the Bakery was a communal bake shop or an actual retail operation. We do know from historic research of company records, however, that James Allaire did employ full time gardeners to supply the Village with fresh produce and therefore we believe there was, in all likelihood a full time baker as well.

A 19th century bakery was quite different from the bakery of today. Today a bakery offers a wide variety of breads, cakes, cookies and biscuits, pastries and pies to its patrons. Customers of the early 19th Century were basically given two options, they could purchase breads at the bakery or could bring their own dough, ready to be baked in the ovens. The bakery would also offer meat pies, similar to a calzone, which working class customers might purchase for their lunch.

Fruit pies, cakes and pastries were generally only offered during holiday seasons, but this would be dependent upon the bakery's location. Biscuits or cookies, known at the time as flat cakes, were a relatively new novelty and would have been offered on a regular basis. Another new product of the time, chocolate, was also offered for sale in bakeries. Although in the early 19th Century Blue Laws existed, prohibiting commerce on Sundays and holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, these days were also busy times for the bakers. An excellent example of this is given by Charles Dickens in his classic holiday tale A Christmas Carol. Customers would bring their meats and poultry, such as goose, to the bakers to have them cooked in the baker's ovens. Being the bakery was not selling the goose, for example, it was not in violation of the Blue Laws.

The process of baking was a bit time consuming, but yet a simple one. The centre of the ovens were filled with wood and a fire lit. As the fire burned the bricks of the ovens would retain the heat, first becoming black and, as the carbon in the wood burned off, changing to a white color and eventually back to the original brick. When the oven had gone through this cycle, the ashes would be pulled from the centre of the ovens and the baked goods put in for cooking. Pies, which required the highest temperatures, were baked first, then cakes, breads and finally flat cakes. While most bakers knew by experience and the color of the bricks, tradition has it that a baker could stick his or her forearm into the oven and test the temperature by how long he or she could leave it in.

Located across the road from the site of the Howell Works Grist Mill, today the Bakery at the Historic Village at Allaire offers demonstrations in brick oven baking as well as selling fresh baked items such as breads and flat cakes along with hot ciders, coffee and beverages. The Bakery also houses a collection of early 19th Century bakery items including an early dough trough.