0:00:02 > 0:00:07Across Britain, bakers work to feed our passion for bread and cake.
0:00:07 > 0:00:12But where did this £4 billion a year industry come from?
0:00:12 > 0:00:16To find out, four professionals are going back in time.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20They're baking through 63 years, which transformed their trade
0:00:20 > 0:00:23and our diet forever.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25The age of the Victorians.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29From the rural bakeries of the 1840s, where baking had barely
0:00:29 > 0:00:30changed for centuries.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33To the sweat and toil of the urban bakery at the height
0:00:33 > 0:00:35of the Industrial Revolution.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39To luxurious high street retailers at the dawn of the 20th century.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42This is chuffing heavy.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45They'll experience, firsthand, the tough conditions faced
0:00:45 > 0:00:48by the workers who fed the nation.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54The physical exertion, just to get the damn stuff made,
0:00:54 > 0:00:56is pretty much sickening.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58To be a woman in this age, you'd almost feel
0:00:58 > 0:01:00a bit like a caged bird.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Bakers back then, were the people who stood between Britain
0:01:03 > 0:01:05and starvation.
0:01:05 > 0:01:06It's really upsetting.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09It was about staying alive for these people.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13It was an era when bread was mostly natural and wholesome...
0:01:13 > 0:01:14Oh, gosh, that is lovely.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16..but was sometimes poisoned...
0:01:16 > 0:01:19This is potassium aluminium sulphate.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Doesn't that cause brain damage?
0:01:21 > 0:01:23..until it took the form we know today.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25This doesn't complain, this won't die,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28and this can work 24 hours a day.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30Welcome to the future.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32They'll bake things virtually no-one has tried
0:01:32 > 0:01:34for at least a century.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Oh, wow! That is phenomenal.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42It's got this grittiness about it, which is just awful.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44That looks hideous.
0:01:44 > 0:01:45That was horrible.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48This, for me, it's actually tasting history.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52They'll in work in ways very different from today.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57We're cheating, that's the issue. it's cheating, and I feel ashamed.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00These guys would've lost their minds.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03They're recreating the bread that made Britain great...
0:02:03 > 0:02:04That is the business.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07..and the lives of the people who baked it.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10I clearly need to learn a thing or two from the Victorians.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24When Victoria became Queen in 1837, the majority of Britain's population
0:02:24 > 0:02:29still lived in the countryside, so that's where we're starting, too.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32You and I both know, that the challenge with this project,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35- was always going to be to find an authentic bake house.- Yeah.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39Back in the day, in the Victorian period, every single parish
0:02:39 > 0:02:42would have had either a communal oven or a village bake house.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47And so few of them still exist, and even fewer of them still work.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50But I think we have found the perfect candidate
0:02:50 > 0:02:52in the heart of a rural community.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58We've come to Sacrewell in the Cambridgeshire countryside, where
0:02:58 > 0:03:04a bakery was built in the early 19th century next to a mill house.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07In Victorian times, bakeries had an average staff
0:03:07 > 0:03:10of three or four people, so to staff our bake house,
0:03:10 > 0:03:12we've recruited four passionate bakers
0:03:12 > 0:03:14from across the modern industry.
0:03:14 > 0:03:19Whether factory owner or artisan, all with bring crucial skills,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22because each of their different branches of baking has its roots
0:03:22 > 0:03:23in Victorian Britain.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29John Swift, for instance, runs a family business
0:03:29 > 0:03:33that began life over 150 years ago, in the Victorian countryside.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37It started with my great great aunt, Harriet.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Her husband was in the field and she baked for the village
0:03:40 > 0:03:43and there's been a Swift baking ever since.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Now, he's leaving behind his Shropshire high street
0:03:46 > 0:03:49to experience the kind of rural
0:03:49 > 0:03:52business his great great aunt would have known.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57It's going back to where we began, and to see what my ancestors did
0:03:57 > 0:03:58and how they coped with it.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01I want to find out exactly how tough it was.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09At the start of Victoria's reign, a baker's life seemed gentle, simple
0:04:09 > 0:04:11and steeped in tradition.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16There was only really one type of baker, the person
0:04:16 > 0:04:19who made the daily bread, on which every community depended.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24Soon, they'll face dramatic changes.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30But first, they're experiencing the last days of a rural golden age.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32The 1830s.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39And like them, their bake house has been kitted out for the period.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42- Wow!- Wow!
0:04:42 > 0:04:44Dough will be mixed by hand.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47- Little dough tray. - That's your standard coffin.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49Yeah, yeah.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Well, breaking new ground for me cos I've never used one of them.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Let's have a look at this beast over here.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00That oven is an incredibly rare survival, and back in
0:05:00 > 0:05:04Victoria's reign it would've been churning out bread on a daily basis.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Wowzers!
0:05:09 > 0:05:12But it's essentially based on a Medieval style of oven.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14There's a real sense of continuity here, I think.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17And bakers have been baking like this for hundreds and hundreds of years.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20And although it's all about to change, right here,
0:05:20 > 0:05:22we really are looking backwards.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26- Used to something that small?- No.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29This is a slightly worrying thing, for me, cos it doesn't plug in.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31- Yeah, that's right. - And it doesn't beep.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34- It hasn't got the...- And it doesn't have a digital display.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38We've all become reliant on, like, kit, machines of some description.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40- Yeah.- But what do you need to make bread?
0:05:40 > 0:05:42You need some flour, ovens.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44You need these! And we have hands.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46You need some hands and you need a bit of, er,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49a bit of, a bit of, kind of, knowledge.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Compared to what they're used to, this isn't a huge space,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54and the equipment is quite primitive.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Yeah, but I suppose it doesn't need to be any more than this.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00I mean, a bakery this size would be feeding, what?
0:06:00 > 0:06:0250, maybe 100 people at most.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04I think it certainly looks the part, especially
0:06:04 > 0:06:07when we look at some of the images from the period.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13Right, you've had a chance to explore your bake house.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15The first thing we're going to do, is bake
0:06:15 > 0:06:19a standard loaf of bread, the kind of thing that would've been made for
0:06:19 > 0:06:22agricultural workers when Queen Victoria was young.
0:06:22 > 0:06:23Now, baking Victorian bread
0:06:23 > 0:06:26from scratch takes around about nine hours.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29So you've got all of your ingredients to prepare,
0:06:29 > 0:06:31you've got a number of processes to go through.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33You've got to get your fuel for the oven and, of course,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36- you've got to get your oven up to heat as well.- Yeah.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38The main thing is, you're professionals,
0:06:38 > 0:06:39You know what you're doing.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42As historians, we can learn a certain amount from books,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45but what we're hoping, is that you can use your modern expertise
0:06:45 > 0:06:48to take us that bit further, so we can really gain
0:06:48 > 0:06:52an insight into what it was like to work in a Victorian bakery.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54- So, over to you. - Sounds good, thank you.- OK.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56- Shall we share this one? - We'll share this one.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58I'll have this one.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01We've left the bakers with some rare accounts of professional baking
0:07:01 > 0:07:02from this period.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Be great to find a recipe.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Now, compared to what they're used to, that's quite a small oven.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12I think they're going to look at the oven and think, phwoar!
0:07:12 > 0:07:13Four of us, easy.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16But what they haven't really realised yet, I think, is that
0:07:16 > 0:07:19baking bread is only a very small part of what they've got to do.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Somebody needs to do the weighing up, don't they?
0:07:22 > 0:07:24And find the ingredients and get it, get the stuff.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26- And someone needs to light that beast.- Right.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29- So if we split into... - Two groups.- ..two teams.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Yeah.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Small rural bakeries, like this, were often owned and run by families,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37sometimes for many generations,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40so they're unlikely to have had a strict hierarchy of roles.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Instead, bakers would share out whatever task needed doing.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47I don't quite know, on this oven, where the fire goes because...
0:07:47 > 0:07:51John Foster is the most technically minded of the bakers.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53Together, with Harpreet Baura, he's tackling
0:07:53 > 0:07:56the first task of the day in any bake house.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Yeah, we've got soot there.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01So a fire has to be lit inside that chamber.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Compared to my ovens at the bakery, a little bit different in size.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11In the 21st century, John runs an industrial bakery in Barnsley,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14which turns out a million products a week.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16The Victorians are most admirable for the way
0:08:16 > 0:08:20they industrialised things, making all these machines.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22These guys built things to last
0:08:22 > 0:08:27and they built things of great quality, of great ingenuity.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31But at the start of the Victorian era, baking hadn't been mechanised.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36Ovens relied on the same fuel the ancient Romans would have used.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40Dried bundles of sticks, called faggots were still the optimum fuel.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44So, I presume that we're actually putting
0:08:44 > 0:08:46- this in to the top of the oven. - Yeah, I know.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49I know it may come as a surprise to you, with your modern ovens,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53but, yeah, you're actually going to have the fire in the oven.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56That doesn't really leave us much space for anything.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59No. But we're going to get really rapid heat, really high heat.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Those bricks are going to absorb all of that heat.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04Then we're going to rake it all out, and then
0:09:04 > 0:09:08it's ready to take our bread, but only if it's hot enough.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10- Thank you. - OK, thank you.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16OK.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18- Right. - Shall we try fanning it a bit?
0:09:18 > 0:09:20Oh, yeah, that's a good idea.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26- This seems so much more laborious. - Yeah.- I walk into my kitchen and
0:09:26 > 0:09:28- literally turn the oven on. - Yeah.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32And in ten minute's time, it is good and ready to go.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34But we have to draw a picture of a switch on the oven,
0:09:34 > 0:09:35and we can turn it around.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38But doesn't this seem strangely more satisfying than that?
0:09:38 > 0:09:40- It does, actually, yeah, yeah. - Sense of satisfaction.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43- All the fun's gone out of baking these days, hasn't it?- I know.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46- Oh, wow!- Oh, my God! That's fantastic, there it is.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49- That is cool.- Yeah.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51Yeah, a bit different from a micro-processor controlled
0:09:51 > 0:09:53- electric thing, innit?- Yeah.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55In some ways, it's more reliable.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58- There's nothing to go wrong here, is there? You just do it.- Yeah.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05One of the crucial ingredients for bread, took up a lot
0:10:05 > 0:10:10more of a Victorian baker's time and money than it does today.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Back then, yeast didn't come dried in packets,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17bakers bought it wet, in buckets.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20This is your brewer's yeast, and what this is,
0:10:20 > 0:10:22is it's the froth off the top of the beer.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25So as the beer is fermenting, that froth is scooped off.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Using beer, completely new to me.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29I'm used to taking it out of a packet.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Brewing and baking have always been closely linked trades,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36because both rely on grains fermenting.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Victorians preferred brewer's yeast to the ancient
0:10:39 > 0:10:42technique of sour dough, because it was readily available and,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44to them, it tasted much better.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47So the first thing you need to do, is just scrape
0:10:47 > 0:10:48the froth off the top.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52- So, what you don't want to do, is to get too much liquid in there.- Yeah.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54The Victorian baker had to separate the yeasty
0:10:54 > 0:10:56froth from the dregs of beer,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58because while their customers may have drunk it,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01they didn't want their bread to taste of booze.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06This hasn't been done for 150 years.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09This is what my ancestors would've been doing.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11It's kind of weird, that.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Then the dregs of beer must be carefully drained off,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18because there's more yeast which has settled on the bottom.
0:11:18 > 0:11:19Steady.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23- This strikes me as incredibly delicate.- Yeah.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26- Presumably there's nothing like this in?- Nothing.- No.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29- In the modern day world, you're caught up in deadlines.- Time.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32When do people need it by? How much can you make by that time?
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Because that's where, where the profits are.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40For a rural Victorian baker, time was less of an issue
0:11:40 > 0:11:42because customer demand was very steady
0:11:42 > 0:11:44and labour was cheap.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46Buying fresh yeast from the brewer, by contrast,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48was one of their biggest costs.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51For us, it's an affordable product today.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53You buy it, you get on with it.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57Whereas here, it's like every single last bit that we could get out,
0:11:57 > 0:11:58really mattered.
0:11:58 > 0:11:59This is gold.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04And, and one tiny drop on the floor is money wasted.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07And if they drop the whole lot, you know, where do they go from there?
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Right, and we're ready to go again.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15Not only was brewer's yeast pricier, it was also weaker than
0:12:15 > 0:12:18the industrially produced strains used today.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21So, the Victorian baker would mix it with a little
0:12:21 > 0:12:24flour to create something called the sponge, which would then be
0:12:24 > 0:12:27left for at least six hours.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38Historically, baking had always been linked to other ancient trades,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41not just brewing but also farming and milling.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48The traditional closeness of those industries is clear to see at
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Sacrewell, where the bake house was built as an extension
0:12:51 > 0:12:53to the older watermill.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03The mill house and the bake house were owned by the same
0:13:03 > 0:13:06person in the Victorian period, and it may well have been that they
0:13:06 > 0:13:10shared the same labour force, as well, all living here, on site,
0:13:10 > 0:13:11in this range of buildings.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17The bakers and millers would also have been on first name terms
0:13:17 > 0:13:20with the local farmer.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23It would be his grain that would be brought into this mill house.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27It would be fed down these chutes passed through these stones,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29where it would be ground into fine flour.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36British bakers today rely on flour imported from across the world.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39The Victorians used fewer food miles.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42For our bake house, we've not only sourced English flour,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46but varieties of wheat which would have been grown in the 19th century,
0:13:46 > 0:13:51and that will make a huge difference to the bread the bakers create.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Back then, there were hundreds and hundreds of varieties of wheat.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58Every region would have grown a different blend of wheat strains,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02and every region's bread would have tasted differently, as a result.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Very few of those types are still grown today.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Farmers now rely on just a tiny number of scientifically
0:14:10 > 0:14:11crossbred strains.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17But archaeologist, turned farmer, John Letts,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21grows heritage varieties, which is what we're using.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24I do believe that many of the older wheats, certainly the
0:14:24 > 0:14:27older species, like rivet wheat or, you know, spelt or amaranth,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30the ancient grains, but a lot of these bread wheats,
0:14:30 > 0:14:31they do have differences in flavour.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34In many ways bread, today, the flavour, it comes from the butter
0:14:34 > 0:14:37and the jam that you put on it, rather than the bread itself.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40So, what you are effectively saying, is that breads
0:14:40 > 0:14:43made from something like this, the bread itself would have flavour.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46- That's... Yeah.- Or hopefully, it would.- That's how I see it.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48And taste isn't the only quality that was
0:14:48 > 0:14:50different about Victorian wheat.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54Modern wheat has been bred for a higher gluten content.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Gluten, being the protein, obviously, that traps the air
0:14:57 > 0:14:58bubbles that makes bread rise.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Whereas these older, heritage wheats, Victorian wheats,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03the overall gluten content is lower.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05So, our modern breads made with modern flour,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08we would expect to be much higher, much more, I suppose,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12spongy and fluffier than a bread made with something like this?
0:15:12 > 0:15:13Oh, absolutely.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20Back at Sacrewell, it's time for the bakers to turn
0:15:20 > 0:15:23their heritage flour into Victorian dough.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30These are slightly more cumbersome than the ones we're used to.
0:15:30 > 0:15:31It's a good look.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Hold it up.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35- Ugh! Does that go on like that? - Yeah.
0:15:35 > 0:15:36So, what's it like?
0:15:36 > 0:15:40Lovely creamy colour. Plenty of bran in there, still.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45So, we need 3oz of salt.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49I wonder if the amount of salt meets the Department of Health
0:15:49 > 0:15:51- guidelines, these days? - What, today?- Not a chance, is there?
0:15:51 > 0:15:54- I'd be very surprised by that. - Not a chance.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58These ingredients will be added to the earlier brewer's yeast
0:15:58 > 0:16:02sponge mix which has been left for six hours to ferment,
0:16:02 > 0:16:04and with any luck, expand.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06It's the big reveal.
0:16:06 > 0:16:07Oh, wow!
0:16:07 > 0:16:11That's bubbled up really nicely, hasn't it? Well done, guys.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13I mean, that's got to be three times the size.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Easily.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18- Check, it's like a living thing, it's...- It is, it is a living thing.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23This is amazing. It's literally like, blugh, blugh, blugh.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26- So, we'll get mixing guys.- Shall we do this as two, two-man teams?
0:16:26 > 0:16:32- Er, one two-man team and one man... - Two two-person teams, excuse me.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34One man and woman, team.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38In the 21st century, Harpreet bakes couture cakes,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42something there wasn't much call for in the Victorian countryside.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45I think the beauty of being in the baking industry,
0:16:45 > 0:16:47is that it's so wide.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51And you will have some people that literally only work with bread.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54And I wish I had that skill a bit more.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56But I think that I'm very able to just get
0:16:56 > 0:16:58stuck in and get on with it.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01- Shall we get stuck in? - Let's go for it.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06I'm actually finally getting to do something,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10we're not swapping for a while.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13- This is definitely a good cardio workout.- Yeah.
0:17:13 > 0:17:19I must say. How many of you, in your kitchens, would do this manually?
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Generally speaking, this hard, labour intensive process,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26which you're sweating about, is done by a wonderful machine.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31- This flour...- Yeah.- ..is traditional English flour, yeah?- Yeah.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34So, I've been led to believe that it wasn't overly great.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37- Not compared to sort of...- Today's standards.- ..today's standards.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42But this is ancient grains, remember, so we're, you know,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45if we're not used to seeing these types of strains of wheat,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48- erm, it may be that... - That is actually wasn't half bad.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50It wasn't that bad, yeah.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53- Right, shall we let them take over? - Mm-hm.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55It's really strong, isn't it?
0:17:59 > 0:18:01- OK, I'm back again. - Look at that technique.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07I'll tell you what, I'm adding water and salt content as I'm
0:18:07 > 0:18:10mixing here, guys, as the sweat's dripping in the dough.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12- It's your forehead.- Yeah.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18The dough finally comes together after half an hour's hard labour.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23Next, it needs to be left for another hour to prove.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26What I love, is that this is very close to the style of bread
0:18:26 > 0:18:30that I'm really, really passionate about.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32As long a fermentation as possible cos, for me,
0:18:32 > 0:18:37bread making is all about flavour, flavour, flavour.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Former IT Consultant, Duncan Glendinning,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43runs a small artisan bakery in Bath.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46I make bread the way we've always made bread,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49before machines and the industry, kind of, came in.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53So it's no surprise to find he's enjoying the unhurried,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56organic world of a traditional country bakery.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58I'm seeing a lot of similarities
0:18:58 > 0:19:01with our style of baking, which is that we
0:19:01 > 0:19:04try and be very in tune with nature, working with the resources
0:19:04 > 0:19:06that are around.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10- Good. Now it's time for a cup of tea.- Off we go.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11Something stronger.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Rural Victorian bakers would have been serving a very
0:19:19 > 0:19:21specific type of customer.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24The rich wouldn't usually buy from tradesmen.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26They'd have relied on their own kitchen staff.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31And the middle class, at this time, was relatively tiny,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33and mostly found in towns.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37So the bakers' customers were mainly working people,
0:19:37 > 0:19:39who made up the vast majority of
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Britain's 27 million-strong population.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46This is representative of the working class diet
0:19:46 > 0:19:49at the beginning of the 19th century.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53Breakfast, for example, you've got bread, bread and butter.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56And then for your dinner, the main meal of the day
0:19:56 > 0:20:00for most of the working classes, you've got bread, potatoes,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03which sometimes replace some of the bread.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07And then, if you're really, really lucky, you also have some meat.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10And then your last meal of the day, the one just before you go to bed,
0:20:10 > 0:20:14supper - bread and perhaps a bit of cheese.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17If you were a rural worker in the 1830s and '40s, you would need to
0:20:17 > 0:20:21consume around 6,500 calories a day, so more than double
0:20:21 > 0:20:25the recommended government allowance of calories, per person, today.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Most of that came in the form of bread.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31It's not surprising to learn that the average Victorian
0:20:31 > 0:20:36family of six people got through a massive 55 lbs of bread per week.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42That's the equivalent of 31 modern supermarket loaves.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44All of this, in one week.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47And with bread so important to people's lives,
0:20:47 > 0:20:49bakers were also important.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52They were one of the crucial building blocks of the British
0:20:52 > 0:20:55economy, one of the essential trades.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58There were around 44,000 bakers in Britain
0:20:58 > 0:21:00when Victoria came to the throne.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Twice as many as the industry employs today, even though
0:21:03 > 0:21:06the British population was half the size.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Yet, despite all this demand for bread,
0:21:09 > 0:21:13the typical baker's product range was rather limited.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17Today, the average British household consumes over 100 different
0:21:17 > 0:21:19types of bread product.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Whether it's ciabatta or baguette or soft white bap.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26But back in the Victorian times, a rural bakery would really only have
0:21:26 > 0:21:31been turning out two different types of bread - household and wheaten.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34These two varieties were enshrined in law.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36So important was bread, that the government
0:21:36 > 0:21:40regulated its quality, weight and even, for many centuries,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42the price a standard loaf could be sold for.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48Household was your basic bread, wheaten was slightly better,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52it was more finely ground and it cost up to a third more per loaf.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56But they were both essentially white, or at least whitish bread.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00By the Victorian era, even the poorest demanded white bread,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03something which in earlier centuries had been the exclusive
0:22:03 > 0:22:05preserve of the rich.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08They paid more for it than they would have done for wholemeal,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12but it was felt to be higher status, as well as easier to digest.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Right, let's get this dough out of the trough now.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24It's the more basic household dough these bakers have made,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27which they're now scaling-up to make individual loaves.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31Let's get as much of this out as possible. This is profit.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35They're baking one of the standard weights of the time, the 2lb loaf,
0:22:35 > 0:22:37equivalent to a modern large sliced.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Tins weren't in widespread use by bakers at this point, so all
0:22:42 > 0:22:45loaves must be hand-moulded.
0:22:45 > 0:22:51We're producing a traditional cottage loaf, loved by the people.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54- Another one?- Yeah. - Go for it.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Go for it as it comes, yeah.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00This two-tiered shape was by far the most familiar loaf for Victorians.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Let's get as many as we can going.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06It only really fell out of favour in the later 20th century,
0:23:06 > 0:23:08when demand for sliced bread increased.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11- Right, am I pushing these through. - Yeah.- Yeah, get 'em through.- Right.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Get 'em in straight away.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15They followed their Victorian recipes,
0:23:15 > 0:23:19but they're using brewer's yeast for the first time.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22And the resulting dough isn't behaving as they'd want.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27- It's very wet. - This is totally losing it's shape.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29Yeah, we're losing the top into the bottom.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33So these guys need to hit the now, cos we're losing their shape.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Now they're sticking together. This is such a wet dough.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41With their cottage loaves rapidly turning into pancakes...
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Right, go.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46..it's a race against time to get them in the oven.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48Ooh, eh-up.
0:23:48 > 0:23:49They'll bake until risen.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54- Right, do your thing. - That's if they rise at all.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57It could be that they're a complete disaster and we're going to have to
0:23:57 > 0:23:59- chip it out.- Yeah.- I think, let's wait and see
0:23:59 > 0:24:02how those turn out and then we know what to do a bit differently
0:24:02 > 0:24:04- with these...- But. - ..and with our next bake.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06All of their labours, so far, have
0:24:06 > 0:24:08just got a baker's dozen into the oven.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11It's much smaller than they're used to.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14- It's like a camp fire.- Yeah. - It's just, it's very strange.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16I suppose what you've got here is really
0:24:16 > 0:24:19something on the threshold of domestic and commercial.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22So, it's slightly bigger than you'd get in a domestic household,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26but totally recognisable to somebody who is just baking at home.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29I suspect it's the kind of thing that your family probably started in.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Yeah. Which is why it's interesting, you know, to have a go
0:24:33 > 0:24:36and look at it. But I, I'm in awe of why they used it.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39The other thing about a bake house like this, is that the oven
0:24:39 > 0:24:41isn't just there for your bread.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44But a lot of the villagers, the local community, would be
0:24:44 > 0:24:47bringing their bits and pieces to be baked, as well.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49They wouldn't necessarily have ovens in their own houses.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52And you would charge people to come and bake things in your oven.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55So, they've got to really have a system in place where
0:24:55 > 0:24:58you're always constantly getting ready for the next batch.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01So it's constantly, you know, in work.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07After an hour, the bakers find out what the oven's done
0:25:07 > 0:25:10to their worryingly wet household bread.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16Is this one done? It's a bit soggy inside.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19- The fermentation from the dough has worked.- Yeah.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21It's brought out all the colours you want.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24It looks a nice loaf considering what we're working with.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26It looks good, but the proof of the pudding's always in the eating.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29- Yeah.- Well, that's true. - Let's crack into this one.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45- Rather, rather good.- That is nice. - Yeah.- That's a really nice loaf.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47So much better than I expected.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52I expected it to be utter, utter inedible rubbish, to be fair.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55- It's like heaven.- It's like heaven? - Yeah.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59To the untrained palate, I would say it's almost a bit like French bread,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02- that crust. Is that sacrilege? - Not at all.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05- The French make fantastic bread. - It's beautiful.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08- So do the Germans, you know. - Just that crust, there.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11But that's similar to a sourdough crust, in a sense.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14- Yeah.- It hasn't got the, you know, the richness and flavours that come
0:26:14 > 0:26:17through, but the actual depth of the crust.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20- You can see it's this beautiful, kind of, creamy colour.- Yeah.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23It's quite open, as well. I thought it'd be more dense.
0:26:23 > 0:26:28The taste is what surprised me, cos it tastes beautiful.
0:26:28 > 0:26:29- The yeast has done its job. - Yeah.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32The one thing I'm amazed about, is the brewer's yeast
0:26:32 > 0:26:34and how active it is. I mean, you know that's...
0:26:34 > 0:26:37It has actually done really well.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39Oh, gosh, that is lovely.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42This, for me, is what this has all been about, this.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44- It's, it's actually tasting history. - Yeah.- Yeah.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48And, I think, this is as close as anyone will ever have got to
0:26:48 > 0:26:51an authentic bread from the late 1830s.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58It would take at least nine hours from first setting the sponge
0:26:58 > 0:27:00to the loaves coming out of the oven.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02But the baker's day wouldn't be over yet.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08While some of them cleared up or prepared for the next day,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11other bakers would need to go out and sell what they'd made.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16People might be wondering where the high street is,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20but in somewhere like this, the rural community was really dispersed.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Yeah, I mean, you would've had a whole army of agricultural labourers
0:27:23 > 0:27:26out there but you'd have all the village trades, like the cobbler
0:27:26 > 0:27:27the thatcher.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30You've got the hedgers, the blacksmiths, the wheelwright.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32There's all manner of people that would need daily bread.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Yeah, and the baker, of course, would've known all of them,
0:27:35 > 0:27:37many of them from childhood.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40Some of these customers would've called at the bake house door
0:27:40 > 0:27:43to buy their loaves, but most had them delivered
0:27:43 > 0:27:45by the more junior bakers.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Because of my family history, I knew that the door-to-door sales
0:27:48 > 0:27:49was important.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53They've got to physically take their bread to their customers
0:27:53 > 0:27:56every day, wind, rain or shine.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58Everybody's within walking distance.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02My customers now, well, my goodness me, we're selling product in China.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06And er, we deal with them electronically through the internet.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11Here, it would be, well, I suppose they call in and tell you what they
0:28:11 > 0:28:15want or you see them face-to-face. That's a big difference.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20The average price of a 2lb loaf in 1837 was four pence
0:28:20 > 0:28:24and a farthing, roughly a quarter of what an agricultural
0:28:24 > 0:28:25labourer earned per day.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27- Good evening, sir. - Good evening.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Hello. How are you?
0:28:30 > 0:28:33- We've got cottage loaves. - Can I have a little try?
0:28:33 > 0:28:35- You can, sir. - Thank you very much.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38The great advantage for a rural bake house like this,
0:28:38 > 0:28:40is that there's no real competition.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42If people want to get bread from somewhere else, their only
0:28:42 > 0:28:44real choice is to bake it themselves.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46And in most working class households,
0:28:46 > 0:28:48they're just too busy to do that.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Yeah, so bakers had a, kind of, captive market.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52That's very nice, very flavoursome.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54Thank you very much. Thank you.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56It's completely different to modern bread, isn't it?
0:28:56 > 0:28:57- Definitely, yeah.- Mm.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Having no competition sounds almost
0:28:59 > 0:29:01like a dream, to be honest, you know.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04There's no other baker snapping at your heels.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06- They're a bit stodgy. - They're not stodgy, sir.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09- It's just to fill you up. - Hm. Be nice with some jam.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12I did feel, walking with the bread on me back,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15it's like re-treading history for myself
0:29:15 > 0:29:19and thinking, you know, this has been done before by one of me.
0:29:19 > 0:29:25A big lesson I learnt today, is that back then, the bakery was ingrained
0:29:25 > 0:29:27within the community.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29The grain was grown in the fields.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32We then turned that into some lovely bread using
0:29:32 > 0:29:35the yeast from the local brewery.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38And then another job for the baker is actually to go
0:29:38 > 0:29:42out into the community and effectively sell the products back.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44- Cheers.- Cheers.- Long day.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47- Cheers, guys.- Cheers.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49I have a feeling that the bakery
0:29:49 > 0:29:52and the pub were the heartbeats of the village.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55And it was these two places which really kept the village
0:29:55 > 0:29:56united together.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03If I could have this life and still make a living, I would choose so.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07That maybe gives me a decision to make when I get home, you know.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10Am I going to... Am I just going to sell the bakery and do something,
0:30:10 > 0:30:12er, you know, like The Good Life or something.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14I could do this, I could retire here.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31The rural baker's working day would typically begin around 6am.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36So far, it's all feeling a little bit idyllic for them, isn't it?
0:30:36 > 0:30:39But I think they're still in the novelty phase.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Their Victorian forebears would have grafted seven days
0:30:42 > 0:30:46a week, pretty much every week of the year, with much
0:30:46 > 0:30:49of the day spent on tasks which aren't part of a modern
0:30:49 > 0:30:50baker's job description.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56The two Johns, for instance, need to get the oven back up to heat,
0:30:56 > 0:31:00and in the 1830s countryside, that meant using a tinderbox.
0:31:00 > 0:31:06I did not think that I would spend so much time doing non-baking stuff.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09Do you know what somebody needs to invent? Matches.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11I got a mate called Swanny, might do it.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16Where's that chuffing historian.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18You know where this is going, don't ya?
0:31:18 > 0:31:21What I don't think they've quite realised, is that
0:31:21 > 0:31:24if they were Victorian bakers, this would've been constant, though.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Stoking the fire, filling the ovens, looking after
0:31:27 > 0:31:30the ovens, churning out loaves of bread.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32It may look absolutely beautiful, but back then,
0:31:32 > 0:31:34it would have been real drudgery.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37OK.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40Harpreet is taking bran, left over from the milling process,
0:31:40 > 0:31:41to feed pigs.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43Rural bakers sometimes kept livestock
0:31:43 > 0:31:47to supplement their income, since there was only so much they could
0:31:47 > 0:31:50make from selling bread, to their limited pool of local customers.
0:31:50 > 0:31:51Here you go.
0:31:51 > 0:31:56This experience makes you really understand how thrifty people were,
0:31:56 > 0:31:57when they needed to be.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02The by-products of what we are using, the waste,
0:32:02 > 0:32:06then is fed to our animals to fatten them up,
0:32:06 > 0:32:10to make them better for us to eventually eat later on.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13And it just makes you understand how wasteful we actually
0:32:13 > 0:32:17are in modern-day bakeries and in our lives in general.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23For the new day's baking, they need another sack of flour.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26Although the flour mill is handily close,
0:32:26 > 0:32:30moving a Victorian sack even a short distance was never easy,
0:32:30 > 0:32:32because the standard weight was 20st.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37Victorian bakers were supposedly capable of carrying these
0:32:37 > 0:32:39single-handedly.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42- Where shall I grab.- Somebody needs to get underneath it, don't they?
0:32:42 > 0:32:45The sack is seven times heavier than modern health
0:32:45 > 0:32:48and safety legislation would allow.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51- Have we got it, yeah?- Watch your step, you could trip over there.
0:32:51 > 0:32:52Ooh!
0:32:52 > 0:32:55- Gosh! Right.- OK, so shall I...? - Which way we going?
0:32:55 > 0:32:58Shall I...? We need to go out the door. Shall I just direct you?
0:32:58 > 0:33:00- Do I need to? Hang on.- OK, I'll, I'll direct you. Mind your head.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03- Thank God you're here, Harpreet. - Mind your heads.
0:33:03 > 0:33:04Come down a bit, OK.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06Just, um, we're just going to have to put this down, guys,
0:33:06 > 0:33:08because I've just done a hernia.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10- Drop it, then.- John needs help!
0:33:10 > 0:33:12We need to put it down, John needs help.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14I have just done something really awful.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20Fortunately, John's strain passes when he puts the sack down.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22I don't think anybody can do it these days,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25we're just not strong enough.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27It's really silly cos, I mean, I just, carrying it
0:33:27 > 0:33:30and just all of a sudden I just got like a... Something popped.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33So, um, they were built of, er sterner stuff than I.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36- The fact of the matter is, they did carry 'em.- Yeah.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38They used to come off the horse and trap and they used to bring
0:33:38 > 0:33:41- 'em in by themselves.- Wow!- One person picking this- whole- thing up?
0:33:41 > 0:33:44- Yeah.- They were literally all hunched up cos their muscles
0:33:44 > 0:33:48would grow, cos they could pick it up, but they would then be deformed.
0:33:48 > 0:33:49- Yeah.- That's amazing.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55The bakers will use this new sack of flour to slightly
0:33:55 > 0:33:58expand their product line.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02Yesterday, you prepared loaves for your general customers, so your
0:34:02 > 0:34:03standard second loaf.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06But not all the bread that was bought, would have been
0:34:06 > 0:34:08the, sort of, rural working class bread.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11You will also have had slightly posher customers.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14In a rural area, there wouldn't have been many of these,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17but there would have been a few, like the local doctor,
0:34:17 > 0:34:20magistrate or vicar and their families, who would've demanded
0:34:20 > 0:34:25the higher grade of bread - wheaten made with first class flour.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30So, today we're going to go for that slightly more upmarket customer.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33What you're going to be making with your first flour,
0:34:33 > 0:34:35is this particular shaped loaf, known as the Coburg.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38Now, the shape is very, very old,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41but the name is one that comes about in the 19th century.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44Queen Victoria marries Albert of Saxe-Coburg,
0:34:44 > 0:34:45and you'd find a lot of recipes,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48particularly baking recipes, are linked to the Royal family.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50So they're named after Albert, Victoria,
0:34:50 > 0:34:52the children as they start to come along.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56So, this is your loaf that's got that bit of royal glamour.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02Every batch of bread Victorian bakers made, meant getting
0:35:02 > 0:35:05physical, and with this small oven
0:35:05 > 0:35:08they might make five or six batches a day.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12Oh, without any doubt whatsoever, machine mixed dough is better than
0:35:12 > 0:35:13hand mixed dough.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16By hand, everybody just tires.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19You know, and, and I'm used to watching a machine do it.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22But not at the same time as having to be the machine.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24That's the hard bit. Yeah.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27In John's modern factory, it would certainly be easier to set
0:35:27 > 0:35:29the oven temperature.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32Before bread can be baked in this oven,
0:35:32 > 0:35:34the remains of the faggots have to be raked out
0:35:34 > 0:35:37and the floor cleaned with a swabber,
0:35:37 > 0:35:39so the bread doesn't taste of ashes.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43But the longer you take to clean your oven, the more heat it loses.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46- Do you think the oven's as hot? - It's tricky.
0:35:46 > 0:35:47Cos it was, it was a hot oven last time.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50Yeah, well, I think it's a bit warmer to be honest.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52I'm just going to cool it down a bit. Have we got a cup of water?
0:35:52 > 0:35:54- Don't go crazy cooling that down. - Well, I don't know.
0:35:56 > 0:35:57That's about right.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01That is definitely evaporating a lot slower than it did yesterday.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03- Is it?- Yeah.- Do you think so? - Yeah.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05- I mean, we don't know how it holds the heat, do we?- No.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08It seems to hold the heat.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10Hoping they've judged the temperature right,
0:36:10 > 0:36:12the bakers start scaling their loaves.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17Right, let's have a look at this dough.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21This recipe calls for another of the standard Victorian sizes,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23the quartern, which weighed 4lbs.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30We would expect that these customers are going to be paying
0:36:30 > 0:36:31a little bit more.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34They're probably going to be a little bit more picky, a little bit
0:36:34 > 0:36:36less grateful, shall we say.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39So perhaps we've just got to step it up for today, I think.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42- How many you got?- We got...- How many you got?- A baker's dozen and two.
0:36:42 > 0:36:43A baker's dozen and two, right.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47The Coburg, we cut it into four and those little pieces of the four
0:36:47 > 0:36:50will just, hopefully will stand up like a crown, very regal,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52cos it's obviously a Royal Coburg.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54Just using a bit of guess
0:36:54 > 0:36:56and a little bit of experience, er, that looks OK.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00I'm happy with that dough. I think that's the lot, to be honest.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02OK. Now let's hope for the best.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06Despite her expertise being with cake, Harpreet
0:37:06 > 0:37:09is taking a central role in preparing the loaves.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13Though in the 21st century, bread making is a profession
0:37:13 > 0:37:17dominated by men, it didn't used to be.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20Women were a big part of the trade back in the 1840s.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22I mean, you've only got to look at John Swift's great great aunt
0:37:22 > 0:37:25to realise she started the bakery, she would've been doing
0:37:25 > 0:37:26most of the work.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29And we know from illustrations as well, that women were very
0:37:29 > 0:37:30active in the baking business.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33This is one that shows a Cornish bake house and you've got a man
0:37:33 > 0:37:35stoking the oven.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37But, quite clearly, you've got women kneading, rolling,
0:37:37 > 0:37:39scaling, measuring.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42That's actually really funny, because we do have one of the Johns
0:37:42 > 0:37:45that's very much in charge of the oven, cos he's worried
0:37:45 > 0:37:47I'm going to burn my eyelashes.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51And, I have been looking after a lot of the weighing and the scaling
0:37:51 > 0:37:54and moulding actually. So, that does look like quite an accurate
0:37:54 > 0:37:56depiction of our bake house.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03After an hour, the loaves intended for the bakery's posher customers
0:38:03 > 0:38:05- come out of the oven.- Ooh!
0:38:05 > 0:38:06Oh, dear.
0:38:06 > 0:38:11OK, so they don't exactly have the Coburg shape that we were after.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14- Ooh!- You can't even call that bread, I don't think.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16- They're so pale.- Yeah.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19I'm pushing this dough in and it's completely still soft.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23- Oh, no, no.- Imagine how expensive that would've been.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25You wouldn't be able to get away with the amount of wastage
0:38:25 > 0:38:27that we have here, definitely not.
0:38:27 > 0:38:28So let's look at why it happened.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31It's clear that the protein in this wheat,
0:38:31 > 0:38:32is not what we're used to using.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35So maybe we're missing something in, in the technique.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37Maybe they could work with the flour better because
0:38:37 > 0:38:39they were working with this flour.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42But, um it's been lost over 150 years and we've...
0:38:42 > 0:38:44With trial and error, we'll find it again.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46I mean, another thing would be, it would be nice to have
0:38:46 > 0:38:48a thermometer for the oven.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50If there was any way we could have some idea
0:38:50 > 0:38:51of what the temperature is.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54Cos the oven just wasn't hot enough.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56This is a great lesson to us about how little technology
0:38:56 > 0:38:59they actually had and how well they must have known their ovens.
0:38:59 > 0:39:00- Yeah.- I know one thing.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02- My ancestors are now laughing at me.- Yeah.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04Quite frankly they're having a right...
0:39:04 > 0:39:06I mean, that's just still totally.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09I feel gutted. I don't like to see bread like that.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12We've got this product that is unsalable,
0:39:12 > 0:39:16so I would've thought that the consequences to a bake house
0:39:16 > 0:39:20in that era, would have been absolutely huge.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25To ruin that high prestigious bread, I can't, I, I, I mean,
0:39:25 > 0:39:29I know what I'd do in my bakery and, you know,
0:39:29 > 0:39:31we're talking major flip-out.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34So that would've been disastrous, you know, possibly even,
0:39:34 > 0:39:36you know, end of.
0:39:40 > 0:39:46The loaf intended for the wealthier rural customer has been a failure.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49But the Victorian baker would've been closer to the poorer end
0:39:49 > 0:39:53of the social scale, as would the bulk of their customers.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56Even in this, apparently, picturesque setting,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59poverty would never have been far away.
0:40:02 > 0:40:03I think we've rather over-romanticised
0:40:03 > 0:40:06our pre-industrial past.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09We think of it, especially in terms of the countryside,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12as some pastoral idyll, roses round the door
0:40:12 > 0:40:14and everyone growing their own vegetables.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16But it wasn't like that at all.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20In many parts of the countryside, people really struggled.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26To some extent, it was a problem caused by progress.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29Newly invented machines were putting agricultural labourers
0:40:29 > 0:40:33out of work, leaving them unable to afford their daily bread.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38So what they did, is they took to protesting, violent protesting.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41And they smashed many of these machines,
0:40:41 > 0:40:44and their chant was very simple - bread or blood.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52In the 1840s, three years of bad harvests
0:40:52 > 0:40:54sent the price of wheat soaring.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59The impact this had on the price of bread was catastrophic.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05A loaf like this, would've cost you about 50% more than it would
0:41:05 > 0:41:07have done just five years before.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Believe it or not, in parts of the British countryside, people
0:41:10 > 0:41:13were suffering from quite severe famine.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18Even in good times, the average labourer might spend half to
0:41:18 > 0:41:20two-thirds of their income on food.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24Now some people spent all of their money on it, even the rent.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32Bakers were spared the worst deprivation
0:41:32 > 0:41:35because there was always demand for their services.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39But, when wheat prices were high, customers could sometimes only afford
0:41:39 > 0:41:43a cheaper alternative, made from different grains.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48Barley flour cost half the price of wheat flour.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52To make barley bread, by Sir John Coke.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56Along with rye, barley was once commonly used in British baking,
0:41:56 > 0:42:01but by the 19th century, it was only eaten by the very poorest.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03This barley bread is eaten by many of the farmers
0:42:03 > 0:42:05in Devonshire and Cornwall.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07By most of the labourers and husbandry
0:42:07 > 0:42:10and by almost all of the miners during the season of scarcity.
0:42:12 > 0:42:17This is going to be a very, very dense, very heavy bread.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21Like all flours, except wheat, barley is low in gluten,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23which means it won't produce the light,
0:42:23 > 0:42:28fluffy texture which most British customers preferred then, as now.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31This is stodgy. This is definitely designed to fill you up.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34This is about subsistence.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39In the 21st century, bakers mixed barley or rye or spelt with
0:42:39 > 0:42:42a little wheat flour to give it some rise.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45The resulting breads, far from being marketed to the poor
0:42:45 > 0:42:48and desperate, are these days, premium products.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54Nowadays, we're starting to see a huge following for the really
0:42:54 > 0:42:58heavier, German, rye, sourdough breads and wholemeal breads.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01People love the bran, people love the seeds,
0:43:01 > 0:43:03because that's where the goodness is.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Generally speaking, the higher the class of place
0:43:06 > 0:43:09that you're supplying, the more bits there are.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12They're more oaty, they're more granular and
0:43:12 > 0:43:15the larger the particle size, and so on and so forth.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19So, it's absolute opposite to what it was back then.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27Here it goes, guys.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29God, that would feed a family, wouldn't it?
0:43:29 > 0:43:31We all having a taste?
0:43:33 > 0:43:34Ta.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39- It's not bad.- It's OK.- No. - You can taste the barley, can't ya?
0:43:39 > 0:43:42- Mm.- It's got that, kind of, wholesome smell
0:43:42 > 0:43:43and wholesome taste to it.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Do you know what, if, if I had these in my shop they would...
0:43:46 > 0:43:48They probably would sell, wouldn't they?
0:43:48 > 0:43:51- Be going like that, wouldn't they? - They would go actually.- Yeah.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54But if you thought, starvation or this, I'd take this.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56- Yeah, I'd take this. - This would be fine.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04Some people couldn't afford any bread.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07There are heart-rending accounts of people living on
0:44:07 > 0:44:11crusts and raw onions, of parents depriving themselves
0:44:11 > 0:44:12so that their children could eat,
0:44:12 > 0:44:17and of people dropping to the ground at work, faint with hunger.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23People are becoming so poor and so desperate, they can't
0:44:23 > 0:44:26even afford any form of bread. Barley bread, whatever it is.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29And we know from various anecdotal evidence,
0:44:29 > 0:44:31that people turn to a thing call crammings.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34Crammings are chicken feed.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37There's an agricultural practice with chicken farming, where you
0:44:37 > 0:44:39literally cram your chicken, so you're cramming
0:44:39 > 0:44:42it down its throat, a bit like, er, foie gras today, where you...
0:44:42 > 0:44:44- Force feeding.- Yeah.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47And this is because chickens are really expensive at this point.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50- They're not the kind of...- So they're not for human consumption?- No.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54But we know people were eating them. So, I suppose, what I'd like us
0:44:54 > 0:44:59to try and work out is, if you're so, so reduced in circumstances
0:44:59 > 0:45:04that you are eating chicken feed, how do you render it edible?
0:45:07 > 0:45:11They seem to be based, predominantly, on bran.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16Water, lard. There are lots of vague recipes for them.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18So, I would suggest, have an experiment, really.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24There would've been very little technique and effort
0:45:24 > 0:45:28put into this, because this wasn't originally destined to feed
0:45:28 > 0:45:29human beings.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34If they're that hungry, they'll just make 'em with whatever
0:45:34 > 0:45:37- they've got to hand. - Exactly.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39Knowing that I'm making chicken feed,
0:45:39 > 0:45:44is not making me ecstatically happy about this.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48Just, I mean, this is just making my tummy groan.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51But you've got to think bakers at this point,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54they were in this to feed people.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59Here we go. Let's have a go at shaping them.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02Famished country folk bought crammings in penny bags.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05Bakers, with their constant supply of bran,
0:46:05 > 0:46:08were well-placed to make and sell them.
0:46:08 > 0:46:09How bad had it got?
0:46:09 > 0:46:13The mind-set of people to want to eat chicken food.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17And that's quite sad, really, that that would happen to...
0:46:17 > 0:46:21to this country but also, you know, to my family, you know.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30It was about sustaining yourself, it was about staying alive
0:46:30 > 0:46:31for these people.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38It smells like animal feed.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48There's no joy in making this and there's no joy in eating this,
0:46:48 > 0:46:50- either.- Yeah.- No.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54- How unbelievably hungry... - Desperate.- ..were these people?
0:46:54 > 0:46:58- Yeah.- I mean, this is just something to fill your tummy,
0:46:58 > 0:47:00so that you can go to sleep basically, isn't it?
0:47:00 > 0:47:03On the table is, is basically desperation.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05Yeah, it really is.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08That's been interesting about today, seeing that shift change from,
0:47:08 > 0:47:12you know, being able to use their amazing flour.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16- It's a symbol of, kind of, like their class and everything.- Status.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19To then, basically, eating the scrapings off the floor pretty much.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23- Anything and everything they could get hold of.- Everything they could
0:47:23 > 0:47:25- get their hands on. - It really is quite depressing.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27- The harsh reality is people were dying.- Yeah.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29- And this what they had. - What they turned to.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32Yeah. It, it's, it's, it's scary.
0:47:32 > 0:47:37The hungry man has only one problem, and that is to get food.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39What would I do to feed my children if they were hungry?
0:47:39 > 0:47:42Well, you'd perhaps, just about anything.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48Life in the countryside was becoming unsustainable.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55It meant that people looked around to try and find a better life.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58And it was the rapidly industrialising centres
0:47:58 > 0:48:02of Britain that were sucking up the surplus labour from the countryside.
0:48:02 > 0:48:07Put simply, Britain was urbanising and urbanising rapidly.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09But it meant, for our rural bakers,
0:48:09 > 0:48:13that their customer base was being eroded, that they had to diversify.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17That in some cases they had to close and move to the cities.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22An ancient bond was breaking between the land where people lived
0:48:22 > 0:48:25and worked, and the food that land produced.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30Country traditions which stretched back to the distant past were
0:48:30 > 0:48:34suddenly threatened with extinction.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38Our bakers, who will soon move to an urban setting themselves,
0:48:38 > 0:48:41are marking their final day in the countryside by celebrating
0:48:41 > 0:48:45one of the few rural rituals to survive.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48Harvest Festival took the form we know today in the early
0:48:48 > 0:48:49Victorian era.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53In rural Britain of the 1840s, you would have very,
0:48:53 > 0:48:55very few days off, OK?
0:48:55 > 0:48:57You could count Christmas, Easter,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59you might have a few days off after haymaking,
0:48:59 > 0:49:03and harvest is the real times in which you'd have your holiday.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06And what we want you to do, is to create
0:49:06 > 0:49:09something for, effectively, a harvest festival.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12And I think we want to bake something that's a real showpiece.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14Show off your skills and everything you've learnt over the last
0:49:14 > 0:49:18few days, to create a, kind of, celebratory loaf.
0:49:18 > 0:49:20A big wheat sheaf loaf.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23- We've got an example here from the Victorian period.- Mm-hm.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25OK? It does say here, of course,
0:49:25 > 0:49:29the larger it is the more hands it will be necessary to employ upon it.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31The other thing we've got for you, as well, is, er,
0:49:31 > 0:49:34this one really, hopefully, should appeal to Harpreet.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37- It's finally you get to cook a cake. - Yes!
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Or, at least, it's what would have been called a cake in the 1840s.
0:49:40 > 0:49:41Oh, OK.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45So, er, there's still no getting away from yeast, I'm afraid.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48What we want to do is, to bake a caraway seed cake.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Caraway seeds, immensely popular in Victorian England.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54They're quite cheap but they're also very representative.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57They tend to be used as a symbol of life, of rebirth.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00So it's the kind of thing that would've been cooked,
0:50:00 > 0:50:01probably, once a year.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03Anyway, let's get on, let's get that oven up to heat.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06- Let's get to work. - And let's have a day's baking.
0:50:12 > 0:50:13Right, get in, boys.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17Harvest Festivals began to be celebrated in churches in the 1840s.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22But the celebrations had older, secular and pagan roots.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25To this day, Harvest Festivals remind us
0:50:25 > 0:50:29that the life-nourishing journey from field to food,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32traditionally depended on the baker.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38For most people at this point in the 19th century,
0:50:38 > 0:50:41sugar was only used sparingly to sweeten tea,
0:50:41 > 0:50:46so even a plain seed cake would seem like a luxurious treat.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48We've only been doing this for three days
0:50:48 > 0:50:52and we're already so excited by these fairly basic ingredients
0:50:52 > 0:50:54that we just take for granted as modern bakers.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58Caraway seed is actually something that I've grown-up with.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01So, if you go to, like, an Indian restaurant or a curry house,
0:51:01 > 0:51:05towards the end of your meal you would be provided with
0:51:05 > 0:51:09caraway seeds covered in a candy coating.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12So, it's almost that combination of sugar and spice.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15It would be really interesting to see the impact that it
0:51:15 > 0:51:17has on the flavour of the cake.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22This is rather like bakers that get to never grow up,
0:51:22 > 0:51:24because this is just play-doh, isn't it?
0:51:24 > 0:51:28I have to admit, these are the biggest scissors I've ever seen.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31- Come on John, chop, chop. - Chop, chop.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35Baking powder, as we know it, hadn't been invented in the 1840s,
0:51:35 > 0:51:39so the only way to get a light texture to your cake,
0:51:39 > 0:51:41was to whisk... a lot!
0:51:44 > 0:51:51So, I am trying to get my egg whites into stiff white peaks using this.
0:51:51 > 0:51:57And this is a Victorian whisk that's been made out of birch twigs.
0:51:57 > 0:52:03And a Victorian baker would've actually created this themselves.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05And when you've got layer and layer of clothing on,
0:52:05 > 0:52:08it's just such hard work.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Stiff peaks? I think I'm going to be here till tomorrow.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16Let's just have a couple more ears.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20A sea of wheat heads, beautiful.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27It's the first time Harpreet's ever made a cake with yeast
0:52:27 > 0:52:30and the resulting mix is more like bread dough than cake batter.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36There's no way that you would be making a cake like this in a
0:52:36 > 0:52:42modern bakery with no butter, it's just such a different consistency.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45I can't wait to get back to my bakery
0:52:45 > 0:52:49and think about incorporating caraway into what I make.
0:52:52 > 0:52:53Off we go!
0:52:57 > 0:53:00Over their last lunch together, John decides to show his fellow
0:53:00 > 0:53:04workers the Victorian baker who started his business.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08- She is my great great aunt Harriet. - Wow!
0:53:08 > 0:53:12She's the one that started it all off while Tom was in the field.
0:53:12 > 0:53:17- And you can see er, the flour bag... - Yeah.- ..in the door.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19More successfully in place.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22She probably was a bit stronger than me and you.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24That's amazing. Loaves in the thing, here in the window.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28Those loaves look fantastic compared to what we managed to make.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30Has your perception of what she would've done,
0:53:30 > 0:53:34- changed having come in here yourself?- Massively.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37I've, I, pfft, you think in your head, the Victorian times,
0:53:37 > 0:53:39it's lovely times, it's great and everyone's happy
0:53:39 > 0:53:41and they all jolly round and eat goose and stuff.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44- But, you know.- Not at this level... - Not at this, no.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46- ..of kind of society. - No, it's graft.- Yeah.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49It's really hard.
0:53:49 > 0:53:55Um, limited equipment, limited ingredients and, you know, the heat.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59I mean, she's wearing, pretty much, what you are and, you know.
0:53:59 > 0:54:00She doesn't look happy.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06The caraway seed cakes have been in the oven for an hour.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09It's time to see if all that whisking has paid off.
0:54:11 > 0:54:12That is not bad.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15So, they've got a good rise on them, haven't they?
0:54:15 > 0:54:18I mean, if you looked at the dough that you were putting in there,
0:54:18 > 0:54:22- the batter that went into these tins was so stodgy.- Yeah.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26And then there's no baking powder in there at all, no bicarb.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28They've got a good rise to them because of the yeast.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32That smell, everything that we've made so far, is pretty bland,
0:54:32 > 0:54:36isn't it? And that's a real... It's sensory overload.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38It's the first sweet thing that we've been able to make,
0:54:38 > 0:54:40cos it was the first time we had access to sugar.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44- At last!- I know, finally! - Well done, well done!- Woohoo!
0:54:50 > 0:54:52Look at this beautiful table.
0:54:53 > 0:54:54All we've safely gathered in.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58We've invited some of the local community from Sacrewell to join us.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02In the Victorian countryside, all able-bodied men
0:55:02 > 0:55:05and women were expected to help with the harvest,
0:55:05 > 0:55:07and, afterwards, celebrated with a feast.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13Getting into the festive spirit, Annie and I have changed into
0:55:13 > 0:55:15the height of 1840s fashion,
0:55:15 > 0:55:18the kind of thing the local squire and his wife would have worn.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22- Evening, everyone.- Hello. - Hello.- How's it going?- Good evening.
0:55:22 > 0:55:23- Hi.- There we go.
0:55:23 > 0:55:24Oh, that looks fantastic.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28Masterful.
0:55:28 > 0:55:34And the caraway cakes, as well. An absolute triumph, Harpreet.
0:55:34 > 0:55:35And now for some dancing.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42It's a chance for us all to reflect on our experience
0:55:42 > 0:55:44of the Victorian countryside.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48I think, you know, as historians, we can sit in libraries all day
0:55:48 > 0:55:52and read history, but it's quite another thing to taste history.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57One of the main things that I've found out, has really been
0:55:57 > 0:56:00the central focus of the bakery in rural life
0:56:00 > 0:56:03and the extent to which what's happening in the economy,
0:56:03 > 0:56:05would affect our lives so much.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10We're partying like it's 1847.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14Never going to end, this beautiful rural idyll.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17But, of course, you and I, as historians, know that this
0:56:17 > 0:56:21really is the end, actually, for rural Britain of this type.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25Now, indeed, the sun is truly setting on a way of life
0:56:25 > 0:56:28which was hundreds of years old and bake houses like this,
0:56:28 > 0:56:32would've served communities like this back into the Medieval period
0:56:32 > 0:56:33and beyond.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36But the time we get to 1830, you know, we really are looking
0:56:36 > 0:56:40at a Britain that is on the cusp of profound change.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44They've got what, pfft, 15, 20 years maximum before that swing happens
0:56:44 > 0:56:48and the majority of the population is now living in urban environments.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54It's a time gone by, it's finished, it's over.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59I think this system of making bread is OK for that
0:56:59 > 0:57:02era, in the countryside.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06When we're moving into the cities and the towns and industrialisation,
0:57:06 > 0:57:09there is no way you can keep up with it, using the methods
0:57:09 > 0:57:11that we've used in this bakery, here.
0:57:13 > 0:57:15If our bakers were in the 1840s,
0:57:15 > 0:57:19it's going to be their children that we see move into a new
0:57:19 > 0:57:21world, a world which is much more urbanised,
0:57:21 > 0:57:25a world which is much more industrialised, in some cases.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28I do fear that the next stage in our baking journey, could be
0:57:28 > 0:57:30somewhat more challenging.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35We've been very lucky, so far.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37But we could see that, actually, things are happening
0:57:37 > 0:57:42in the country and the impact that that's having in the bake houses.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned as to what was,
0:57:45 > 0:57:47er, in store for us.
0:57:50 > 0:57:51Next time...
0:57:52 > 0:57:56- Argh!- That is actually disgusting. - Argh!
0:57:56 > 0:57:58It's, sort of, borderline rancid.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02The bakers experience how the Industrial Revolution changed
0:58:02 > 0:58:05baking and Britain forever.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08- Ugh! - It's not bread as we'd know it.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10What a thankless task.
0:58:12 > 0:58:14You can't have people doing this.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18At the moment, not only do I want to throw up,
0:58:18 > 0:58:21um, my back's hurting, my legs are hurting.
0:58:21 > 0:58:26- Then might I suggest it is time to stop.- Never.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29- Yeah, well.- The reason I came here was to see what my family did.
0:58:29 > 0:58:31Do you want that on your gravestone?