Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 52 - Oh, Glorious Bread...

I took a look at what Heather had written on the papyrus and found her writing was atrocious...! I can't help but laughed at it while trying to understand her handwriting. One thing I deduce was that she had little to no experience in using a reed pen and used it as though it was like a quill pen instead.

I wanted to reproach her on her handwritings but decided not to or else I would be on the receiving ends of the blunt force attacks of her brutal fists. My c.h.e.s.t would have black and blue bruises once I take this tunic off.

Heather and Jennings the Baker arrived soon after and sat before me as I held the papyrus before me. "Could you describe your work in detail when you are working in the bakery back in town?"

"What I mean to say is the processes of making our signature loaves of bread. Are there any other ways of baking them besides using a flat clay tray? If we were to sell to Marcel and be resold to the buyers, would it be more presentable if they are set in proper shape and size?"

"At least those buyers won't complain that one may look bigger than the other while it may even weigh differently?"

"That's really quite a mouthful of questions there, sir. Hmm, let me recall to you my experiences first so you may take in consideration of the design of the oven of you may. Firstly, I have no qualms about the bread that we had consumed so far and it can be considered as a delicacy."

"As you had already known the prices of the bread of 1c and 3c for the commoners and the higher classes, what I can say is that our loaves of bread would fetch between 5c or even higher. People would accept these loaves as bread as exquisite ones rather than the 3 to 5 varieties of bread they normally consume."

"As a Baker, we not only make flat trenches bread but also like the ones Kayla usually make. To make a perfectly proportioned sized and weighted bread, we use a scale that measures a quarter of a pound for a loaf of bread."

"We used a mould made of cast iron, rectangular shaped with a depth of about 3 rings of the middle finger. The length of the mould would be exactly 10 inches long and of equivalent width."

"That would make perfect loaves of bread every time. But since there's an absence of cast iron bread moulds, we can make do with clay ones. According to Domestic Affairs Minister Jack, he mentioned that the internal oven would be 3' by 3' and he had plans for a door to retain the heat more efficiently."

"It would be best to leave an inch clearance on all sides since these 12 moulds would be able to fit per layer and each there are 2 layers in them. To bake a perfect loaf using a double-layered oven, firewood would be stoked on top as well."

"The firewood that would be stoked on top would have the same clearance at the one below so one does not need to keep changing the top layers of the bread to the bottom one for the bread to be totally baked."

"If you would make 2 trays for the firewood to burn on top of it, the oven could be easier to clean. These ashes could be mixed with the clay bricks that the children were making right now."

"If you use a bread mould, you could make a quarter pound of bread perfectly every time. This is the measurement for a non-fillings bread that would cost 1c and 3c respectively. With the fillings, the loaf of bread would definitely hit half a pound each and the fillings would definitely be weighted as well."

"What's this sir?" the Baker asked as she saw squiggly writings on the papyrus. "Oh, these are the types of bread that we would like to make for our own consumption as well as for sale. There are definitely more than ten varieties here and some would appear seasonally such as the bananas and pineapple."

"As Kayla, the herbalist and gathering expert, as well as the Health Minister, had pointed out, bananas only bear fruit once in its life. Once it had bear fruit, it had to be chopped down to make way for its shoot to grow."

"The same goes for the pineapple. We had a lot of those pineapple heads growing near the riverbanks that simply looked like screw pine except that it grew its leaves directly from the ground."

"Oh, I didn't know about these, in fact, these two fruits you mentioned could be used for the fillings? How delectable it would be...!" she claimed excitedly because all she knew was plain bread made from wheat rye, oats and barley. The idea of her baking these bread brought a nostalgic burst of memories that trailed up her nostrils as if she was baking them right now. The feeling was simply... EUPHORIC!!!

"All this makes me more to be a full-fledged baker and contribute to the community as well as sales, sir. I can't wait for the first project and I am sure to learn from Kayla soon."

"By the way, sir. If you implement the idea, a single double-layered oven could bake 12 to 16 loaves per layer and at 3 ovens running simultaneously, we would have enough bread to last a few days per baking day. We would have 72 to 96 loaves of bread per process...!"

"I wished the oven was of such designs in the town but in the end, this village is the one that posses such oven and its a magnificent breakthrough in bread making sir...! Please consider the options of my suggestion as it would be the benefit for this village and also the sales, sir...! Ooo... I can't wait to bake those bread. This is the utmost challenge I could beget as a Baker."

Looking at her ecstatic behaviour made me laugh as it was a form of drive or encouragement one has when they too were given a second chance in their lifetime. "Alright, go and talk to Jack about it and implement your ideas. At least the oven would be improvised as well. And remind him to get Frank to make the clay moulds for the baking trays as well. I am sure he would have some innovations to make them."

Jennings stood up, bowed slightly and took off running towards Jack's location and then she was dragged along to meet Ben who was the carpenter who has a wide vision and knowledge of making furniture and products.

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"Ben, could you sidle up with me for a while bit? Missus Jennings has some proposal to discuss with us. She had discussed with young master much earlier and had voiced her opinions and had some implementations that you would be of great help right now since we would be waiting for materials of the oven to be ready."

"Here I am old Jack, what do you have on mind Missus Jennings?"

"I have been talking to Sir just now about my work experiences as a Baker and it dawned to me that the oven would need to be improvised just a little bit. Also, I mentioned about cast iron baking moulds that I had used to make equally sized and weight of each load of bread but cast iron baking mould would not be available soon since my husband has not moved his b.u.t.t.o.c.k.s to gather more ores and coal at the moment."

"Hahaha...so tell me what do you need since you knew me as the only carpenter in this village. I can't hell you much with metals you know."

"Would you be able to make baking tray mould out of clay, 10 inches in length and equal depth and width as an a.d.u.l.t middle finger? It would be best measured with a ladies' finger as it's a bit shorter than a man's."

"Baking mould trays made from clay, eh. Hmm... What do you think Jack? Any implementations or ideas?"

"How about using a press? I mean a manual press, of course. One that you could mould and then press it, set it for some hours before you knock it out and fired. Something like the kids are doing right now, with the clay brick moulds they are perfectly shaping it."

"I get what you mean, Missus Jennings, old Jack. To make a press, the pressing part would be the exact size of a baking mould while the mould would be one-eighth of an inch clearance."

"Considering that we are dealing with pliable clay instead of watery mud, it's possible. Alright, I would get down to it. By the way, Missus Jennings, how many would you need for the bakery?"

"A hundred pieces would be more than enough to spare for breakages. The oven that would be built could bake close to a hundred bread on a single baking pass. As I mentioned to Sir, a single simple loaf weighs a quarter-pound while the one that has the fillings would weigh a half-pound. A single pound would make 4 loaves of bread each time. To achieve 100 bread a Baker would need 25 pounds of flour."

"I heard that a certain Marcel the merchant loves bread very much and he fell in love with the bread given to him that he orders 10 loaves for every variety?"

"Ah yes, Marcel... Hahaha. Do you know that he ran back leaving his wagon halfway after he tried his bread to inform the young master that he wanted to order the bread at 3c each for 10 loaves per variety? It's almost higher than a pound of plain flour...! And that bread was just like the bun we had daily. Wait till he saw the bread that would be uniformly baked. I wondered how much it would costs."

"The higher class buys the bread at 3c per loaf. And that's the plain wheat bread. But for the ones with the fillings, it's going to be sold like 6c, double than the normal loaf would cost."

"I'm sure Sir would have a better offer when these bread is ready. A vegetable or fruit may cost 6c while meat-filled ones would definitely cost 8c to 10c. You know these nobles, they would pay for fine quality despite its price."

"Alright then, let me get my saw and I get some thick branches to make the moulds. Will show it to you for your final evaluation. So old Jack what would you be implementing on the oven?"

"Missus Jennings mentioned a top flame, means the oven would have 2 furnaces to regulate the heat inside the closed oven. Guess we would need a lot of assistance from you then. OK, we still have some time left. Let me draft out a design first and produce to young master while the rest fall back into respective stations to complete our tasks at hand. "

All three separated and Ben began to climb some trees and chose the thickest branch and began sawing on it. He is more adapt to using a saw over an axe, likewise would Frank be favouring his trusted axe over a saw anytime.

Soon, Ben was chipping, planing and chiselling away and doing his woodworking to make a mould of the intended size using dove-tailed joints to join several pieces of wood.

A tradesman would carry his tools everywhere he went and Ben always carry his in a small sack in case he would need to make product impromptu.

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It was already time to break for meals as dusk was approaching. Two figures were talking to themselves, whispering to each other with worried faces painted all over the duo's faces.

"I nearly was found out by young master just now when he visited me. Dear, I think we have to tell him the truth. Sooner or later he would find out. It would better for him to know now than to find out later the would incur his wrath. Dear, we have nowhere else to. We have nothing now. We had just begun our new lives, I know its hard on you but it's even harder for me to continue with this act." the first figure said.

"How about the rest... Won't our children be sad or traumatised at all? Huu... Huu... If only I had known the conditions you were in, I would have come back earlier and defied the orders of the damn cruel foreman..." the second figure sobbed uncontrollably as they huddled each other and were simply falling in each other arms as they lost their strength to stand and ended up kneeling in front of each other as they cried silently amidst the torrents of tears like a broken dam.

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Author's Note:

I would like to use lots of old English terms in this novel but wouldn't want to spoil the fun of reading. You may need a Collin's or a Webster's beside you to thumb through every single word that you might find hard to understand or even Google for its meaning.

The old English term for bread was hlaf. Although you might find some weird lingo in between the conversations on earlier chapters, it was just a C.o.c.kney slang used by East Londoners.

Hope you enjoy the chapter so far, my wonderful readers. Thank you for your support. Cheerio.

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