Village Bread Recipe

The Village Bakery

Twice a day, the smell of freshly baked bread spreads over the central part of the Village. It comes from this red frame building, where the bakery has been kneading dough since the early morning. A hardwood fire is built in the red brick oven and once this is hot enough and the coals have been raked out, the pans are put in. The bakers make the dough from flour, ground at nearby Bellamy's Flour Mill. The bread is baked by heat radiating from the hot oven bricks.

While most farmers and townspeople baked their own bread, there was always a need for bread for travellers and inns.

Visitors can purchase loaves at the Village Store located at the front entrance of the Village daily during the summer season.

Bakers at Upper Canada Village making bread

Make it at Home

The following is the actual recipe that is used at the Village, though it does yields around 100 to 110 loaves of bread.

5 pails (12 litres) of water
1 pound of dry yeast
2 cups of salt
1 pound of sugar
150 pounds of flour (Superfine –white, or E.N.T. - whole wheat)

This recipe may be reduced to the following approximate quantities to make at home:

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of water
2 teaspoons of yeast
3/4 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of sugar
4 cups (1 ¼ lbs.) of flour

INSTRUCTIONS:

Dissolve the yeast in 2 tablespoons of warm water (not too hot).
Add the sugar and stir.
Let this mixture sit for 5 minutes.
Mix together the salt and flour, then add the yeast mixture and the remaining water.
Knead and let rise between ½ and ¾ of an hour in a warm location.
Punch down the dough and then let it rise another ½ hour.
Cut and place the dough in a pan.
Cook in a preheated oven at 325-350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes.

Don't Forget

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