Breads

The trough of the baker
The lid of the trough has two functions:
- Covering fully the trough, it acts as a regulator for the development of the dough,
- Riding on one end of the trough and resting on a trestle, it is used for forming elongated or round loaves.
• The rounded buns are placed in baskets of the same shape,
• The long rolls are placed on a table where is placed a pleated canvas to form a separation between each rolls.
At this stage of preparation, the dough has to rest and rise for a period that must be mastered because it is dependent on the ambient temperature (summer/faster. In the winter, it must cover to accelerate the process).
It is during this time of waiting that the process of heating the furnace starts.

The oven
The inner surface of the furnace is of 12m² (3 meters wide by 4 deep).
The furnace is heated with wood.
The heating of the furnace takes place in two steps:
1. The bottom of the furnace where it is necessary with the help of a shovel to burn a certain quantity of wood which varies depending on the wood’s variety.
2. Then the front of the furnace. When the heating of the bottom is estimated correct, the embers are clamped to the front end of the furnace with a “saddle” (iron tool shaped as a rake). The coals are covered with wood in order to finish the heating process. As soon as the oven temperature is reached (bricks turn white), the remaining embers are removed in a damper with the “saddle”. It takes about an hour to heat correctly a furnace.

The charging
The formatted pieces of dough pieces are placed on different sizes and shapes shovels (round or elongated).
The order of charging is depending of the sizes of the dough pieces:
- The biggest in the bottom of the oven.
- The smallest at the front.
Cooking times vary from 20 minutes (for smaller loaves) to nearly 2 hours.

Different breads
• The Tourte,    5.0 kg
• The Paneton, 2.5 kg
• The Flute,      2.5 kg
• The Pagnou,  1.0 kg
The daily production goes from 300 to 400 kg of breads in 3 or 4 different batches.
A batch= 10 tourtes, 4 panetons, 12 flutes and 10 pagnous. (Composition may vary depending on the orders).