A group of volunteers called the Peter Burr Bread Baker Guild is making bread the old-fashioned way. They utilize the brick oven on the ground of the Peter Burr Living History Farm for the day long process. The Guild makes the bread much in the same way someone from the mid-1800s, beginning with preparing the yeast on Friday afternoon and using the oven to bake on the bread on Saturday morning.

The Guild began their bread baking season in May and will be baking bread on the second Saturday of each month until October. There are three kinds of bread being offered: a rustic white bready, a hearty bread, and a sweet bread that changes each month. The money raised by selling the bread goes towards the cost of ingredients and to support the Peter Burr Living History Farm.

“This place is only open due to volunteers,” says Wayne Braunstein, a member of the Peter Burr Bread Baker Guild. “There are 20 volunteers in our group. That allows us to have three- to four-hour shifts to make the amount of bread we need.”

The process that the Guild uses to make its bread is what sets them apart. The first step of the process, preparing the yeast, can be duplicated by other bake shops. But the wood-fire brick oven they use to bake with is the only one in the area. Baking with the brick oven gives the bread a thick crust that gives extra flavor and acts as a preservative.

“The bread needs to be between 195 and 200 degrees to be done,” says Braunstein. “And it usually takes up to 30 to 35 minutes, depending on the heat of the oven.”

Because of the amount of volunteer hours it takes to produce the bread, there is a limited supply and orders must be reserved. Reserved bread will is available for pick up between 1 and 3 on the second Saturday of each month, the same day that volunteers will be out baking the bread.

To reserve some bread contact Wayne Braunstein by email at wbraun@frontiernet.net.