Paul Richards' book of breads, cakes, pastries, ices and sweetmeats

To bake Vienna bread and rolls and other hearth-baked breads, an oven is required which holds steam. It should have tightly fitting doors and dampers, and also a steam-tight oven light. The Vienna ovens are built to hold steam. They are built with a sloping hearth, so that the oven space is above the door. When the door is opened, the steam stays in the oven and does not escape. Other ovens have steam attached. The oven is filled with steam before the baking begins. When the bread is put into the oven, the steam condenses on the cooler dough, and in this manner forms the gloss on the bread. In the ordinary oven, a perforated steam pipe should be placed in the back of the oven. This brings the steam from the back to the front, and glazes the bread more effectually than when the pipe is placed in the front, as is often done. The steam escapes before it reaches the back part of the oven, when the door is opened to put in the bread. Steam can also be generated by setting an iron pan filled with sawdust and water in the oven; ora pot of water in the fire-place; or by rolling and tying up some bags, immersing them in water and laying them in one corner of the oven. In shelf ovens, a pan of water may be placed on the bottom shelf. Some bakers bake goods first which do not require steam. These goods generate enough steam to bake the Vienna breads and rolls. In Europe most all the breads are baked on the hearth. This gives a better flavor to the bread than if baked on pans or on metal oven soles. In this country the pan-baked breads predominate. Portable ovens are also used by many bakers and in the hotels. These ovens are less expensive than brick ovens, of lighter build and can be moved. Some of them are built after the style of the brick ovens, with an inside furnace and one baking chamber, and might be named movable brick ovens; others are built with shelves, two or three above each other. These ovens take up less space. The knowledge of the necessary heat in furnace ovens is estimated by the whiteness or blackness of the interior. The smoke will first blacken the interior, and as the heat increases it will clear off and become white. Practical bakers also can tell by holding the hand near the oven door or in the oven. Another test is to throw a handful of flour or corn meal in the oven; if it browns gradually, the oven is right for bread; if it blackens and burns, the oven is too hot. This knowledge can be more readily acquired by the use of the thermometer or pyrometer. These meters are used in every modern bakeshop. The baking heat is not registered all alike by these meters. This is caused by different meters, and also by placing the meter too near or too far from the furnace. Too much heat often injures these meters and they become unreliable. A few trials with the different meters will soon teach the right degrees for baking. When a furnace oven has attained the proper heat, the doors and dampers are closed and the oven is laid off. In the usual routine of baking, the oven is generally heated for one hour, let draw, and then laid off for an hour. The oven is then swabbed out, and the baking begins. Continuous ovens do not require laying off. The laying off is to distribute and tone down the heat. After the oven is shut down, the meter may register 550° Fahr. It will cool down after awhile to 500°. This heat may be used for rye bread; 450° for rolls and Vienna; 400° for pies and pastry; 300° to 200° for large cake, etc. Some ovens may be right for bread at 350°, and so on, according to the nearness of the furnace. Some ovens have too strong a bottom heat. This requires more swabbing, and often necessitates the use of double pans to prevent burning the bottom of the goods.