Bread.......... historically

[Teamedup]

I've been in many an old house here and never a kitchen range with an oven in site. And when I've asked no one seems to recall their families having them. However, most of the villages around here did have communal bread ovens, and some are still working, principally there will be a fete and the centre piece will be baking bread. But all I could ever ascertain about these is that the bread... a sort of pain de campagne was baked once a year and stored, in the past.

Are their bread ovens in villages all over France or is this just something that would happen in these probably remote alpine valleys at the time.

[Musicmonkey<ADDRESS><STRONG>Musicmonkey<STRONG><ADDRESS>]

Our house has a bread oven in the garden and I think this is not unusual around here in Manche, 50. Unfortunately it's been bricked up but wouldn't take a lot to render it useable again. Ah,....if only hubby was skilled in such things!

I think there was a tax issue (?) at one time to encourage locals to support their local boulangerie rather than bake their own. I'm sure someone else will know more than me about this.

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

and round here ranges came in at about the same time as gas cookers, before that people cooked on the fire (bread ovens apart).

[Russethouse]

Thought you might be interested in this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3898731.stm

( What happens when the exhibits start to go mouldy ?? )

Gay
http://www.quimperclub.org/