Å i Lofoten, N-8392 Sørvågen, Norway. Tel. +47 76 09 14 88 Email: nfmuseum@lofoten-info.no
The Baker and the Bakery in Å Every winter, from January to April, the Lofoten Islands were visited by 20-30,000 fishermen and several thousand other visitors. There was at least one bakery in every fishing village. Hundreds of fishermen stayed in the rorbu cabins in Å, and even though they brought chests and barrels full of food with them, fresh bread had to be bought in the fishing village. The bakery in Å was built in 1844 and rebuilt after the fire in the autumn of 1888. The bakery oven was built of stone in 1844 and rebuilt in 1888 and 1917. It is 9 square metres in size and has room for 120 loaves of bread. The oven is birchwood-fired, but between 1952 and 1962, oil-firing was used. During the winter, the baker worked long, arduous hours supplying large amounts of bread, cinnamon rolls and other bakery products to the local population. The last baker closed down and left in 1962. In the summer of 1989, the bakery was reopened under the management of the museum, with local housewives and young people as bakers. Heating up the oven Heating the oven starts at 6.30 a.m. All four dampers at the top of the flue are opened. When the stones inside the oven turn a lighter shade, then the oven is hot enough for use. Embers and ash are raked out to the sides and into the soot hatches at the front. Then the dampers are partially closed again. The temperature can be tested by sprinkling a little flour inside the oven. If it turns black, the oven is too hot. To cool down the oven, the dampers are opened again and the oven door is left open for a while. The oven can also be heated up during the baking process by lighting a fire in the hatches on both sides of the feed door. The baking process While the oven is being heated up, the dough is made and left to rise and the baking can begin. Shortly in advance of this, the dampers are closed completely. Subsequently, the baker puts the loaves inside – brown bread at the back, white at the front, leaving them to bake for about an hour. After that buns and bread rolls are put in the oven and baked for 10-15 minutes and finally it’s the turn of the cinnamon rolls. Bread can also be baked using the leftover heat. Both the masonry and the birch ash have an effect on the bread, apparently providing it with better flavour and improved keeping qualities. Removing the ashes The ashes are removed through the four hatches above the feed door and the two beneath the firing hatches at the sides. The large hatch at bottom left is the cleanout door. The fine and pure birch ash from the oven was previously used to make lye in which the dried cod was left to soak. The resulting “lutefisk” was common at Christmas dinner tables all over Scandinavia.
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