While we were having lunch in Hidegség (Valea Rece), my guide realised that we were close to the bakery of Molnár Csaba. Since he knew him, he called him and he accepted our visit immediately.
Molnár Csaba was initially running a meat processing company, but due to strict regulations and some minor violations, he closed down the company and founded a bakery instead.
Upon entering the bakery, the female workers were finishing lunch and preparing to go back to their heavy work. One of their tasks was to mash potatoes in a meat grinder, a light but repetitive task. However, when all the potatoes had been mashed, they had to carry a container full of potatoes to the meat grinder in order to repeat the mashing. They also had to peel the potatoes manually and put the mashed potatoes in the dough.
During our visit, one of the workers was tending a machine, which was sifting flour, else it would form clumps during preparation of the dough in a kneading machine.
The bakery had 8 wood-fired ovens, all of which needed to be filled with pieces of bread dough. A group of female workers and one male worker were doing this job.
When the ovens were hot enough, a long-handled tool was used to take out the embers from the oven, then a mop was pulled over the base of the oven to remove any remaining embers. The dough of each bread had already been prepared and lay in separate bowls. When an oven was ready to be filled, one woman was standing at the opening of the oven. A man held a long-handled shovel on which she poured flour, while at the same time the women took out the dough of the bowls and kneaded each piece of dough expertly, then put it on the shovel. Finally, the first woman poured water on the dough and the man led the shovel into the oven and pulled it back quickly in order to let the dough stay in the oven. This procedure was repeated until the oven was full, then it was repeated seven times more, once for each oven.
When the breads were taken out of the ovens, they were covered by a black crust, which had to be removed. The female workers used one machine to clean the bottom of the bread and another one for cleaning the top. Besides, they also needed to grate the breads to remove any burnt remains.
All of the women worked surprisingly hard in a very hot workplace., while the one man seemed to have a lighter workload.
The bakery is owned by the Molnár family and they sell bread within a radius of 14 km from the bakery
