Warburtons staff learn how bread was baked in 1700

The management trainees worked with Openfield, Britain’s largest farmer-owned grain co-operative, and spent the day at Sacrewell Mill near Peterborough.

The traditional 18^th Century watermill, owned by the William Scott Abbott Trust, seeks to educate and inform children and adults about the role of agriculture in producing food.

Each year about 110,000 children and adults visit the mill to see flour milled using 18^th Century technology and bread baked in a traditional wood-fired bread oven.

Valuable opportunity

Warburtons cereal development director, Bob Beard said the visit was a valuable opportunity to explain to the graduates how bread production has evolved.

“The basic principles of bread production remain much the same as they were two centuries ago, but technology in production and our understanding of how protein structures can be influenced to improve baking performance has led a transformation in modern baking techniques,” Beard said.  

“Being able to contrast the new with the old helps to demonstrate how sophisticated modern methods have become.”

Importance of supply chains

Openfield chief executive James Dallas explained that the visit was to highlight the value of provenance in supply chains.

“I am delighted to support such a worthy charity which concentrates on educating children in the role of agriculture in supplying safe and healthy food,” said Dallas.  

“The William Scott Abbott trust has intimately restored the water mill and bakers’ oven to create an authentic window into the history of flour milling and bread production, so far removed from today’s modern processes.”