How Frederick used his loaf

You’ll often find us celebrating Bettys’ founder Frederick Belmont for his fine confectionery skills, his vision in opening our first café in Harrogate back in 1919 and for a dedication to doing things right that still inspires us today. What’s less usual is for us to praise the young Swiss orphan who chose to settle in Yorkshire for being the owner of a mean pair of biceps.

Before he worked his way across Switzerland and France learning the art of fine chocolates and elegant pastries, the teenage Frederick trained as a baker. At the start of the 20th century that meant making bread in much the same way that people had done for centuries before – hour upon hour of back-breaking work hefting flour sacks, kneading dough and keeping the ovens stocked with fuel.

After originally using the third floor of the Harrogate Bettys for baking, from 1922 Frederick established a dedicated site in Starbeck, where our bakery still bustles today. Having learned his craft the hard way, you might think Frederick would have expected his bakers to roll up their sleeves and put in the same graft. But instead, he invested in labour-saving technology. Fan-belt driven machines took on the heaviest work, while overnight proving cabinets let staff catch up on sleep before early-morning bakes. This wasn’t to cut corners, but allowed Bettys bakers to concentrate on the finer skills of their craft.

Frederick knew where to draw the line, however, and although he died in 1952 it’s fair to say he would have been aghast by the invention of the Chorleywood process the following decade. The industrialised method behind mass-produced sliced bread favours speed and convenience over the texture and taste of an artisan-made, slowly risen loaf. Bettys was one of the few baking businesses never to adopt it.

As you may have realised if you’ve tried baking your own, bread has simple ingredients but can be fiendishly complex to perfect. If you’ve had enough of dough disasters and crumb calamities, why not try a Bettys Bread Box? Sent directly from our Craft Bakery for maximum freshness, it has a hand-picked selection of five of our best loaves, ready to scoff now or freeze and enjoy later. And the only heavy lifting you’ll need to do is that doorstop sandwich.