This wood fired adobe beehive oven is a Mission original. The Mission workers baked bread here from the wheat that they grew at the Mission.

The way that these old beehive ovens work is, first you must build a very hot wood fire in the oven to heat it to a very high temperature. When the fire has burned down to embers and ash, you must then remove them. The long wooden handle you see standing in front of the oven is called a baker's peel. You then use the baker's peel to place the uncooked bread into the very hot oven to bake. When the bread is done, you then use the baker's peel to remove the bread from the oven.

Making bread was a full day of hot hard work!

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