The community "Backhaus" - literally meaning "Baking House" - was a very common occurrence in German villages. Farming families would each take their turn in baking their bread that would last them several weeks. Relatives from my maternal side live in a small Swabian village in southwest Germany, and when my grandparents were still alive they regularly baked their bread in the Backhaus.
Today the practice seems to have largely ceased. I even read that in some places the Backhaus is now used by tourists where they are baking under supervision!
~
In 1995 I was fresh out of university in Istanbul, went to Germany and lived with my grandparents for a year. I had already dabbled a bit with my uncle's old M42 mount Revueflex camera and colour print film, but the prints I got back from the shops were mostly poor. I can't remember how exactly, but at one point I found out that for the best quality I had to shoot slides. And indeed, the first roll of slide film was a revelation! Those colours, that clarity...it was unbelievable. Then, with the little money I had, I bought myself a new camera: a Canon EOS 500n with a 35-80mm plastic zoom. In hindsight, that cheap lens coupled with slide film gave remarkable results.
So it was that one morning in 1996, with that Canon camera I photographed my grandmother baking bread. It was her turn in the Backhaus, which is a couple of hundred meters away in the village centre. Here she is at home in the kitchen preparing sourdough loaves. Note the size of the trough!
And here's the baked bread, which will be carted back home:
Some of the bread that would not be consumed in the immediate future will be stored in the community freezer !
~
Fast forward 5-6 years, during which I thought (or marketing departments made me think) I had to have eye-controlled focus and got myself first a Canon EOS 50E and then even a Canon EOS 3 (now that was a loud beast)...which - including several lenses - were stolen during a break-in whilst in London, of all places! Shortly after that burglary in 2002 I saw a discount on brand new Leica M6's and decided to make a clean break with Canon, and bought an M6 TTL with 35mm and 50mm Summicron's. I've been using that M6 with lenses ever since. My sample must have been a monday camera though, as it's been in repair several times for some serious issues (broken hinge on back door, broken shutter curtain...). Still, it's been a constant companion for two decades now and I never much regretted the stolen Canon's.
~
One sunny day in 2003, a period when one million Turkish liras could only buy a döner plus a drink, I had slide film in the Leica (Fuji Velvia) and found the approaching crate of bread extremely appealing.
I'd started using B&W film in 1998 and was shooting it alongside the occasional roll of slide. Sometime around 2005 I completely quit slides and concentrated on B&W exclusively (is there anyone who can still afford slides?).
In 2017 I made this picture in a small bakery on the Mediterranean coast (with the same M6 and 35mm lens):
Later I tried to give the young man a print, but didn't see him again. I was told he went to university.
And on a stroll in 2020, I stopped mid-stride in front of this apartment door in Istanbul, where plastic bags full of bread were hanging (again the M6, but with a wobbly Zeiss 28mm this time):
So, looking back on this small bit of personal history and selection of pictures, one could say bread means something to me! As to what kind we eat at home: my wife has been baking sourdough bread for 20 years and is still using yeast that she continues to grow from the first batch of yeast which she cultivated 20 years ago.