The stages to make bread in the old kitchens were:

1. The bread dough was mixed in a wooded ‘trough’ (pronounced like 'dough') then covered with warm sacks and a lid, and left to rise overnight. When the bread was ready to bake, it was marked with a cross — to keep the devil out.
2. The oven would have to be fired up two to three hours before baking started, and the temperature checked by scraping a stick across the floor of the oven; if the carbon residue burnt off instantly, then it was hot enough.
3. The embers would be swept out of the oven and its floor washed with a damp mop, which also created the necessary humidity. The brick oven's shape ensured loaves had a spongy top and a crusty base (the side in contact with the oven floor). If the loaves were flipped over during baking, they were crusty both sides. These ‘trenchers’ were used as dinner plates in the medieval period.
4. Once the bread had been cooked, pastries, cakes or baked potatoes could be placed in the slowly cooling oven. When these were done it was used to dry-off oatmeal and flour.