Sunbeam Bread Introduced a New Innovative Baking Process to the U.S.
In 1956, Sunbeam Bread made history when it adopted a new baking process — the first improvement in actual bread make-up in 2,000 years! Or so said the Decatur Daily Review in Illinois. This headline making story captured the innovative technique that made Sunbeam America’s favorite sliced bread.
Ovens, slicing, packaging, selling, transportation, ingredients, sanitation, and labor-saving devices had improved at a rapid modern pace for bakers. But up until the mid-50s, science could not find a satisfactory method of improving the dough-making process. The big problem for the baker had always been the adjustment of the dough formula to take care of variations that occur in successive shipments of flour.
Sunbeam’s advance testing in a laboratory helped to anticipate these adjustments. Thanks to the development of the John C. Baker Do-Maker Process by Wallace-Tiernan Company at Belleville, NJ, the bread baker could tur out loaves which are of superior quality. This invention was first tested at a Sunbeam Bakery in New Bedford, MA.
A few months later, another unit was installed in the Sunbeam Bakery at Stockton, CA. Decatur’s Purity Sunbeam Bakery management, in their studies of this baking advancement, sensed that it was time to give the Decatur area a better loaf of bread.
So how did it work? In the conventional dough-making method, approximately 2,000-pound masses were mixed per batch, making uniform distribution of ingredients difficult. Sunbeam’s new process only developed 80lbs. of dough per batch, thoroughly mixing the ingredients in a more uniform quality. This created loaves with a smooth consistency in texture and flavor that stayed fresh longer. Also, even the crust is so tender that people happily eat the end slices!
Another advancement of this process is that of sanitation. In the continuous process, materials are handled in a virtually closed system. Making this new baking procedure the safest process in the country.
The official announcement of the new baking process was announced prior to a Decatur Commodore-Clinton Pirates ball game. Over 500 Sunbeam Bread dealers were the guests at the baseball party where it was revealed how the invention produces superior quality loaf of bread for their customers.
Decatur families not only received a bread beyond compare with the new Sunbeam, but also received three food extras in every loaf. Sunbeam Bread uses extra calcium, Vitamin D and butter in their bread formula. Sunbeam Bread knows that these added ingredients help build strong bones and teeth for growing youngsters, give extra energy value, and a flavor and aroma of homemade bread.
