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Hofmann's Bakery, Alameda, CA
by Eugene Volz, March 23, 2006 |
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Click pictures for bigger
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  Hofmann's
Bakery, located at 918 Central Avenue was started by my grandfather,
Christian Hofmann and was then operated by his son, Fred Hofmann, my uncle
and his wife Irma. The bakery was a real treasure and I have never found
any bread that even came close to what they sold at the exorbitant price
of four loaves for a quarter. And you never put bread in a plastic bag.
The oven was brick; it was originally heated by building a wood fire and
allowing the bricks to heat up at which point the ash was scraped out and
the freshly risen bread dough was placed directly on the heated bricks.
Later on, they modernized with a gas burner which was swiveled into the
oven. But the bread was always baked directly on the bricks.
In the picture to the left, you can see Christian's
left hand wrapped around the handle of the paddle used to remove the bread
from the oven. It appears that he has a cake pan on the paddle with the
oven door open. The rack over his head holds the paddles with which he
removed the bread and other goodies from the oven. He made the best
wreath cake with lots of almond paste (marzipan), and slivered almonds;
I'm salivating!
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