The Oven
The oven is of a Gueulard (‘Neck’) type oven which made its appearance in the 1800s. It is a ‘white’ oven by design, meaning that fire is built in a firing chamber, and only the flame is brought into baking chamber. Traditionally fired from below the hearth, La Motte’s choice is a re-invention with a unique triangular shape, two flues and a side-firing chamber. The ’neck’ is replaced with a ‘gate' which allows the flames to shoot into the baking chamber from the side firing chamber.
This type of wood-fired oven allows the oven to heat in between the different loads of bread to bake more continuously throughout the night and day. It was designed and produced by Four Grand-mere in France and assembled at La Motte. Aesthetically and stylistically, this type of oven was first produced during the end of the industrial revolution introducing steel, water, and steam to the artisan baking process. The period by which La Motte’s baking and milling program finds its inspiration.