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The Oostendorper Corn Mill
In a 1800 feudal deed, a “Corn Water Mill, as well as the Olive and Hulling Mill, the Oostendorper Mill” is still mentioned. However, no hulling mill can be found in the corn mill located on the right bank of the Schipbeek. There are, however, a bottom-driven and two top-driven millstone sets, as well as a roller mill for crushing oats and wheat. The millstone sets are used for grinding rye and wheat.
Baking Bread in the Bakspieker
History
A bakspieker, often found in the yards of historic farmhouses in the eastern Netherlands, served primarily as a small, freestanding building for safely baking bread. The main reason for doing this outside the farmhouse was fire prevention, as the farmhouses themselves usually had thatched roofs and stoking an oven with an open fire and flying sparks posed a major risk to the living quarters. Inside the bakspieker, the large stone oven was stoked high using bundles of branches, after which the ash was removed and the bread baked on the hot stone floor. In addition to the baking function, due to the presence of fire and water, the small building was often also used for “dirty” work such as boiling laundry, preparing pig feed in large kettles, or as a storage place for firewood and grain in the attic. Brood baked in a bakspieker is called spiekerbrood (“spiekerbread”).
Our Own Baking Spike
The baking spieker located on the grounds of the Oostendorper Watermill was not originally built there in 1548 together with the mill. It is a later addition to complete the historic estate and to enable demonstrations.
The baking spieker was built on the watermill grounds in 1998. This was realized by the ‘Hoksebargse Mölln’ Association. The work was carried out by volunteers from the association to make the craft of baking bread using flour from their own mill visible to visitors once again.
The baking spieker was fully restored by volunteers very recently, in the spring of 2023, with as many original parts as possible being reused. Nowadays, the oven is regularly used by bakers during the summer months and on mill days to bake the famous ‘Spiekerbrood’.
