Have you ever wondered how the bread on your local supermarket shelves gets made?

A friend of mine discovered this tour of Mrs Bairds Bakery, a Texas based company (began in Fort Worth, TX) as something for my spouses group to do.  It’s free, it’s indoors out of the sunshine and kids over six years old can attend, it was definitely more fun and interesting than I thought it’d be.

Our tour started at 9am, so I asked my group to rendezvous at 8.45am, I left my house at 8.05am and got there at around 8.40am.  Living in the South West of Houston, I expected my trip North of the city, during rush hour, to be like wacky races on the roads.  However, the driving was as close to enjoyable as it gets here in Texas, and it didn’t take as long as I expected it to.

When we got there, we all congregated at the point of entry, a little ‘out post’ almost, but a bloke in a truck came and told us to go through the gate (giving us the code) and to the next building.  We weren’t given these instructions before hand, so they are useful – make note!

Once inside, after we’d signed in, signed the liability form and had everyone write their name down on a piece of paper, we were ushered into a conference room where we watched a short 10-15 minute cartoon video about Mrs Bairds, how she started and the process of baking bread.

From there, we were taken to another room to get brought up to ‘safety’ level.  Enclosed toed shoes, long trousers (I wore cut offs) and covered shoulders are essential.  No jewellery of any kind (other than wedding rings), don’t wear clothes that have buttons – only snaps – or you’ll have to wear a special protective jacket.  Everyone then gets given a hair net and a hard helmet.

It’s only then, when everyone is kitted out, that we were permitted entry into the factory part of the bakery.  We walked right to the back of the factory and worked towards the front, starting at the ingredients room and finishing with the distribution section where the trucks load up their bread!

I kind of wish we’d done the 1pm tour, instead of the 9am tour.  Our tour guide told us that the factory has recently changed the schedule, so they aren’t making hotdog and burger buns during the early tour any more.  This is important, because the hotdog bun conveyor belts are closer to the designated ‘yellow path’ tour line.  If you go during a time when they are making hotdog buns, you’ll get a better ‘up close’ look at what’s going on, instead of the bread machines, which you get to see from a bit of a distance.

Again, the tour itself is around twenty minutes long, but it’s very worthwhile and interesting and I learned a lot of fun facts about both the bakery, and bread in general.  Carol, our tour guide was lovely, she was great with the kids, she answered every question, and, when the one question she couldn’t answer for us, she got one of the floor workers/bakers to come in and answer our questions.

We finished the tour back in the room where we got our gear from, the baker that helped to answer our questions, went and brought back two steaming hot loaves of Mrs Bairds bread, which Carol sliced into HUGE chunks, covered in butter and gave out to each of us.  It was delicious!

Not only that, but Carol gave the kids little back packs, the adults little note books (for your sunvisor in the car) and we each got a bag of cookies to take away with us.

To book your tour, go here.

Things to note:

• When you reserve your tour, ask if they will be making hotdog buns/burger buns during your tour.  This will ensure you get a more up close and personal view of the entire process.
• Due to the capacity of the tour facility there is a 25 person maximum per tour, per time slot. Groups larger than 25 people will be split into multiple tours over Weds/Thurs period.
• Children must be at least 6 years old to participate in a tour.
• Your legs and shoulders need to be covered.
• No open-toed shoes are allowed, no “heel-out” shoes like flip-flops or sandals, no “heelys” (tennis shoes on rollers) and no jewellery or clothes with buttons on.
• No cameras or video cameras are allowed inside the bakery.
• One adult (18+) needs to be present for every 10 children in your group.
• Contact the bakery a minimum of two-three weeks in advance.
• You need to fax final numbers of your group, 7 days ahead of your tour date.
• During the tour you must stay within the yellow ‘safe’ lines, no touching equipment, machinery and no straying from your group.  Adults, this means you too!

It was a great morning, we all enjoyed it and it’s definitely worth a visit!