Why 13 in a bakers dozen

As Britannica reports, regardless of how much planning goes into bread making , due to all bakers not having proper scales at the time and variations in rising, bread could come out of the oven in an assortment of sizes. On top of the simple notion of different sized loaves, Phrases delves further into the explanation of the baker's dozen.

It wasn't just the neighborhood ruffians that wanted perfectly sized bread, but something more. Nom July 17, pm. Cogito July 26, am. Ryan March 23, pm. Chad Horbachewsky September 30, pm. What about Mary Magdalene? She makes 14 at the last supper. Jason April 21, am. I aways thought it was the 13th was payment for baking the 12 for the client. Leo June 30, am. Some guy April 11, pm. Dee December 22, pm.

I love your mind Some Guy :. Sheogorath April 12, pm. Lexie March 31, pm. Jacqueline August 1, am. England has a long history of regulation of trade; bakers were regulated by a trade guild called The Worshipful Company of Bakers , which dates back to at least the reign of Henry II The law that caused bakers to be so wary was the Assize of Bread and Ale. In , Henry III revived an ancient statute that regulated the price of bread according to the price of wheat. Bakers or brewers who gave short measure could be fined, pilloried or flogged, as in when the Chronicle of London reported that a baker called John Mund[e]w was 'schryved [ forced to admit his guilt ] upon the pyllory' for selling bread that was underweight.

Secondly, it's not quite so neat an explanation that whenever bakers sold twelve loaves they then added another identical loaf to make thirteen. It's been this way for almost 1, years. The story of the "baker's dozen" has nothing to do with faulty mathematics bakers have to be good at basic math or with a disposition of generosity bakers have to make a living too , but rather, the 13 items that comprise a "baker's dozen" most likely started as a response to a law passed almost 1, years ago in England under the reign of King Henry III.

Bread is not easily predictable—the time it takes to rise or the amount of air developed beneath the crust of a fresh loaf depends on conditions often uncontrollable to the baker especially years ago. While King Henry III was ruling England, bakers were developing a reputation for shortchanging their customers by giving them bread that did not weigh as much as what was being paid for.