Slinger Bakery

The Bakery

The Slinger Bakery also known under the names of Palace Bakery and Kachelmeiers Bakery was located at 128 Kettle Moraine Dr. South. Frank Kachelmeier Sr. came to the United States in 1891 from Hasselbach, Bohemia. He started his baking career in Milwaukee before coming to Schleisingerville. He purchased the bakery property from Joesph Beine in 1901. Over the years part of the original building was tore down and a new addition built. Frank Sr. ran the bakery until 1914 when he sold it and moved to Barton to start a bakery. He then purchased the bakery back in 1920 naming it Palace Bakery and running it until he death in 1938. At that time his wife Frances ran it until 1948 when Frank Jr. purchased it and took it over. He would rename it Slinger Bakery and had help from his wife Theresa, step son John Kostalek, and his son Frank. Frank Jr. would retire and close the bakery in 1969.

A Bakers Day

One of the questions or comments Frank would get over the years, was that he must get up early every morning to start baking. Actually his day started about 10pm the night before. On Saturdays he would start around 7pm the night before. The first task of the night was to get the oven going. It was a wood fired brick oven, he loaded slabs of wood into the oven, an overfilled wheelbarrow of wood was the amount needed for one nights firing. The fire would burn for about 5 hours and while that was going, Frank would begin mixing his doughs and placing them into the large wooden troughs to allow them to raise. Once the fire had burned down the coals needed to be raked from the oven and the oven swabbed with what looked like a long handled mop to remove all the ash. This was because the goods were actually baked in the oven where the fire had burned. Much work was done by hand although a few machines were purchased over the years for mixing the doughs and molding it into loaves of bread. Frank would finish his baking somewheres between 11am and noon each day but on Saturdays would often spend the afternoon using the oven for roasting hams, pigs or ducks for various banquets in the community. In the early 1900’s breads and rolls were delivered daily out to Big Cedar Lake initially by horse and wagon and then later on by truck. For many years Frank also provided the bread for the entire Slinger School system.

The Oven

The heart of the bakery was its unique oven. It was fired with wood, built around 1900 and modeled after the ovens used in Europe. The oven walls were thick and made of brick, sand, and mortar. It was part of the foundation of the bakeshop. It’s interior was lined with a special fire brick that could withstand the many heating and cooling cycles it would undergo. The brick would retain the heat from the wood fire and release it back into the oven. The inside of the oven was approximately 8 feet wide and about 10-12 feet deep with a ceiling arched from the center to its sides. It was just high enough inside so a person could periodically crawl into it on their belly to replace the bricks as they would eventually break down over the years from the heat. The fire would burn slowly for about 5 hours, allowing the heat to be absorbed into the brick. A good mix of hardwoods that burned slowly would provide the most heat to the brick. Since the fire was actually burning inside the oven where the goods were to be baked the coals needed to be raked out and the inside swabbed with a long handled mop to remove the ash from the baking surface. The design and style of the oven were what gave the bread its distinctive thick crust and the hard rolls their crunchy crust. Some of the breads and all of the hard rolls were baked on sheet pans. One firing of the oven would provide enough heat for that days baking, even enough to roast ham in the afternoon. Using the oven required skill as there was no thermostat to control the heat or timer to tell you when things were done. There were several dampers above the oven door to control air flow. The oven started out very hot and fast in the morning but would cool down as the day went on and items would take longer to bake. Also the order and combination in which you baked items was important as well to keep enough steam in the oven to prevent items from burning and also giving them that special crust. Goods were loaded and unloaded from the oven using a peel. A peel is like a breadboard but tapered thin on one end so you could slide it under a pan or directly under a loaf of bread to move it around, the peel was attached to a long wooden handle. While many bakers had converted to gas ovens, Frank was afraid doing the same would change the quality of his bakery and so continued with the brick oven till his retirement in 1969.

The building has housed antique stores, a private residents, and currently the location of Friedemann Chiropractic. 

Slinger Advancement Association- Slinger to Schleisingerville 1869-2019. Chicago, IL. LSC Communications, 2019.

Hearth Baking In Mid America Old Fashion and Ultra Modern. Chicago Baker Magazine Article. January 1st 1967. 4 - 5.