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Why do Bakers have their own dozen?

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Samcjones

Lvl 1
15y ago
Updated: 8/17/2019

As far as I am aware, a bakers dozen came into being to make sure the correct weight of bread was supplied.

12 loaves may not have been the correct weight, but 13 certainly would have been.

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Contrary to the above,

The Baker's Dozen came about around three hundred years ago or more when bread was sold by the weight of bread rather than the size of a loaf. Bakers were notorious crooks for short-changing customers - by baking underweight bread and then blaming the rising process of the yeast rather than their own fraudulent activities.

Therefore a law was passed which heavily punished bakers if they sold loaves that were underweight. So, to ensure that they did not get punished, especially as they could not be exactly sure if they were selling bread that was heavy enough, they began to add an extra loaf for every dozen loaves ordered by the shops/markets so that they could be sure that the thirteen loaves weighed at least what the dozen loaves should, even if the individual loaves were a little light.

Therefore, 13 became known as the 'baker's dozen'.

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Wiki User

15y ago

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