Why
00:00
Why a Bakers Dozen is 13 Instead
of 12
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There are three main theories for
why a baker’s dozen is 13 instead of
12, but most think
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it has its origins in the fact that
many societies throughout history
have had extremely strict
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laws concerning baker’s wares, due
to the fact that it is fairly easy for
bakers to
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cheat patrons and sell them less than
what they think they are getting.
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These societies took this very
seriously as bread was a primary
food source for many people.
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For example, in ancient Egypt,
should a baker be found to cheat
someone, they would have
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their ear nailed to the door of their
bakery.
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In Babylon, if a baker was found to
have sold a “light loaf” to someone,
the baker would
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have his hand chopped off.
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Another example was in Britain in
the mid-13th century with the
establishment of the Assize
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of Bread and Ale statute, which was
in effect all the way up to the 19th
century before
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being repealed by the Statute Law
Revision Act of 1863.
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The Assize of Bread and Ale statute
set the price of ale and what weight
a farthing loaf
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of bread should be.
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Specifically it stated: “By the
consent of the whole realm of
England,
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the measure of the king was made;
that is to say: that an English penny,
called a sterling
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round, and without any clipping,
shall weigh thirty-two wheat corns
in the midst of the
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ear, and twenty-pence do make an
ounce, and twelve ounces one
pound, and eight pounds
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do make a gallon of wine, and eight
gallons of wine do make a London
bushel, which is
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the eighth part of a quarter.”
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So basically, in terms of bread,
setting the relationship between the
price of wheat and
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what the subsequent price of a loaf
of bread from a certain quantity of
wheat should be.
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Even though this statute was
enacted at the request of bakers, it
still posed a problem
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for them.
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If they happened to accidentally
cheat a customer by giving them
less than what they were supposed
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to as outlined by the statute, they
were subject to extremely severe
fines and punishment,
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which varied depending on where
the lawbreaker lived, but could
include, like the Babylonians’
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punishment, losing a hand.
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As it wasn’t that hard to
accidentally cheat a customer, given
making a loaf of bread with
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exacting attributes is nearly
impossible by hand without modern
day tools, bakers began
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giving more than what the statute
outlined to make sure they went
over and never under.
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Specifically, in terms of the
“baker’s dozen”, if a vendor or other
customer were
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to order a dozen or several dozen
loaves of bread from a baker, the
baker would give them
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13 for every dozen they ordered.
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Likewise, when selling quantities of
anything, they’d give 13 measures
when only 12 were
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purchased.
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This practice eventually made its
way into the Worshipful Company
of Bakers guild code
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in London.
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This guild was actually started in
the 12th century and had a large part
in formulating
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the rules on the Assize of Bread and
Ale statute.
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All that said, although the above is
generally thought to be the correct
origins for a baker’s
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dozen, there are two alternate
theories put forth that are somewhat
plausible, though
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lacking in hard historical evidence
and visible progression.
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The first is that bakers would sell 13
loaves to vendors, while only
charging them for 12
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which allowed the vendor to then
sell the 13 at full price earning a
7.7% profit per
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loaf.
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So in this case, vendors were being
given a sort of wholesale price, but
without breaking
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the laws outlined in the Assize of
Bread and Ale which had no
exceptions for allowing a
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cheaper price to vendors.
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This theory has some holes in it, but
is somewhat plausible on the whole.
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Yet another theory is that it was
simply a product of the way bakers
bake bread.
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Baking trays tend to have a 3:2
aspect ratio.
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The most efficient two-dimensional
arrangement then of
loaves/biscuits/etc. on such a tray
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results in 13 items with a 4+5+4
hexagonal arrangement, which
avoids corners.
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It was important to avoid the
corners because the corners of a
baking tray will heat up
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and cool off faster than the edges
and the interior, which would result
in not cooking
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anything on the corner evenly with
the rest.
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This theory doesn’t explain why
they’d sell them in batches 13 for
the price of 12,
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but at least explains why they may
have commonly made them in
batches of 13 in the first place
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and is still a possible source, or at
least contributor, to the “baker’s
dozen”
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if it was fairly universal that baker’s
baked things in groups of 13, as is
suggested
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by the theory.
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But, in the end, most historians
think that the first theory- that
bakers simply were
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trying to make sure they didn’t
accidentally break any laws- is the
correct one.
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Bonus Facts: • The term “baker”
dates back to around
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the year 1000.
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Another term that meant the same
thing from that time was “bakester”.
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This latter word is thought to have
referred to female bakers; this is
similar to how a
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“webster” was a female weaver,
with the “-ster” ending implying a
woman.
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From this, if your last name is
“Baxter”, you probably had a
professional female baker
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somewhere up your family tree.
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“Bakester” is where the surname
“Baxter” comes from.
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• One might think checking to see if
a baker was cheating you on a loaf
would be as simple
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as weighing the loaf, but this was
not actually the case.
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Bakers had many tricks up their
sleeves for cheating customers
while having the weight
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come out more or less correctly.
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One such trick was to add a bit of
ground sand to the loaf to get the
weight just so,
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while being able to use less wheat.
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