Final answer:
Gruel is easier to prepare than bread due to its simplicity, involving just boiling grains, as opposed to the complex steps of bread-making such as mixing, kneading, rising, and baking. Additionally, the production of bread can be inefficient without economies of scale or proper yeast cultivation. Specialization in a professional kitchen also improves overall productivity.
Step-by-step explanation:
Preparing gruel is easier than baking bread because it requires fewer steps and less specialized knowledge and equipment. Gruel is a simple mixture often made by boiling a type of grain like oats in water or milk, which is a straightforward cooking process. In contrast, bread-making is a more intricate endeavor. It involves mixing ingredients such as flour, water, and yeast; kneading the dough; letting it rise (sometimes multiple times); shaping it; and finally, baking it in an oven. The precision in the ratio of ingredients, the environmental conditions necessary for yeast to leaven the dough, and the baking process itself make bread-making more complex.
To understand this difference, we can refer to a Canadian worker who could produce 10 loaves of bread in an hour, potentially due to having access to a large, industrial-size oven, enabling economies of scale, versus a U.S. worker using a standard residential oven. Furthermore, the capture and cultivation of yeast is a critical component of bread-making. Historically, bakers sought to capture wild yeasts which was a time-consuming and unpredictable process before the development of modern yeast strains. This led to many batches of dough being discarded if the yeast did not culture properly, demonstrating the difficulty associated with traditional bread-making.
Additionally, specialization in a kitchen setting, such as one worker being a baker and one a chef, increases productivity as each worker can focus on their respective tasks without the inefficiency of switching between different types of work. The baker specializes in tasks related to bread and dough-based products, while the chef handles other components of meal preparation. This specialization leads to more meals produced in a given period.