At 09:14 on 14 August a single 800 g loaf was loaded into Oven 3 at 78.4 % hydration. The timer was set. The timer was set incorrectly, to 79 minutes rather than 38, and the error was not detected because the keeper who set it had been asked to set it and had set it and had then gone to the bench.
The loaf was removed at 10:33. It is the position of this report that the loaf was, by that point, no longer a loaf. The crust had carbonised through approximately 11 mm on all faces. The interior was measured at 96 °C, which is above the temperature at which the crumb structure can be said to be present.
The oven timer defaults to 79 minutes. It has defaulted to 79 minutes since the oven was installed in 2019. No keeper has ever set it correctly on the first attempt, and this is the fourth incident of this type. The previous three were not reported because the loaves were smaller.
A label has been applied to the timer reading "38". The label is visible. The oven has not been replaced, because the oven is not at fault and the Institute cannot afford an oven.
Whether the burnt loaf should be retained as a specimen. It has been retained as a specimen. It is on the second shelf, where it has been for six weeks, and it is now the oldest object in Oven Hall that was made here.