Graduates working for Warburtons have explored how bread was baked before the invention of modern ovens at Openfield’s Sacrewell Mill, Peterborough.

The baking graduates took a day out to see the traditional 18th-Century watermill, owned by the William Scott Abbott Trust and used to educate people about the role of agriculture in food production.

Each year about 110,000 people visit the mill to see flour milled and bread baked in a traditional wood-fired bread oven. Bob Beard, cereal development director for Warburtons, believed the visit was a great opportunity for graduates to see how bread production has evolved.

“The basic principles of bread production remain much the same as they were two centuries ago, but technology in production and our understanding of how protein structures can be influenced to improve baking performance have led to a transformation in modern baking techniques,” he said.

“Being able to contrast the new with the old helps to demonstrate how sophisticated modern methods have become.”

Openfield is Britain’s largest farmer-owned grain co-operative and a long-time supplier to Warburtons.

Earlier this month, Warburtons created a dinosaur exhibit made out of crumpets to celebrate the launch of McFly band member Tom Fletcher’s new book.