Sure, you can probably find a way to achieve a "good enough" result with normal household appliances, especially when it doesn't actually need to be stored for years and you're just going to soak it again for some tranditional recipe.

But it's a lot more effort than most people want to invest when they just want to replicate that recipe.

Maybe the flour is difficult to buy or most people don't have a way to dry the bread? Being on the ocean, St. John's is a pretty humid place.