BAKING IN COLONIAL TIMES NOT AN OVEN NOT A STOVE NOT A TOASTER NOT A MICROWAVE… HOW DID THEY SURVIVE??? BY:Makayla Peterson 7C4 ID2

A LOOK BACK…...  Colonial times had a very different lifestyle from us today.  Their style of cooking was also distant from ours too.  They didn’t have advanced cooking supplies as we do now.  It was a very long process to bake but it wasn’t very complicated.  Although, some of their baking and preparation ways might sound very complicated to us now.  They also didn’t have grocery shops to buy their food. HHHH MMM....

COLONIAL KITCHENS  In colonial times, there weren ’ t stoves, ovens, or toasters. They had brick ovens which was either close to the hearth in the kitchen or outside as a separate structure. The brick oven was primarily used to bake bread, cake and pastry.,  Every week there was only one major baking, which was a long task but not too complicated.  These ovens had no flue (a passage for smoke to escape), the door was left slightly open which also allowed the fire to be viewed by the cook.  As the coal kept burning, she would have to scrape them out which could also tell her if the heat was too low or high. If too hot she would let it cool to the proper temperature and if too low she would repeat the heating procedure with another fire.

WHO DID THE BAKING???  Who do you think did all the baking in colonial homes?  It certainly wasn ’ t the man …… it was the woman.  Why was it the woman you might ask? It was because their job was homemaking.  If they were poor they had to do it by themselves, middle class women had some help from servants and upper class families had servants and slaves do all the work. SHE LOOKS SO SAD….

BAKING TIME!!  To protect her hands, she would use an oven peel to insert the product which had been prepared earlier.  The oven was never opened until the final product was finished.  For example, the bread could ’ ve been baked directly on the bricks without burning the bottom. The only use of a pan was with large loaves or a very hot oven floor.  Although it sounds like a short process, it was actually took all day which explains why it was only done once a week.

BRICK OVEN OVEN PEEL(SHEET IRON) OVEN PEEL(WOOD)

RECIPES OR RECEIPTS … YUM YUM!!  Today, when there is a list of items which tell you how to make a dish we call those recipes  In colonial times, recipes were known as receipts. (Today, a receipt is given to us at a store to tell us what we purchased, how much each item costs, and the total.)  The receipts would ’ ve made the assumption that all preparation was complete (Therefore, the brick oven was heated and ready at the appropriate temperature.)

INGREDIENTS  In colonial times, there were no grocery shops.  Cheese was made at home.  They attained sugar when it was brought which was then sold in large cones using a sugar cutter.  Butter was made using a butter churn which turned cream into butter.  Also, milk came from their farms. MMMMMMOOOOOOO !!!!!

CHEESE! SUGAR CUTTER! BUTTER CHURN! MILK!

HOW TO MAKE COLONIAL SUGAR COOKIES!  ½ cup of sugar  2 egg yolks  1 cup of unsalted sweet butter softened  2 egg whites  1 teaspoon of baking soda  1 teaspoon of tartar  ½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg  ¼ teaspoon of salt  1 teaspoon of vanilla  3 ½ cups of flour  1 cup of sugar

HOW TO MAKE THE COOKIES…  Beat egg yolks and ½ cup of sugar until thick and lemon colored.  Reserve. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg whites. Mix in egg yolk mixture, baking soda, cream of tartar, nutmeg, salt and vanilla. Mix in flour gradually.  Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out dough on floured surface.  Cut into shapes. Bake on greased baking sheet, minutes.  Either sprinkle with colored sugar before baking or bake plain and use a powdered sugar glaze.