Rise and Shine!

Bread and various types of baking were quite the staple for pioneers in the early days, but a question not often asked is, “how did they get their dough to rise?”. Luckily for us, Sarah Maynes, Lester O'Hara’s wife, wrote on the subject at hand. Through her writings we are able to understand how the O’Haras in particular made their bread and baking.

Sarah speaks of something called “Saleratus”, or as we would call it; baking soda. Saleratus could be purchased at the general store, but it was often expensive leaving unattainable for pioneers on a budget. One alternative to buying this soda was to make it yourself. The technique Sarah speaks about involves the corncob left behind after the kernels had been removed. As is true for many aspects of pioneer life: nothing goes to waste. These kernel-less cobs would be stacked together much like a log cabin. A fire would then be lit from within the stack in order to burn up the cobs into ash, which was then gathered and used to make “johnny cake”, or pancakes as we like to call them! Making soda from corn cobs was one way to obtain baking soda on a budget!

Sarah also talks about yeast! Yeast was not something that could be purchased at a general store, so it was up to the housewife to come up with ways to make their own. Hops were the most common way of making baked goods rise, but these were not something commonly grown according to Sarah. One thing the O’Haras were known for was there sugarbush, so they were intimately familiar with maple trees. I mention the maple trees because Sarah says there was a moss-like fungus that grew on the trees that was used in place of hops. Lungworth, liverworth, and lung-moss are all names given to this fungus. It would be gathered from the trees, placed in lukewarm water, and sat near the fire overnight. In the morning, pour off the liquid and mix it with flour to create a batter which Sarah refers to as “turpike”. Use this batter in anything that needs to be leavened (anything to want to rise, like bread) and let it sit overnight before baking.

We have acquired some hops from a volunteer, so we may try making our own hop yeast!

For your recipe this Thursday we present to you; Johnny Cakes! Click here to go to an online recipe we found.

𝓟𝓮𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓜𝓲𝓪