Traditional Baking: The Foxfire Americana Library (2) Read online

  ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, SEPTEMBER 2011

  Copyright © 1972, 1973, 1975 by The Foxfire Fund, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  A portion of this work originally appeared in The Foxfire Book, © 1972 by Brooks Eliot Wigginton. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.

  A portion of this work originally appeared in slightly different form in Foxfire 2, © 1973 by the Southern Highlands Literary Fund, Inc. and Brooks Eliot Wigginton. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.

  A portion of this work originally appeared in Foxfire 3, © 1975 by The Foxfire Fund, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.

  Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-94821-2

  v3.1

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  RECIPES

  Breads

  Corn Pones

  Corn Cakes

  Hush Puppies

  Light Bread

  Bran Bread

  Rye Bread

  Cracklin’ Bread

  Ash Cakes

  Molasses Sweet Bread

  Old-Fashioned Gingerbread

  Syrup Bread

  Cakes and Puddings

  Carrot Pudding or Cake

  Pumpkin Cake

  Dried Apple Cake

  Molasses Cookies

  Pies

  Tame Gooseberry Pie

  Sweet Potato Pie

  Blackberry Cobbler

  Candy

  Molasses Candy

  Custards

  Aunt Arie’s Recipe for Egg Custard

  BUTTER

  Churning Your Own Butter

  Making Butter Churns

  A NOTE ABOUT THE FOXFIRE AMERICANA LIBRARY

  For almost half a century, high school students in the Foxfire program in Rabun County, Georgia, have collected oral histories of their elders from the southern Appalachian region in an attempt to preserve a part of the rapidly vanishing heritage and dialect. The Foxfire Fund, Inc., has brought that philosophy of simple living to millions of readers, starting with the bestselling success of The Foxfire Book in the early 1970s. Their series of fifteen books and counting has taught creative self-sufficiency and has preserved the stories, crafts, and customs of the unique Appalachian culture for future generations.

  Traditionally, books in the Foxfire series have included a little something for everyone in each and every volume. For the first time ever, through the creation of The Foxfire Americana Library, this forty-five-year collection of knowledge has been organized by subject. Whether down-home recipes or simple tips for both your household and garden, each book holds a wealth of tried-and-true information, all passed down by unforgettable people with unforgettable voices.

  BREADS

  CORN PONES

  1 pint corn meal

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  1 tablespoon lard

  milk

  Mix together meal, powder, and salt, cut in lard, and add enough milk to make a stiff batter. Form into pones with hands (or add some milk and drop from the end of a spoon), and place in a greased pan. Bake in a hot oven for about half an hour.

  CORN CAKES

  2 cups corn meal

  1 kitchen spoon flour

  2 eggs

  1 teaspoon salt

  2 teaspoons baking powder

  1 tablespoon melted butter or lard

  milk

  Beat eggs, add meal, flour, salt, baking powder, and butter. Add enough milk to make a thin batter. Pour out onto a hot griddle and flip to other side when brown. Good with butter and syrup.

  HUSH PUPPIES—Mix 1 cup flour, 1 cup corn meal, and a pinch of salt and soda. Add 1 egg and buttermilk until it is the right consistency to hold its shape when rolled into a ball. Mix in 1 medium onion chopped up, roll into balls about an inch to 2 inches across, and drop into a couple inches of hot fat. Let them deep fry until they’re brown and crispy; drain a bit on some paper, and serve hot.

  LIGHT BREAD

  1 cake yeast

  3 teaspoons sugar

  1 pint warm water

  2 medium potatoes

  2 teaspoons salt

  flour

  Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup of the water. Cook the potatoes, mash very fine, and add yeast along with 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and the rest of the water. Put in a jar and leave in a warm place to rise. Sift flour, and mix it in with the yeast mixture along with 1 more teaspoon salt and 2 more teaspoons sugar. Keep adding flour until it makes a firm dough. Let rise to double, knead, and make into loaves. Let rise for one hour, and then bake at about 350° until it tests done.

  BRAN BREAD—Mix together 1 quart each of bran flour, white flour, and buttermilk. Add 1 cup each of seeded raisins and molasses, and last mix in 1 teaspoon each of baking soda and salt. Put into loaf pans and bake until done.

  RYE BREAD—Sift together 1 cup of wheat flour, 1 cup rye flour, 1/2 cup of corn meal, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.

  Add enough buttermilk to make a firm dough, adding 1/2 teaspoon of soda per cup of buttermilk. Cut in 3 tablespoons of shortening, mix thoroughly, and roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut as you would biscuits, place on greased sheet, and bake at 450° for ten to twelve minutes.

  CRACKLIN’ BREAD—Prepare corn bread by using 2 cups of corn meal, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 cup of buttermilk, 1 teaspoon of soda, and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder. Mix 1/2 cup of cracklin’s into the mixture. If it is too dry use some lukewarm water to make the right consistency for corn bread. Put in oven and cook until brown.

  ASH CAKES—Mix up dough for corn bread, and make sure it’s thick enough to hold its shape. Clean out a corner of the fireplace, put the “cake” in it, and cover it with a clean cloth. Put hot ashes over the cloth, then put hot coals on top of that. It takes about half an hour.

  MOLASSES SWEET BREAD—Sift together 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon soda, 2 teaspoons ginger, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Add 1/3 cup melted butter, 1 cup molasses (or 1/2 cup sugar and 2/3 cup molasses), 3/4 cup buttermilk, and 1 egg. Mix well, pour into a loaf pan, and bake at 350° for about fifty minutes.

  OLD-FASHIONED GINGERBREAD

  1/2 cup sugar

  1/2 cup butter

  1 cup molasses

  2 cups flour

  1/2 teaspoon soda

  11/2 teaspoons ginger

  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

  1/2 cup sour milk

  nuts or raisins if desired

  Mix all ingredients together, put into a large loaf pan, and bake for about an hour. (This recipe is at least a hundred years old.)

  SYRUP BREAD

  Mix up flour, soda, salt, and buttermilk as you would for a plain bread recipe, and instead of using sugar to sweeten it, use homemade syrup. Bake like any other bread.

  CAKES

  CARROT PUDDING OR CAKE

  1/2 cup sifted flour

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  3/4 teaspoon baking soda

  3/4 teaspoon salt

  1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

  1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

  1/3 cup milk

  1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

  2/3 cup sugar

  2/3 cup currants

  2/3 cup raisins

  2/3 cup grated raw

  potatoes

  1 cup grated raw carrots

  Mix and sift ingredients.
Add the fruits, stir until well coated, then stir in potatoes, carrots, and milk. Pour into a greased pan and cover with a lid and steam in a large pan of hot water for 21/2 hours.

  Serve with Carrot Pudding Sauce, made as follows: Mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 large teaspoon vanilla or wine, and the yolks of two eggs. Beat. When ready to serve, add 1/2 pint cream whipped.

  PUMPKIN CAKE

  1 1/2 cups corn oil

  2 cups sugar

  3 cups flour

  2 teaspoons baking powder

  2 scant teaspoons soda

  1 teaspoon salt

  2 teaspoons vanilla

  4 eggs

  2 cups pumpkin

  1 cup raisins or fruit cake mix

  1 cup chopped nuts

  2 teaspoons pumpkin spice

  Mix corn oil, sugar, flour, spice, powder, soda, salt, and pumpkin. Add eggs beaten well. Add vanilla, nuts, and raisins that have been mixed with 1/2 cup of extra flour. Bake in a loaf pan for about an hour at 400–450°.

  DRIED APPLE CAKE—Mix up a regular white or yellow cake recipe, and bake it in four thin layers. Mix 1 pint dried apples with 1 pint of water, and cook until thick and the apples are mashed. Sweeten to taste with syrup and add some spices. Let cool a bit, and spread the mixture between the layers and on top of the cake. You can cover the sides if you want.

  MOLASSES COOKIES

  1 cup brown sugar

  1 egg

  1 cup molasses

  3/4 cup melted lard or butter

  1/4 cup boiling water salt to taste

  Add enough flour to knead. Roll, cut out, and bake in hot oven.

  PIES

  TAME GOOSEBERRY PIE—Mix 2 cups of berries with 3/4 cup of sugar, and cook, stirring to mash the berries, until thick. Make some plain biscuit dough, roll out, and cut into 1” wide strips. Pour the berries into a pie plate, lay the strips of dough crosswise on the berries, and bake at about 450° until the crust is done.

  SWEET POTATO PIE

  2 cups sweet potatoes, diced and cooked

  2/3 cup molasses

  1/2 teaspoon ginger

  1/2 stick butter

  1/2 cup sweet milk pinch of salt

  biscuit dough

  other spices if desired

  Mix together all the ingredients except the dough and bring to a boil. Cut rolled dough into cubes and drop into boiling mixture. Put thin slices of dough on top. Put pan in oven and bake until crust is brown.

  BLACKBERRY COBBLER

  Blackberry, enough for one pie

  sugar to taste

  butter, small amount

  biscuit dough, enough for several biscuits

  Cook the blackberries until they come to a boil, add as much or little sugar as you want, and then add some butter. Cook until thick. Roll out the dough, cut as for biscuits, and drop into the blackberries. Then roll some dough thin, cut into strips, and place on top of the blackberries. Set the pan in the oven until the crust on top is brown.

  MOLASSES CANDY—Combine 1 cup of molasses, 1 cup of water, a few grains of salt. Boil ingredients (do not stir) to hard ball stage. Remove from the fire, and let stand until cool enough to hold in well greased hands. After pulling for some time it will change from brown to a yellowish color. Cut into pieces.

  AUNT ARIE’S RECIPE FOR EGG CUSTARD

  (Cooked on a wood stove)

  Plain biscuit dough

  One egg

  1 cup sweet milk

  1 handful flour

  1 teaspoon nutmeg

  1/2 teacup of sugar

  Line a small pie pan with plain biscuit dough rolled thin. Then, in a separate bowl, mix up one egg (beaten well), one cup of sweet milk, a handful of flour, a teaspoon of nutmeg, a half a teacup of sugar.

  Mix it all up well, pour it into the crust, and, using just a little wood so the fire won’t be too hot, bake it slowly until it sets. It will “blubber up”—or bubble, and then the bubbles will settle.

  At this point, it is ready to eat. Serves four.

  CHURNING YOUR OWN BUTTER

  The churn is usually a 4–5 gallon stoneware jar with a wooden lid and a dasher. It should be filled half, or slightly over half, full with rich milk which should be mostly cream.

  Then set the churn aside so that the cream can “turn,” or clabber. The time required for this step depends on the temperature of the cream. In the summer, for instance, the cream can be “poured up” one night and churned the next. The cream will be ready in three days if it is warmed on alternate sides by a fireplace in the winter.

  It is important that the clabbered cream be churned when it has turned. One test of readiness is to tilt the churn to its side. The liquid should hold together in one form, separating cleanly from the sides of the container. If left too long, the cream will curdle and separate, and it will not make good butter. On the other hand, if churned too early while it is still “blinky milk,” or sour milk, it won’t make good butter either.

  The butter itself is made by agitating the clabbered milk with a dasher which, in many cases, is a homemade affair. It consists of a stick similar to a broom handle, one end of which is nailed to the center of either a cross (two slats 4″ long, 2″ wide, and 1/2 ″ thick attached together) or a circular piece of wood 1″ thick, 4″ in diameter, containing four holes, each 1″ in diameter spaced equidistant around the center.

  ILLUSTRATION 1 Margaret Norton still churns several times a week. Her butter is not only used by several families in the area, but also sold in the local supermarket.

  The dasher is inserted into the churn, and the churn’s opening is covered by a tightly fitting wooden lid which has a hole in its center for the dasher stick. The lid prevents splattering as the dasher is agitated up and down. The clabbered cream must be continually agitated by this up and down motion of the dasher for thirty to forty minutes.

  The temperature of the cream has a great deal to do with the time required in churning and the quality of the final product. If the clabbered cream is too warm, the result will be soft white puffy butter. Cold water will improve the texture.

  Clabbered milk that is too cold, on the other hand, will yield specks, or small balls of butter that refuse to stick together. Hot water, stirred with the dasher into the cold liquid, will help gather the butter.

  When the butter gathers adequately, remove the lid and stir gently with the dasher in a sideways motion bringing the butter together (ILLUSTRATION 2). Lift the lumps of butter out, drain, and place them in a bowl. The experts that we interviewed disagreed on the next step. Mrs. Norton next places her butter in the refrigerator overnight to chill it. Then she molds it, adding salt (1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per pint of butter).

  ILLUSTRATION 2 Gathering the butter.

  Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Phillips feel that rinsing the butter with cold water immediately after taking it from the churn gives it a fresher flavor and causes it to keep longer. They also add salt to boost the flavor. The liquid left in the churn after the butter has been removed is buttermilk.

  Ice and a cold mold will make butter molding easier. If you haven’t kept the butter in the refrigerator overnight, drop ice into the bowl of butter and stir it through the warm butter with clean hands. Then squeeze out any water and press the butter into a mold. When it is filled, push down on the handle of the mold, which acts like a piston, thus releasing the “print” of butter. It should weight out at approximately a half pound, or a pound, depending on the size of the mold used.

  Then store the butter in a cool place, ready to spread on hot breads or to use in making cakes.

  To get a small amount of butter and buttermilk in a hurry, an ordinary glass jar can be used. The clabbered milk should be shaken for approximately twenty minutes in the container. Then proceed as above.

  Need a diversion to make the time go faster? You might like to try the traditional chant that the churner said in time to the up and down movements of the dasher. The arrows indicate the dasher movement.

  BUTTER CHURNS

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bsp; Many years ago men who worked skillfully with wood were indispensable to those around them. Everything from houses to banjos required wood, and men who knew how to work with wood were needed in every community. One essential trade was that of a cooper—someone who made kegs, barrels, buckets, and other related vessels. These wooden containers were used to hold cornmeal, water, salted meat, nails—anything that could be stored or carried in them.

  We at Foxfire had been interested for a long time in finding a master of this trade, but could not locate anyone who was still actively working at it. Finally, Mr. Bill Henry, a member of the Southern Highlands Handicraft Guild and one of our subscribers, told us of a friend of his in Sneedville, Tennessee who was still making churns, buckets and large wooden tubs. He offered to direct us there and introduce us, and we gratefully accepted. Four of our staff members went to Sneedville and ended up spending an entire day with Alex Stewart—watching, listening, and recording as he made a churn. We found him to be one of the most interesting men we have ever met.

  Born and reared on Newman Ridge within sight of his present home, Mr. Stewart grew up watching and learning from his father and grandfather, both of whom had worked with wood all their lives. From them he learned to cut and season his own wood and make all his own tools by hand. The outbuildings on his farm include a small sawmill and a blacksmith shop where he forges the tools he works with. He has power tools as well, but he prefers his own handmade manual and foot-powered tools, feeling that he has better control with them and gets the job done just as quickly.

  In the course of the day we spent with Mr. Stewart, we were not only impressed with his work, but with the things he said. He readily answered all our questions and often made interesting comments of his own.