Episode 22 Bread – From Ashen Corn Cakes to Wheaten Loaves

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Listen to "022 Bread - From Ashen Corn Cakes to Wheaten Loaves" on Spreaker.

 

Link to the Episode:

Episode 22 Bread – From Ashen Corn Cakes to Wheaten Loaves

When the colonists arrived they were used to cross hatching fields with a harrow to turn up fresh dirt, and then broadcast seeds onto the disturbed earth:

A single row harrow.  Usually attached to a long handle.
Looks like a wide toothed rake.
A square harrow.  These were usually pulled behind an ox or mule.

While broadcast seeding is mostly out of use in American Farming
- it is still in use on small farms world-wide.
This Pakistani farmer is broadcasting the seeds from a basket onto
the field that tractor in the background just harrowed.

When the corn/maize the colonists got from the local tribes was sown this way - they had frustratingly low yield.  Especially since the corn was used to being planted individually in mounds, and not alone.

For more information on the Companion Planting
practices used with pre-colonial corn - visit
Chickasaw TV

In the early days of colonial homesteading, bread ovens were rare - and time, and flour of any grain were limited enough that the "weekly baking" practices of the Old World didn't make sense.  Much less having a professional baker in a village.  So ash cakes / bannocks were the order of the day.

Interesting Media:

For further information on Ash Cakes/Fire Cake/Bannock - the Townsends YouTube Channel has great demonstrations.  They cover the 18th century - but cooking cakes in the ashes in any century works about the same.


From Townsends - Ash Cakes - 18th Century Cooking 
Place that corn cake right on the coals.  A cooking surface that is always clean,
and you don't have to clean it up, or carry it about.


Cooking cakes on a grate over the fire:
From Townsends - Journey of the Journey Cake:
Any Grain will do







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