Historical Food Fortnightly #17

Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #17: 

"Revolutionary Foods"

The Challenge: Revolutionary Foods
The theme is revolution, and it’s all about ch-ch-ch-changes. Food can be inspired by revolution, can showcase a revolutionary technique, or come from a revolutionary time. Give us your best documented interpretation of revolution.

The Recipe: 

Rumford Peanut Biscuit Flakes

Why is it revolutionary?
First, baking powder, invented around 1850, replaced pot ash and saleratus, making it possible to bake bread quickly and easily. The Rumford Company was founded by Eben Horsford and George F. Wilson in 1854 (incorporated in 1859)  in what is now the Rumford section of East Providence, Rhode Island. They produced and shipped baking powder all over the country until 1968. Rumford Baking Powder was revolutionary during World War II. I'll let the original pamphlet explain:

A basic biscuit dough recipe can be made up quickly and easily for the busy mother/homemaker/working woman. This recipe follows the war time maxims:
War-time baking must be thrifty
-with Rumford's even, gentle action you don't have to rely on eggs to accomplishing your leavening.

War-time baking must use less sugar:
-Sugar tends to mask flavors . . . so when you use less sugar in a recipe you must be careful of your other ingredients. Rumford is an all-phosphate powder. It contains no alum, so it will never leave a bitter taste to spoil the flavor of sugar-shy foods.

War-time baking should contribute to good nutrition:
-Rumford contains valuable amounts of calcium and phosphorus .  . . those important minerals that help build and maintain strong bones and sound teeth.

War-time baking should waste nothing:
-Rely on Rumford's double-action to give you good leavening every time. 

Rumford Time-Saver Baking Plan saves time. Each of the eight recipes in the pamphlet will bake at the same temperature as the other seven recipes. Two, three, four or more of these good things can be baked at one time . . . using the same oven-heat (a time saving in itself!). You simply remove some of the dishes from the oven ahead of the others. Each of these baked things will keep well , properly stored. Just select a day and mix and bake your breads, cookies and cakes at once. Serve during the week as needed. What a thrill to be able to bring out some different homemade delight every day or so . . . to have something always on hand.

Takes Rumford to Make it Work

It's a Rumford idea . . . and it takes Rumford all-phosphate Baking Powder to make it work. When you open the oven door during the baking process, the gentle, even leavening action of Rumford protects you against baking failures.You want all your baked goods  . . . whether bread or cookies . . . to rise evenly, perfectly . . . and things raised just right are achieved with Rumford's controlled double-action. Baked goods to be kept for a week must stay fresh and moist. Actual laboratory testes prove that things made with Rumford keep fresh longer. 

Nutrition Dividends From Rumford
Rumford contains valuable amounts of calcium and phosphorus . . . those important minerals that help build strong bones and sound teeth. Every time you serve Rumford-baked things to your family, you're helping to fill a vital part of their daily diet needs.
   Remember, too, that because Rumford is an all-phosphate powder, it contains no alum, will never leave a bitter taste. All your baked goods will taste good down to the last tender crumb. 

from Rumford Quick Breads leaflet, Rumford Chemical Works, Rumford, Rhode Island
Johnson & Wales University Library collection 2011.164.0012

How Did You Make It:

Peanut Biscuit Flakes
2 c. home-made Rumford Biscuit Mix*
3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. peanut butter
honey or corn syrup

Measure mix. Add milk. Wrap dough in waxed paper; chill. Blend peanut butter and honey or corn syrup until spreadable consistency. Divide dough into 4 pieces; roll each piece into an oblong 6 1/2" X 3". [I did mine about 5 X7"]. Spread each piece of dough with peanut butter mixture; place piece of dough on top of one another in layers. Roll up jelly-roll fashion; cut in 1/2" slices. Place each slice cut side up in greased muffin pans. Bake in very hot (450 degree F) oven 10-15 minutes.

First I made my biscuit mix:
Home-Made Rumford Mix
4 c. flour
6 tsp. Rumford Baking Powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. shortening

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening with two knives or pastry blender. Store in tightly covered glass or china container in the refrigerator. [I stored it in a zip lock bag for a few hours].

Then I followed the recipe. I ended up with 4 large biscuits and placed them on a cookie sheet, cut sides together, with toothpicks to hold the rolled shape.



 I baked for 15 minutes and they were perfectly done. 

Time to Complete: Not counting chilling, 20 minutes

Total Cost:

I don't know. We had all the ingredients on hand.

How Successful Was It?:
Mostly. I had a hard time rolling the dough to the recommended size which made it hard to roll. The taste is fine though. It's not very sweet but not bad. 

How Accurate Is It?: 
100% down to the Rumford Baking Powder. (I grew up in the shadow of the old factory and always use Rumford Baking Powder).

Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #16

Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #16: 

"Celebratory Foods"

The Challenge: Celebratory Foods
It’s the end of the year, a time for celebration! Pick a celebratory food (either inspired by the season or not, it’s your call). Make it up and share it with loved ones!

The Recipe: 
I turned again to my family history for inspiration. I decided to make
Moravian Sugar Cake

About the Moravians
The Moravian Church started in present-day Czech Republic in the 14th century. By that time most of what is now eastern Europe had converted t0 coptic Christianity, however Bohemia and Moravia fell under the jurisdiction of Rome. Some of the inhabitants of the area protested. John Hus (1369-1415),a  professor of philosophy and rector of the University in Prague, became the leader of the religious protest and was burned at the stake for his criticism of the hierarchy and practices of the Church of Rome. By 1457, supporters of Hus gathered in the village of Kunvald, about 100 miles east of Prague, in eastern Bohemia, and organized the Moravian Church, 

Over the next 100 years, the Moravians emphasized reading the Bible in the vernacular and spread word of the Scriptures to the people of Bohemia, Moravia and later Poland, where they forced to relocate after persecution. 

The 18th century saw a revival of the Moravian Church through the patronage of Count Nicholas  Ludwig von Zinzendorf, a pietist nobleman in Saxony. He encouraged the Moravians to take the word of the Gospel to other countries. 

The first Moravians to set up a permanent settlement in America settled in Pennsylvania in 1741. The newly arrived Moravians settled on the estate of George Whitefield at first and then purchased 500 acres to establish the settlement of Bethlehem in 1741. Bethlehem became the center of Moravian activity in North America. 

A Brief History of the Moravian Church, Moravian Church of North America, http://www.moravian.org/the-moravian-church/history/ 

The modern Unitas Fratrum (or Moravian Church) continues to draw on traditions established during the 18th-century renewal. In many places it observes the convention of the lovefeast, originally started in 1727. It uses older and traditional music in worship. Brass music, congregational singing and choral music continue to be very important in Moravian congregations. 

Moravian Church, wikipedia

My grandmother lives in Bethlehem and my mother grew up in the Moravian Church. My mom remembers the lovefeasts, services dedicated to Christian love. Traditionally during Lovefeasts, a sweetened bun and coffee is served to the congregation in the pews. The foods and drinks consumed from congregation may vary tremendously at the Lovefeast and are usually adapted from what the congregations have available. Services in some Colonial-era Lovefeasts, for example, used plain bread and water. A Lovefeast may be held on any special occasion, typically on certain established dates including Good Friday, the Festival of August 13th (the 1727 date on which the Moravian Church was renewed or reborn), and Christmas Eve, where each member of the congregation receives a lighted candle at the end of the service in addition to the bun and coffee.

Lovefeasts, Wikipedia

My mom remembers eating Moravian Sugar Cake on Christmas Eve and I remember my grandparents bringing it for Christmas morning breakfast, though they no longer attended the Moravian Church. I found an account of Moravian Sugar Cake being eaten on New Year's Eve:

"On New Year's Eve it was customary to hold three services in the church with an intermission namely preaching at 8 o clock reading of the memorabilia and statistics an elaborate review of the year's work at I0 o clock and the closing services at 11.30 o clock Some of the members served sugar cake a raised cake often called Moravian cake made according to a special recipe and coffee at their homes during the first intermission."

Weitzel, Louisa, "How the  New Year is Celebrated by the Moravians," The Penn Germania, vol. 10, 1909 

According to foodtimeline.org, the first recipe for Moravian Sugar Cake was included in In Eliza Leslie's cookbook, Directions for Cookery in its Various Branches by Miss Leslie, in the 1837 edition, though references go back to the early settlers. The original Leslie recipe is as follows:

Moravian Sugar Cake
Cut a quarter of a pound of butter into a pint of rich milk, and warm it till the butter becomes soft; then stir it about in the milk so as to mix them well. Sift three quarters of a pound of flour (or a pint and a half) into a deep pan, and making a ole in the middle of it, stir in a large table-spoonful of the best brewer's yeast in which a salt-spoonful of salt has been dissolved; and then thin it with the milk and butter. Cover it, and set it near the fire to rise. If the yeast is sufficiently strong, it will most probably be in two hours. When it is quite light, mix with the dough a well-beaten egg and three quarters of a pound more of sifted flour; adding a tea-spoonful of oil of cinnamon, and stirring it very hard. Butter a deep square baking pan, and put the mixture into it. Set it to rise again, as before. Mix together five ounces or a large coffee-cup of fine brown sugar; two ounces of butter; and two table-spoonfuls of powdered cinnamon. When the dough is thoroughly light, make deep incisions all over it, at equal distances, and fill them with the mixture of butter, sugar and cinnamon; pressing it hard down into the bottom of the holes, and closing the dough a little at the top to prevent the seasoning from running out.. Strew some sugar over the top of the cake; set it immediately into the oven, and bake it from twenty minutes to half an hour, or more, in a brisk oven in proportion to its thickness. When cool, cut it into squares. This is a very good plain cake; but do not attempt it unless you have excellent yeast."

 Several other recipes and a more detailed description can be found on foodtime.org

How Did You Make It:

I found several more modern recipes for Moravian Sugar Cake and of course, the definitive modern recipe which comes from the Waconia Moravian Church. The recipe I used as a guideline comes from
The Book of Priceless Recipes, George F. Lasher, printer, 1907, p. 118 (no. 2)

MORAVIAN SUGAR CAKE 

One pint yeast one pint sweet milk lukewarm one cup butter and lard mixed; one cup sugar one half teaspoonful salt. In the evening mix these well together adding flour until in kneading the sponge no longer adheres to the hand. The next morning knead and spread dough one half inch thick on cake tins. Let it rise until light. Spread with butter make holes here and there and fill with lumps of butte.r Strew the whole richly with brown sugar and bake. After removing from the oven dress with nutmeg and cinnamon.

 Elizabeth Comfort Gerhart 118 

I used half butter and half shortening instead of lard. I melted that on the stove, added the milk and then the yeast. While letting that sit a few minutes, I put the sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Then I added the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mixed in about 4-5 cups of flour to make a yeast dough. 

I let the dough rise (unsuccessfully) for several hours before kneading and  spreading it in a 9X13" cake pan. I let it stand for a few more hours to see if it would rise. 

For the topping I used the modern recipe as a guideline since nutmeg is not traditional.  I then mixed the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon into a syrup and poked holes into the dough.

Next I poured the syrup into the holes and pinched them closed.

I baked it at 375 for 30 minutes. 

Time to Complete: several hours

Total Cost:

I don't know. We had all the ingredients on hand.

How Successful Was It?:
Not very. My dough wouldn't rise at all and the inside of the cake didn't really cook all the way through. It tastes OK thanks to the cinnamon and sugar.


How Accurate Is It?: 
Mostly accurate from the 1907 recipe.