Gingerbread
One quart of flour, one-half pound of butter, one-quarter pound of sugar, five eggs, one-half pint of molasses, one-half cupful of ginger, one teaspoonful of soda.
A rich, old-style gingerbread built on molasses and a startling amount of ginger — more festive loaf than everyday quick bread.
- Weights and measuresOne quart of flour is 4 cups; ½ pound butter is 1 cup (2 sticks); ¼ pound sugar is about ½ cup; ½ pint molasses is 1 cup.
- That half-cup of gingerA full ½ cup of ground ginger is extraordinarily strong by modern taste — start with 1–2 tablespoons and add more only if you want real heat.
- Soda meets molassesThe teaspoon of soda is neutralized by the acidity of the molasses, which is what lifts the batter — no baking powder needed.
- No oven givenBake in a moderate oven, 350°F, in a loaf or square pan until a pick comes clean, roughly 35–45 minutes.
- Grease wellWith this much butter and sugar the loaf sticks; line the pan and watch the bottom, since molasses browns fast.
Gingerbread is one of Europe’s oldest sweets, baked in monasteries and sold at medieval fairs long before it reached America. Ginger itself was among the most prized spices of the Middle Ages, carried overland and by sea from Asia at great cost, which made a spiced cake a luxury. The American version took its own path once molasses — cheap and abundant from the Caribbean sugar trade — became the sweetener of choice, giving the cake its dark color, chewy body, and homely, warming character.
From page 63 of the 1904 edition.
Original page from the book
