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Ginger Bread (Eggs C sugar C molasses C)
2 eggs 1 C sugar 1 C molasses 1 C sweet milk 2 t vinegar 1 C hot lard or other shortening 1 quart flour 1 T ginger 1 t cinnamon 1 T soda Mix all thoroughly. Have baking pan ready. Just before pouring in the mixture have cup handy with 2 t vinegar. Mix in 1 T soda and pour mixture into dough quickly. Bake one hour.
A large, molasses-heavy sheet gingerbread of the kind church cookbooks printed by the dozen. The instructions assume a cook who already knows her oven, so the two things missing are temperature and pan size.
- The hinge: soda last, oven readyThe soda is deliberately held back and slaked in vinegar at the last second, then stirred in and the batter poured immediately. Have the pan greased and the oven already at temperature before you start that step; the lift is largely gone within a few minutes.
- The vinegar is counted onceThe vinegar is probably counted once -- The 2 teaspoons listed among the ingredients and the 2 teaspoons "in a cup handy" are most likely the same vinegar rather than two separate additions, giving 2 teaspoons in total. The recipe does not say outright.
- Oven temperatureNone is given. A molasses cake of this size wants a moderate oven, 350F, and the full hour applies to a deep pan; a shallower one will be done in 35 to 45 minutes. Test with a skewer at the centre.
- A quart of flourMeasured by volume, that is 4 cups, on the order of a pound (roughly 450-500 g). Flour of the period was often softer than modern all-purpose, so scoop lightly rather than packing the cup.
- Sweet milkPlain fresh milk, specified to distinguish it from the sour milk or buttermilk that many recipes of the period called for. Whole milk is the closest match.
- Hot lardA cup of melted lard is correct for the period and gives the tender, slightly savoury crumb this style depends on. If you substitute butter or oil, let the melted fat cool a little before it meets the eggs, or temper it in gradually.
- A tablespoon of sodaThat is a lot, but it is doing real work against a full cup of molasses plus the vinegar. Level the spoon, and sift or whisk it into the vinegar so no pockets remain to leave bitter yellow streaks.
- Pan and yieldThe batter fills a 9x13 pan generously, or two 8-inch square pans. Figure roughly 24 squares. Molasses gingerbread improves overnight, wrapped, once the spice settles.
Soda-raised molasses gingerbread was an everyday cake of American home baking through the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth: cheap sweetening, no creaming, no yeast, and a single pan. In older usage gingerbread of this kind was a loaf or sheet cut in squares and eaten with butter or applesauce rather than iced. The vinegar-and-soda method predates reliable commercial baking powder and remained in use long after it became available.