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Plain Gingerbread
3 tablespoons shortening 2/3 cup boiling water 1 cup molasses 2 1/4 cups flour 1 teaspoon soda 2 teaspoons ginger 1/2 teaspoon salt Melt the shortening by adding the hot water, and then add the molasses. Mix and sift the dry materials and add slowly to the liquid. Beat thoroughly, and bake in shallow pans in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes. Hot coffee may be used in place of hot water.
A plain, eggless molasses gingerbread of the kind that turns up constantly in early twentieth-century menu books. The batter is thin and pours rather than spreads.
- Oven temperature"A moderate oven" is usually taken as roughly 350F, though the recipe itself gives no figure. At 25 minutes in a shallow pan the cake should be done; test with a pick in the centre rather than trusting the clock, since molasses batters brown early and can read as finished before they are.
- ShorteningIn this period shortening means a solid vegetable fat such as Crisco, or lard. Melted butter works and tastes better, but adds water and a little salt, so cut the added salt slightly.
- MolassesUse unsulphured light or dark molasses, not blackstrap, which is far more bitter than what the original intends. Measure it in an oiled cup so it releases cleanly.
- The soda is the whole leaveningThere is no egg and no baking powder. The rise depends entirely on soda reacting with the acid in the molasses, so sift the soda thoroughly through the flour and get the batter into the oven promptly once mixed.
- Pan size"Shallow pans" means about an inch of batter. A single 8-inch square pan, greased and floured, suits this quantity; anything deeper will need longer and risks a gummy centre.
- ConsistencyThe finished batter is loose, closer to a thick pancake batter than a cake batter. That is correct for this formula and should not be thickened with extra flour.
- The coffee variationSubstituting hot coffee for the water is worth doing. It sharpens the molasses and deepens the colour without reading as coffee-flavoured.
- YieldOne 8-inch square pan, nine generous squares. Best warm the day it is baked; it firms up and gets stickier on the second day, which many people prefer.