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Buck Wheat Cakes
Lake Forrest.
One quart buckwheat flour, four tablespoons yeast, one tablespoon salt, one handful Indian meal, two tablespoons molasses, not syrup. Warm water enough to make a thin batter; beat very well and set in a warm place. If the batter is the least sour in the morning, add a little soda.
A raised buckwheat batter of the old sort: mixed at night, fermented overnight, cooked on a griddle at breakfast. The salt and yeast quantities read high to modern eyes, and the batter's behaviour depends entirely on how warm the kitchen is.
- The hinge: the overnight riseThis is a yeast batter, not a baking-powder one, so it needs 8-12 hours in a genuinely warm spot (70-75F) to develop lift and the sour tang buckwheat cakes are prized for. Cold kitchen, no rise, flat cakes.
- Yeast conversionFour tablespoons here means a liquid homemade yeast (hop, potato or brewer's), far weaker and more variable than modern dried yeast, so the volume cannot be read across directly. With modern dry yeast, about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon in a quart of flour is ample for an overnight ferment; four tablespoons of instant yeast would over-ferment badly.
- Indian mealCornmeal. A "handful" is about 1/3 to 1/2 cup, and it is there for texture and a little sweetness, not structure.
- SaltA full tablespoon in a quart of flour is more than most palates want now, and salt slows yeast. A teaspoon and a half is closer to modern seasoning.
- Molasses, not syrupThe insistence is on true cane molasses rather than the thinner sugar and table syrups also on sale. Ordinary unsulphured molasses is right; blackstrap will dominate.
- The soda in the morningA pinch of baking soda, no more than 1/4 teaspoon, neutralises overnight acidity and gives a last burst of gas. Add it just before cooking and use the batter promptly.
- Batter consistency and griddle"Thin batter" means pourable, about the thickness of heavy cream; judge it again in the morning and loosen with a little water if needed. Cook on a medium-hot, lightly greased griddle.
- YieldA quart of flour makes a large batch, roughly 24 to 30 cakes of four inches. Some period cookbooks direct the cook to reserve a portion of the risen batter to raise the next night's.
Buckwheat cakes were the standard cold-weather breakfast across the northern United States and Canada in the 19th century, and the practice of keeping a covered crock of batter going from autumn through spring, saving a cup each morning to raise the next, was common in farm kitchens. Buckwheat is not a wheat at all but the seed of a plant related to sorrel and rhubarb; it grows fast on thin soil and was often planted late as a catch crop, which is part of why it was cheap and widely eaten. The added cornmeal and molasses are typical of the era, softening buckwheat's strong flavour and dark colour, and the recipe's sharp aside about "molasses, not syrup" reflects a real concern of the period about adulterated syrups in the grocery trade. The Home Cook Book (Toronto, 1877) was compiled from contributions by named subscribers and households, and this one arrives tagged only with a place name, Lake Forrest.