I’ve noticed in several period journals that bread was very important to them, the longer they stayed out, the more so. They complain of having no bread on the trail and describe how good it was to them when they reach civilization again. There is much discussion about flour in the journals of Nicholas Cresswell and James Nourse, Sr., as they travel the Ohio to early Harrodsburg, spring of 1775. Everybody had a share, it was lost, stolen, damaged, and used up so it had to be rationed, no bread could be made, the flour had to be saved to thicken their soup. Wm. Calk mentioned eating with no bread numerous times in his short journal that same spring, en route to Harrodsburg by way of the Wilderness Trail with Richard Henderson.
James Nourse mentioned cooking bread on a stick in his Journal, and I’ve been wanting to try that. I did a short outing yesterday, and did just that.
I brought along flour with proper salt added in a small gourd and water in a gourd canteen. I mixed them in a gourd bowl to a thick dough, formed it into a long roll and wound it onto a stick with the bark peeled off. When the fire burned down to appropriate coals I nursed the bread over them for 20-25 minutes, until it was well browned but not burned.
I was surprised how well this worked. The bread was dense, as you would expect from bread with no leavening, but it was a bit aerated, was tender and very tasty.
I can easily see that this would be a satisfying item for men on the trail for a long time, and what could be more simple?
Spence
James Nourse mentioned cooking bread on a stick in his Journal, and I’ve been wanting to try that. I did a short outing yesterday, and did just that.
I brought along flour with proper salt added in a small gourd and water in a gourd canteen. I mixed them in a gourd bowl to a thick dough, formed it into a long roll and wound it onto a stick with the bark peeled off. When the fire burned down to appropriate coals I nursed the bread over them for 20-25 minutes, until it was well browned but not burned.
I was surprised how well this worked. The bread was dense, as you would expect from bread with no leavening, but it was a bit aerated, was tender and very tasty.
I can easily see that this would be a satisfying item for men on the trail for a long time, and what could be more simple?
Spence