Unbolted Wheat

[crockett]

Mentioned in Wah to yah. What is it?

 

[George]

Bolting is the process of sieving grain after it is ground, to separate the component parts. In the old days they spoke of a "bolting cloth", through which the rough ground grain was passed. The part which came through the cloth was the flour. So, I guess "unbolted wheat" would be wheat which has been ground but not sieved or strained.

Spence

 

[Canute Rex]

Spence is spot on.

I'd add that white flour as we know it today was essentially unknown 200 years ago. I say "essentially." Most people only had access to whole wheat or what we would consider partially bolted wheat. The process wasn't a one-pass deal. Each trip through the bolting process would get you closer to pure white, but that took time and cost money. Bolted flour was "kinda white."

 

[George]

I thought I remembered an original item:

"The Pennsylvania Gazette
November 7, 1745

Just Imported by Peter Turner, in the Ship Carolina Galley, Capt. Mesnard from London and to be sold reasonably for ready Money or short Credit. ...parchments, pins, corks , pistol and common gunpowder, ship muskets, neat light fowling pieces, London steel 3, 4, and 6 quart copper teakettles, fine, middling and coarse bolting cloths, pepper and bohea tea."

Spence

 

[crockett]

What I really like about this interest of ours is there is just one unknown horizon after another. I never knew about this bolting process. If one wants to be "PC" what type of flour would be most appropriate for a frontiersman who probably wasn't using the most expensive item?

 

[George]

I'm sure there are people who know what the flour was like, but I'm not one of them. I have used what may be similar. I bought flour from White's mill near Abingdon, VA, which ground grain with traditional water-powered stones. It was not quite white, but I don't recall that it was very different in the baking.

When I'm baking 18th-century recipes I usually mix regular AP flour, white, with about 25%-33% whole-wheat flour. That gives it a little color, a bit of a different flavor, and doesn't interfere with the rise.

Spence

 

[Preacher Jeremy]

I like to use unbleached AP flour with a wee bit of whole wheat mixed in. IMHO, It's about as close as you can get without grinding a bolting it yourself.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I'm sure there are people who know what the flour was like, but I'm not one of them.

What we use today, is properly called, hard, red wheat. It has more gluten, and even if you use "organic, whole wheat flour" you are going to get a product very unlike what they had then for it will still probably be from hard, red wheat.

The flour of the 18th century, and most of the 19th century, is what we would call today, whole wheat, pastry flour, and it is made from the soft, white wheat of yesteryear. It has less gluten and more albumen...

Now back in the 18th century they did try to make various grades of flour, as the wealthy often ate "white" bread, while the poorer sort ate a brown bread, or in some areas "thirds" which was 1/3 wheat flour, 1/3 rye, and 1/3 of another grain (it could be barley, oats, or Indian corn). Oddly enough, the poorer folks eating "thirds" were actually getting much better nutrition than the rich.

SHIP's BISCUIT/HARDTACK
The reason why when many living historians make ship's biscuit or hardtack it is so bloody hard, is they make it out of modern, whole wheat. That extra protein and lack of bran yields a product akin to a cedar, roof shingle. In my opinion it's wrong. I think it's about as close to real hardtack as a Slim Jim is to real jerky...

The lowest grade of flour was called ship's stuff, and it wasn't bolted. It was ground, and bagged or barreled. As it was the cheapest flour, ship's stuff or ship's flour was probably what was shipped west for common trade. It had a lot of "bran", and even if you use organic, whole wheat, pastry flour, for your hardtack... it's probably too nice as the modern millers packaging and selling the stuff think it's to be used for "pastry" ...,

So when I use flour for common bread, I use whole wheat pastry flour, but I add 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of whole wheat bran to it to simulate unbolted flour, THEN I measure out from that into to make my bread or ship's biscuit dough.

It does make a difference in texture and flavor..., and with all that fiber, you're not going to get bound-up under any circumstances.

Just thought I'd share :shocked2:

LD

 

[crockett]

Thanks for all the great information. It sounds like you could live off the old unbolted flour better than the modern stuff.

 

[Canute Rex]

Over in Europe they grade flour in various ways that cover the spectrum between as-is whole wheat flour and totally white flour. It's not either/or. More like the range of choices people would have had a hundred and fifty years ago and more.

Another thing to think about is that the flour that we get today from the grocery store as *much* more uniform than anything our ancestors could get. The big processing companies blend the wheat they get from various sources to get a product that meets stringent specifications. Most of their product goes to commercial bakeries, and commercial bakeries don't want to screw around changing their recipes every week. An 18th century baker would have to experiment with every new batch. Friends of mine who are artisanal bakers using locally sourced flour have to be on the ball and juggle their proportions and techniques to get uniform bread.

One slight correction to Loyalist Dave: The protein (gluten) content of wheat varies dramatically from variety to variety and according to the fertility of the soil and other growing conditions. There are samples taken from Egyptian tombs that have tested higher in protein than modern varieties. Likewise with so-called heritage varieties. There hasn't been an overall trend over time. Some modern varieties will be higher than some old varieties given certain growing conditions and vice versa.

And L.D. is absolutely right about the thirds. Strange that the poor people eating unfashionably coarse bread were actually better off than the big shots. Several of our local bakers make something like this and it is actually quite tasty. It would be HC/PC to mix in various grains when baking, with the added flavor/nutritional benefits.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Thanks, but I was not precise, sorry :redface: ..., in the mass produced, store bought flour, whole hard red, vs. whole, soft white, not only is the gluten higher in the red, but the overall protein in the soft, white is different.., with the total protein product in the white being much more a combination of gluten and albumen, and albumen is "softer" when baked. So you might find the sack says 4g protein per ounce in the red, and 3g in the white, but there is even less of that as gluten in the white.

I was trying to adapt readily found over-the-counter flour to get closer to the historic... As Canute points out if you are blessed with a source for grown and milled wheat not for mass production, then you really will get some variations...not only from the variety, but each year depending on growing conditions...and be much closer to "back then" than what I did... :wink:

LD

 

[tenngun]

I have sort of made my own. I bought whole wheat at a bulk health food store then ground it in a coffee grinder. The result was mealy but could be cooked in to a mush(very tasty) or in to a flat cake thicker then a tortilla much like a johny cake in size.All in all if you do an american frontiesman or lower econimic class settler wheat would have been a treat and corn or barly your dayly grain.

 

[Canute Rex]

Part of the technique of using real whole wheat (and possibly variable quality wheat) is using a sourdough or levain starter. Rather than just dumping a packet of yeast in the water and going right to the dough, do the old time technique of making a starter and letting it work for a while. The traditional bakers I know around here keep a starter going continuously and build it up each time they make a new batch. They retain some for the next time.

If you give the yeast some real time with the dough the enzymes have a chance to work, the yeast is more vigorous, and you don't get "brick bread." Another pro technique is to weigh your ingredients instead of measuring by volume. Flour can vary in density and that can kill your recipe. A standard mistake (raises hand, hangs head) is to over water the dough to make it easier to work. You end up with a mushy, flat loaf. Err on the side of dry dough and you'll have a better chance.

It's just like everything else in this archaic hobby of ours; the more primitive the ingredients, the smarter and more persistent you have to be.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Wanna have some fun?

Go from the grocery store yeast to a proper bread yeast harvested from batch of brewed ale... well you can start with a packet of brewing "ale" yeast, and later work up to a batch that was used first for fermenting ale...

LD

 

[crockett]

I need to clear up what I was thinking...Now I'm mostly interested in the mountain men and their ways. There is a pot called a "corn boiler" and there are accounts of "Pork" and corn being the daily rations until reaching buffalo country. My first thoughts were the "pork" was like the cloth wrapped hams you buy at gift shops and the corn was whole kernel hominy or maybe something like grits.
Well, on this forum someone steered me on to corn meal mush. I didn't know you could cook corn meal just like grits. tastes pretty good too.
So, while I am reading Wah to yah and the Taos Trail and it mentioned unbolted wheat meal cooked up into a porridge. Well, the idea of cooking a ground meal in water and making a "porridge" certainly was known.
Now we venture into that undocumented "I suppose" area which is always dangerous but the idea is kicking around in my head that Hominy would need to be soaked (I think) before cooking and grits, I am told most Confederate troops prior to the war made hoe cake and certain areas introduced grits to the rest of the troops- so maybe grits were not that common. Corn meal was common. It will cook in about 10 minutes and you can just rinse out the pot- sounds like a real good thing to cook in a "corn boiler".
So if you add it all up, I am thinking that maybe the fur trade outfits boiled corn meal in the corn boilers and fried bacon in a frying pan and then portioned it all out for meals. To clean up- rinse out the corn boiler and add some ash from the camp fire to the grease in the frying pan to sort of make a soap and scrub that out and Voila- you're done. I have no documentation, just thinking and wondering if any one does have documentation. That Wah to yah- that is documentation that at least on that one trip mountain men boiled unbolted wheat meal into a porridge.

 

[George]

That Wah to yah- that is documentation that at least on that one trip mountain men boiled unbolted wheat meal into a porridge.

A simple recipe:

Library Paste

Use 1 part wheat flour to about 5 parts water.
Thoroughly mix 1 part flour with 1 part water.
Bring the remaining water to a boil.
Once it boils, remove it from the heat and add the flour slurry while stirring.
Keep stirring vigorously for at least 1 minute.
Let cool, or, if you are a mountain man, shut up and eat your porridge.

:haha: :haha:

Sorry, Crocket, I couldn't resist.

Spence

 

[tenngun]

malt oh meal, made from malted grain is similar. malting is letting the grain sprot then drying. Mush made from wheat was a common old time food, or made from multi grains. bacon was more often boiled then fried in the old days. Old timers were often sloppy with terms used. 'cotten' was often used when writing about wool or linen. 'corn' was often written about any sort of grain. I don't recall 'corn boiler' being used as a pot name before 20th century. although variation of porrage pot were written. porrage could be thick grain like malt o meal or cream of wheat, or made from legumes.
peas could be are green peas for soup, or many types of beans, navy peas were white beans, whiporwill peas are a sort of black eyed pea.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Hominy would need to be soaked (I think) before cooking and grits, I am told most Confederate troops prior to the war made hoe cake and certain areas introduced grits to the rest of the troops- so maybe grits were not that common. Corn meal was common

Hominy needs to be boiled...takes about 40 minutes to an hour. Grits are merely ground hominy...boil up faster...15 minutes. Masa flour today is finely ground hominy, and is the base for corn tortillas..., I don't know if they ground the hominy that fine for other bread dishes...

"Hoe Cake" is made from corn meal, not grits. Hasty Pudding is boiled corn meal..., and probably something still well known in the fur trade. The difference between a "hoe cake" and an "ash cake" is the latter is baked right in the hot ashes.

Parched corn which is then pounded into a flour is sometimes referred to today as "rock-a-hominy". It was known along with parched corn by the Eastern Woodland Indians.

I haven't been able to find any references to a "corn boiler" prior to say the CW... in fact the dome lidded corn boiler that are sold by a couple of the copper smiths I was told by Peter Goebel of Goose Bay dates back to 1976...

Not saying they didn't boil corn as well as a plethora of other grains, just that the presence of something dedicated to boiling corn, as opposed to a camp kettle for boiling whatever was at hand to eat... may be a post fur trade, CW thing??



LD

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I bought a burr mill at a yard sale and (with permission) helped my self to some oats and rye out of the field at harvest time. I ran it through the mill a few times and then sifted out the large pieces of bran. Mixed up into muffins using molasses instead of white sugar, the result was quite dry, coarse and hard, but tasty.

I am not so sure the frontiers men out in the mountains would have had "flour" from civilized grains. I read that Indians relied on several sources of grain, some cultivated and some wild. Amaranth for instance, or wild rice.

 

[crockett]

LD- thanks for the good information. This is one area where I want to try to be pc (isn't that the whole point!) and yet I'm confused on many issues.
Hasty Pudding- boiled corn meal. Is that the same as corn meal mush or is there a difference?
Hominy- the only kind I've ever had is the stuff in a can. Dried hominy- just boil 40 minutes without soaking? (Like beans).
Massa- ground hominy. Hominy as I understand is a dried kernel of corn in which the outer husk or skin is removed (Lye, etc.) so hominy is the whole "inside" part of a kernel of corn. So masa is the hominy ground into flour? I know that masa is very fine, they use it to make tamales.
Rock-a-hominy. Ground up parched corn. There is a Southwest food called pinole. Is pinole the same as rock-a-hominy or is there a difference?
Once again, thanks for the information- appreciated.