Baking Day Tips

Perhaps if you have ever read the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, you will remember the rhyme that Ma used to help her with her daily and weekly chores.

Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Bake on Wednesday,
Brew on Thursday,
Churn on Friday,
Mend on Saturday,
Go to meeting on Sunday.

Because calendars and clocks were scarce until the turn of the 20th century, most of our forefathers and pioneer mothers and fathers used rhymes like this one to help them remember what day it was and what they were suppose to be doing on that day!
Their lives generally flowed more in time with the seasons and the weather and instead of having multiple things to do and places to go in a given day, they dedicated one day to each activity. Of course, this was before the many times-saving devices we have now were invented and it often took a whole day to do one task!

But there is a lot of wisdom in what our ancestors did. And especially when baking day rolled around, there was lots of advice to be dispensed. Here is some fun kitchen wisdom from the past that you might want to consider for your own baking day!

1. Bread dough turns sad if it sits too long. (Sad is an old-timey word for soggy.)

2. Stop the clock while the cake is baking.

3. Always bake a cake while the sun is going up. (Or it will fall.)

4. To make biscuits light, drench with gasoline and ignite before serving 🙂

5. A broken egg can never be mended.

6. A rotten apple spoils its companion.

7. Follow directions first, experiment later.

8. Doughnuts will not absorb grease if a teaspoonful of vinegar is added to cold fat.