Baking in the American Colonies was far from an easy task. In fact, it was

an incredibly complicated endeavor, and certainly not one to be taken lightly. The women of the house made quite an art out of baking tasty loaves of bread, pastry, pies, cakes, cookies, and all of their other homemade goodies.

Large brick ovens, found in every home of the brave and hearty new immigrants had been left behind in England, Ireland and ScotlandThe new settlers in America couldn’t at first find much clay for making bricks. Certainly none could be found along the desolate shores of the broad Atlantic where the Pilgrims landed. And the Colonists were not at first equipped to manufacture bricks. Therefore, bricks were scarce in the new land.

Not only were homemakers expected to know how to prepare the mixtures, they also had to make certain the fireplace was hot enough for baking. The coals had to be raked and banked and ready for cooking. Should the fire go out, a family member was handed a “fire spoon” and told to rush over to a neighbor and borrow some hot coals to start a new fire.

Most homes in early America simply had a rather crude fireplace. The more affluent homemakers in the Colonies fared a little better. They had a fireplacewith an oven off to the side.

Sugar and honey were available to the Colonists for use as a sweetener. New England settlers initially imported all their sugar from Maderia and Holland.

A few short years after the American Revolution (in 1791), the first sugarrefinery was opened in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Spices weren’t obtained in powder form in the Colonies,. Homemaker had to dry her spices in front of the fireplace. They were then pounded until finely powdered and sifted.

Raisins are another example of the amount of effort it took to properly prepare everything for baking. Raisins had to be washed and then rubbed with a towel. This was done to remove the stems.

Neither oats nor peanuts were initially used in the earlier Colonial baked goods. Oats were considered to be horse feed. Peanuts were only to be fed to hogsBut both soon became a food staple on Colonial breakfast tables and for baking.



The first wheat was sown in 1611 Colonial Virginia.



Domestic farm animalswere raised on small farms and in the yards. These included sheep, pigs, cows and chickens. As a result, eggs, milkcream and butter were plentiful and readily available for baking. They, along with lard, quickly became household staples

Fruit was readily available from local farms and orchards as well as from trees in the yards of the Colonists. Beacon Hill in Boston was the site of America’s first apple orchard in 1625.



Margaret Brown, who became the wife of Thomas Stone (1743-1787), a Maryland signer of the Declaration of Independence, believed that anything made with cornmeal should be eaten most often during the cold winter months. It was said to heat up the body.

According to the wife of Elias Boudinet (1740 -1821), it was seen as an omen of forthcoming bad luck if pan of milk were to boil over when getting everything ready for baking.

Nor were eggs to be gathered and brought into the house after the sun went down. His wife, Hannah, the oldest daughter of Richard Stockton, Signer of Declaration of Independence,. Hannah believed that not only would it bring bad luck, but even more importantly, the eggs would not be suitable for baking the next morning.

Some Colonists believed tomatoes were poisonous, while others believed them to be “love apples” or aphrodisiacs.

In those days, their were no such luxury as a temperature gage. Measuring the proper heat required for baking bread,

pies or rolls usiing the wood burning fireplace was pure guesswork on the part of the homemaker.

The method of measuring the correct heat needed for baking in the Colonies was a rather simple but effective process. The homemaker relied on when it the fireplace heat “felt” hot enough to her hand.

The most common way was to stick a bare arm in the oven and start couinting 2001, 2002 2003 and so on until the hair singed. Others simply stuck an arm into the oven and if they could hold it there for 45 to 60 seconds, the oven heat was said to be “slow”. Holding the arm in for 35 to 40 seconds before having to withdraw because of the intense heat was believed to be a “moderate” oven heat And if able to leave the arm in for only 20 to 35 seconds meant the oven was “quick



The first cookbooks to be used in the Colonies were brought over from England.

Amelia Simmons’ 48 page American Cookery published in 1796. This cookbook was also widely used in great many Colonial kitchens. It was the first originally American cookbook to be published in America.

Many recipes handed down through a family were no more than a simple a handwritten list of ingredients. There was no specific instructions telling the woman of the house what to do with them. Mothers and daughters in the Colonies were expected to already know how to properly mix the ingredients. They had been carefully taught all these things while growing up.

Susannah Carter became a household name in the kitchens of almost every Colonial housewife. Her popular cookbook, The Fruigal Housewife or Female Companion was reprinted in 1772 Boston. The man credited with making the printing plates for this cookbook might have otheewise been forgotten. But he was later made a legend by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s when he wrote his fabled “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”

Yeast in the Colonies

The Colonial homemaker depended on homemade yeast that varied greatly in strength from batch to batch. She made both liquid yeast and yeast cakes. Liquid

yeast was commonly made and then ottled and stored until needed.