Hardtack and 1-2-3-4 Cake

We're counting down the days now 'til we travel to Sonora and Columbia State Park - just 6 days to go!

We learned a few weeks ago that Jewish peddlers had to travel sometimes as far as 100 miles between farm houses in the West. They would have to carry their own food which was relatively light and easy to eat as they walked on the road during the day, and easy to prepare at night over a campfire. Those Jewish peddlers who tried to keep kosher usually stuck to beans and hardtack, with perhaps some fresh vegetables or fruits that they might receive in partial payment for goods they sold to farmers.

Hardtack was easy to prepare at night over the campfire. As the peddler would prepare to bed down for the night, he would keep a low fire burning. He could take some of the flour he carried with him in a pouch, mix it with water and perhaps some salt, then leave the dough to bake on his campfire stones overnight. By morning, it was nearly as hard as a rock. Most importantly, it was easy for him to gnaw on a piece as he walked. He could make enough in one evening to last for a month.

When the peddler visited the farm houses, he would often be invited to join the family for dinner or, at the very least, for some coffee and cake. The cake in these pioneer households more often than not would be a simple one made from a recipe the farm wife could easily remember, since most farm wives couldn't read. Mix together 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour and 4 eggs, and you have a "Cupcake," as these very sweet and dense cakes were aptly called. Some also referred to them as 1-2-3-4 cakes - an easy way to remember the recipe!

In preparation for our upcoming trip, we prepared both hardtack and 1-2-3-4 cake during our two morning sessions yesterday. Each table grouping was given a ball of dough made of flour, water and salt (prepared by me the evening before since we wouldn't have enough time in class to prepare it), a rolling pin, a measuring tape, a knife, a chopstick, and a cookie sheet. The directions were simple:  pat down the ball of dough until it's easy to roll with the pin, then roll it out into as square a shape as possible, until it's 1/2" thick. Then measure out 3" square pieces, cut them out, and punch 16 holes on each side. Put them on the tray and they're ready to bake (30 minutes on each side). We'll have plenty of hardtack to gnaw on during the bus ride to Sonora and anywhere else we want to gnaw on it that day!

Even as some students in the group were continuing to roll, measure, cut out and pierce the hardtack dough, others in the group began to prepare the 1-2-3-4 cake. First they were asked to cream together the butter and sugar, then add in the flour and eggs. Mix it altogether, pour it into a greased 8" x 8" pan, and it was ready for the oven. We'll have a chance to enjoy these cakes at our picnic in Sonora.

Those students not joining us on the trip will bring home a piece of hardtack the week following the trip, and will enjoy a piece of the cake as we read our story during our weekday session that same week.

Enjoy the photos below that we shot of the process both sessions: