Colonial Wednesday!

Today was another very busy day in Colonial America!
This morning we made bread and churned butter. They were delicious!

We learned a new game, called Beetle. (Remember the game Cooties? A lot like that!)

This afternoon, we started hand-dipping candles and writing with quill pens. We also enjoyed the sunshine and played hopscotch, jacks, graces, and blind man's bluff!

My camera battery died, so I'll have more pictures tomorrow of the candle dipping and writing with quills!











Recipe for Colonial Bread
INGREDIENTS:

4 cups buttermilk 4 cups whole wheat flour 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup packed brown sugar 4 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2.	In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pour in buttermilk, and stir until all of the dry mixture has been absorbed. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared loaf pans.
3.	Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the crown of the loaf comes out clean. Serve warm. Store leftover bread wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator. This reheats well.

Recipe for butter

Ingredients
Heavy cream (from grass-fed cows, preferably)
Salt (optional)
Note: a pint of cream will yield 1 cup of butter

Method

• Dump the cream in the jar with a tight fitting lid and start shaking.
• First the cream will turn into whipped cream. Keep shaking.
• Then it starts to get stiff and looks like whipped butter. Keep shaking.
• The butter will turn a pale yellow, and liquid will separate from it.
• Drain the buttermilk and reserve. The buttermilk isn’t cultured so it isn’t the delicious thick kind my granddad drank, but you can use it in baking recipes in place of milk.
• Next, the butter needs to be washed. Any buttermilk left in the butter will cause it to go rancid quickly. Place the butter in a bowl with cold water and knead using a wooden spoon or your hands. Press the butter against the side of the bowl to squeeze out the buttermilk. Drain and repeat the “washing” until the liquid is clear.
• Salt to taste, if desired.