Baking in the Wee Hours of the Morning

Regina Scott here. Christmas and New Years are behind us, but I’m still eating the last of the cookies and candy my family made over the season. How about you?

I enjoy cooking for family and friends, even though I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a genius in the kitchen. Maddie O’Rourke, the heroine of my January release, Instant Frontier Family, can bake rings around me. But she has to get up ridiculously early to do so.

You see, Maddie owns the best bakery in pioneer Seattle. Burly loggers and miners have been known to stampede into her shop demanding the fresh bread, cookies, and rolls she makes each day. I think they all have a crush on her.

But Maddie’s made of tougher stuff. Pioneer baking involved long hours in a hot kitchen carrying heavy loads. Here’s the schedule I worked out for her. It starts at 5:00pm the night before, after she’s finished selling for the day:

• 5pm—Feed the barm (the yeast starter on which her bakery depends) with flour and water leftover from boiling potatoes; sift enough flour for the next day into the mixing trough. Cover the trough to keep the cat out!
• 5:30—Go upstairs and make dinner for the family. Clean up and spend a little time with the family before going to bed.
• 7pm—Go to bed.
• 11:15pm—Get out of bed; get dressed, and stumble downstairs. Melt butter with molasses.
• 11:30pm—Mix the flour in the trough with the butter/molasses mixture and the barm. Have it done by midnight so it can rise.
• Midnight—Lay the fire in the oven; go back upstairs for a nap.
• 3:00am—Get up, go downstairs, knead down and smooth out the dough.
• 3:30am—Divide the dough into loaves of exactly 8 pounds each; cover with cloth.
• While the dough is rising for 2 hours, make cookie dough of various sorts
• 5:30am—When the oven bricks are hot all the way through, rake out the coals and sweep out the ashes. Roll out some of the bread dough to make cinnamon rolls. Then put the loaves and rolls into the oven using the peel, a paddle with a long handle.
• 6:00am—Bake and don’t fuel the fire. Close the door and shut off the flue with the damper.
• 6:30am—Brush the tops of the loaves with egg for a crisper crust at the half-way point. Make icing for the rolls.
• 7:00am—While the bread cools, bake the cookies. Ice the rolls.
• 8:00am—Sell it all to customers and start all over again for the afternoon rush.

Phew! Is it any wonder Maddie pays for a woman to come from New York help in the bakery, escorting Maddie’s little brother and sister to come live with her in the process? Yet the person who arrives with them isn’t someone with experience baking. He isn’t even a woman . . .

Regina Scott has twice melted a spatula into what she was cooking. The author of more than 30 historical romances, she’s currently working on a series set in Seattle’s early years:  Frontier Bachelors, bold, rugged, and bound to be grooms. Sign up here for a free e-mail alert with exclusive bonus material when her next book comes out, or visit her online at her website or Facebook.

Teachers Had It Tough In the Good Old Days!

Regina Scott here. It’s that time of year when people start thinking about their children returning to the halls of learning. You’ll see “back to school” sales cropping up, and stores carry backpacks and sweatshirts even though it’s still hot in many parts of the country. My mother taught kindergarten for many years, and I have nothing but respect for those who share their knowledge with future generations.

But, as I discovered when researching my August release, Frontier Engagement, teaching in 1866 on the frontier was a whole different game.

For one thing, a teacher taught all grades and all subjects, in one room, at the same time. For another, supplies like paper and pencils and resources like books were rare. School board expectations ranged from keeping the schoolroom neat and tidy to, in some cases, chopping wood for the fire, whittling pencils for the class, and shooting any varmints that happened to claw their way into the school.

But those weren’t the only expectations. A teacher’s behavior was examined in detail. Here are some of the “rules” some teachers had to live by:  

• Never fraternize with the opposite sex. 
• Teachers who married during their term were summarily dismissed.
• Dress in somber colors.
• Under no circumstances dye your hair. Avoid pool halls, barber shops, and ice cream parlors. (As my heroine, Rina Fosgrave said, “Who knew they were such dens of iniquity?”)

Yes, it’s tough to be a teacher, then and now. Here’s to all those who instruct our youth, whether homeschooling or braving the classroom. You are the true heroes!

Regina Scott owes much of what she knows about writing to the teachers who instructed her over the years. The author of more than two dozen historical romances, she’s currently working on a series set in Seattle’s early years:  Frontier Bachelors, bold, rugged, and bound to be grooms. Sign up here for a free e-mail alert with exclusive bonus material when her next book comes out, or visit her online at her website or Facebook.

Oh, for a Farm in the Wilderness

Regina Scott here, celebrating the release of the second book in my Frontier Bachelors series, Would-Be Wilderness Wife.  As I was writing it, the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers kept coming to mind.  I love how the quiet Milly finds her voice and her determination in helping Adam Pontipee and his brothers learn a thing or two about women.

When I was researching the story, I went looking for some place to use as a model.  There are plenty of books, from history tales for children to reminiscences of the pioneers themselves, that speak of the trials and tribulations of living in the wilderness.  But I’m a hands-on kind of gal.  I need to touch, taste, smell, and hear beside just seeing.

That’s why I was thrilled to tour Pioneer Farm Museum outside Eatonville, Washington.  Pioneer Farm is one of those wonderful museums geared toward children, so everything is very hands on.  I gleefully followed our tour guides around from the general store to the school house to the three cabins, barn, and blacksmith’s shop, peppering them with questions and poking my nose into everything.  Without such a treasure, I might not have learned the following:

A lady in a full-belled hoop skirt would never be able to climb the ladder to the loft for bed.

Everything you need to live has to fit in a one-room house smaller than my bedroom.  Easily. 

And it does.

Oil lamps aren't really bright enough to read by, but they do warm up a curling iron nicely.

It takes a lot of time and work to grate enough cinnamon for one pie.

 Pioneer Farm Museum is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing living history, environmental, and cultural education through hands-on activities.  If you happen to be in the area, I highly recommend a visit. 

I know some of you have been to great museums in your area.  Any recommendations to share?

~

Regina Scott loves history, whether learning about it or writing about it. The author of more than two dozen historical Christian romances, she’s currently working on a series set in Seattle’s early years:  Frontier Bachelors, bold, rugged, and bound to be grooms. Sign up here for a free e-mail alert with exclusive bonus material when her next book comes out, or visit her online at her website or Facebook.