Bread was served at practically every meal. Although people could buy bread at grocers or bakeries, it was expensive. So especially for households with large families, knowing how to make good bread was a necessity.

INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS:

DIRECTIONS RESPECTING BREAD
There is no one thing upon which health and comfort in a family so much depend as bread. With good bread the coarsest fare is tolerable; without it, the most luxurious table is not comfortable.

There is much bad flour in market, which can in no way be made into nutritious food. When you find good flour, notice the brand, and afterwards purchase the same kind.

Newly ground flour which has never been packed, is very superior to barrel flour, so that the people in Western New York, that land of finest wheat, say that New England people do not know what good flour is.

Indian meal,* also, is much the best when freshly ground. The meal made of Southern corn is often injured by salt water, or dampness acquired in the hold of a ship.

*Indian meal – corn meal

Rye flour is very apt to be musty or grown. There is no way to detect this but by trial. It is well to engage a farmer to supply you with the same he provides for his own family.Flour.

WHEAT FLOUR
There is now in use flour made by two different processes, by the old, or St. Louis, and the new, or Haxall. The Haxall flour is used mostly for bread and the old-process for pastry, cake, etc. By the new process, more starch and less of the outer coats, which contain much of the phosphates, is retained;  so that the flour makes a whiter and moister bread. 

This flour does not make as good cake and pastry as the old-process. It is, therefore well to have a barrel of each, if you have space. The pastry flour is the cheaper, and the longer all kinds of flour are kept in a dry place, the better they are. Buying in small quantities is extremely extravagant. When you have become accustomed to one brand, and it works to your satisfaction, do not change for a new one. The best flour is the cheapest. There are a great many brands that are equally good.

GRAHAM
The best Graham is made by grinding good wheat and not sifting it. Much that is sold is a poor quality of flour mixed with bran. This will not, of course, make good, sweet bread. The “Arlington Whole Wheat Meal” is manufactured from pure wheat, and makes delicious bread. Graham, like flour, will keep in a cool, dry place for years.

INDIAN MEAL
In most families there is a large amount of this used, but the quantity purchased at a time depends upon the kind of meal selected. The common kind, which is made by grinding between two mill-stones, retains a great deal of moisture. In hot weather, it will soon grow musty, but the granulated meal will keep for any length of time. The corn for this meal is first dried; and it takes about two years for this. 

Then the outer husks are removed, and the corn is ground by a process that produces grains like granulated sugar. After once using this meal, one will not willingly go back to the old kind. Indian meal is made from two kinds of corn, Northern and Southern. The former gives the yellow meal, and is much richer than the Southern, of which white meal is made.

RYE MEAL
This meal, like the old-process Indian, will grow musty in a short time in hot weather, so that but a small quantity of it should be bought at a time. The meal is much better than the flour for all kinds of bread and muffins.

OAT MEAL
There are several kinds of oat meal–Scotch, Irish, Canadian and American. The first two are sold in small packages, the Canadian and American in any quantity. It seems as if the Canadian and American should be the best because the freshest; but the fact is the others are considered the choicest. Many people could not eat oat meal in former years, owing to the husks irritating the lining of the stomach.

There is now what is called pearled meal. All the husks are removed, and the oats are then cut. The coarse kind will keep longer than the fine ground, but it is best to purchase often, and have the meal as fresh as possible.

CRACKED WHEAT
This is the whole wheat just crushed or cut like the coarse oat meal, but unlike the meal, it will keep a long time. It is cooked the same as oat meal. That which is cut makes a handsomer dish than the crushed, but the latter cooks more quickly.

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