Cooking Ash Cakes with Townsends
How to cook simple ash-cakes or fire-cakes with just flour, a little water and a bit of salt if you have it. The simplest soldier cooking.
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During the Revolutionary War, soldiers did not always have enough food to eat. One food that they could make was called fire cakes.
Form flat biscuits in your hand about the size of your palm.
If the dough is sticky, use a small amount of flour to work the dough.
Place dough on a rock in the fire or directly onto the ashes and bake until hardened.
Remove the bread and let cool.
For storage, place the bread back on the fire and allow it to cook until dry and hard.
This was the most common method.
During the Revolutionary War, soldiers did not always have enough food to eat. One food that they could make was called fire cakes. Fire cakes were made of flour, water, and salt if it was available. There is no true “recipe” because everyone would make it a bit differently. They were given the name fire cakes because the dough was often cooked on rocks in the fire or directly in the ashes. Once the bread hardened, it could keep for a month or longer. The modern foodie may find firecakes too hard, if so you may choose to dip yours in soup!
How to cook simple ash-cakes or fire-cakes with just flour, a little water and a bit of salt if you have it. The simplest soldier cooking.