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homestead - Re: [Homestead] wooden bowls for biscuits

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  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] wooden bowls for biscuits
  • Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:15:27 EST



> >I never knew that bowl makers were so unique.
> Don or James or anyone else on the list...what can you tell me about
> bowl adzes? (I can't say that<g>)
> We have a big lathe, but I want a rectangular or oval bowl, I think.

Oval, but not rectantular. And a lathe is useless for anything but salad
bowls.

The type of vessel you are describing is properly more of a 'trencher' than a
bowl.

One consideration is that very hard wood is difficult to turn into a bowl.
It tends to check and crack. Best woods for biscuit trenchers is poplar and
gum, the latter being arguably the best.

The adze is OK for this work, but far better is a scorp. There are scorps
available just for bowl making.

>
> >This guy makes shallow bowls. I read that they should be 4" deep. Is
> that to insulate yeast breads? Why would I want either a shallow or a
> deep bowl?

For biscuits, as already commented upon, you don't want to do a lot of mixing
and no kneading, so a very shallow vessel is best.

The master bisucit makers of bygone days, a glimpse of which I was afforded
from their nearly centigenarian hands was this: making biscuits for a large
family every day, they had a huge covered tub that held the bisucit flour, at
east 25 lbs if not more. Each morning they would send a child to count
heads
to see who had shown up at the house late to spend the night, and then they
would make a little crater in the middle of the tub and put in the lard and
buttermilk and levening and mix that in lightly and lift the whole dough out
of
the tub without leaving any bits behind. This went on the floured board and
was
cut into biscuits.

Or else the dough was mixed a bit wetter and then spooned onto the biscuit
pan to make enormous "cat's head" biscuits.

James




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