H4474.4

• california gold rush

Dough bowl. Description: wooden dough bowl. From the History Information Station: Bread was a staple food of frontier life, and housewives made all their bread at home. This large wooden bowl was used almost daily to knead biscuit dough, and about once a week, usually on Saturday, women rolled up their sleeves and kneaded the eight or ten loaves their families would eat in the coming week. Everyday bread was brown and nutty, made with coarse brown flour and molasses. For special occasions women made soft white bread, using expensive white flour that they rubbed and sifted many times to make it fine enough for "fancy" breadmaking.

Used: California