Yankee-baker--What is it?

[zelph]

I'm in the process of reading "The Maine Woods" by Henry David Thoreau. It mentions a loaf of bread baked in a Yankee-baker. Read the quote and then if you can, tell us what a Yankee-baker is. Oops56 might be able to, he lives up in that neck of the woods . Also, it mentions a line set for trout and a knife used to cut the bait. Can anyone shed some light on this early form of trout fishing?

(quote)Somebody had left a line set for trout, and the jackknife with which the bait had been cut on the dam beside it, an evidence that man was near, and on a deserted log close by a loaf of bread baked in a Yankee-baker. These proved the property of a solitary hunter, whom we soon met, and canoe and gun and traps were not far off. He told us that it was twenty miles farther on our route to the foot of Grand Lake, where you could catch as many trout as you wanted, (end quote)

[realityguy]

When I read the book I assumed a "yankee baker" might have been a large can/pot of some sort cooked over the open fire.The trout..I doubt if they had any fish limits in those days so more than likely a string of hooks about every foot with bait on them...
I take it the book is therefore "holding your attention"..

[realityguy]

I was wrong..here you go--->
http://www.tentsmiths.com/period-tents-baker-tents.html

[DarenN]

cool site!!
the Viking Tent calls to my ancestry.

[realityguy]

Next time you pitch the hubba and take pictures..we wanna see those figureheads!..

[DarenN]

Next time you pitch the hubba and take pictures..we wanna see those figureheads!..

i'm saving those figureheads for the Gokstad Faering i have plans to build.

[zelph]

When I read the book I assumed a "yankee baker" might have been a large can/pot of some sort cooked over the open fire.The trout..I doubt if they had any fish limits in those days so more than likely a string of hooks about every foot with bait on them...
I take it the book is therefore "holding your attention"..

Yes, it has my attention I had the impression that the shape of the loaf of bread was an indication of what it was made in, like a can. Reflector oven seems like an easy oven for a campfire, yah, I like it Thanks for the link to a cool site. I had googled and hit a blank wall.

[gregb]

I first thought it was baked on the end of a large stick so the bread would end up bowl shaped.

[zelph]

I first thought it was baked on the end of a large stick so the bread would end up bowl shaped.

I tried doing that with buscuit dough and finally got it to work after a few fire balls Loaf of bread seems like it would take too long on the end of a stick

[Vibe]

http://books.google.com/books?id=25WQMM ... er&f=false

I think I may have found the DIY plans for one in an old Popular Mechanics project book - Circa 1945 (or so)