Antiques & Collecting: Dough box used to make bread

This pine dough box was made in the 1850s. It sold for $219 at a Garth’s auction. Country furniture is selling for low prices, but there seem to be more pieces sold at flea markets than in the past.

Your great-grandmother may have used this antique box in her kitchen, but not many of us use it today since there are newer, faster ways to get the same result. The pine box is 27 inches high by 36 inches wide and 21 inches deep. It has dovetailed sides and tapered legs. The removable top is made of two boards.

Give up?

It is a dough box used for proofing bread dough. The box was filled with flour, then water was added and the mixture was kneaded. More ingredients were added, including yeast, and more kneading. Then a rest, letting the dough rise, punching it down, kneading it again, reshaping and letting it rest. This was done several times. When the dough felt right, the box was covered and moved to a warm place where the dough could “proof.” That is what the final rise is called. It was shaped again, put in the oven and baked.

Families ate a lot of bread, and most housewives made bread at least once a week. The finished bread was taken from the oven to rest on the lid of the dough box, then cut and served. And the lid had another use. It kept the mice and bugs away from the bread. The antique box sold for just $219. Today they make electric proofing boxes to do this work.

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#Americana #doughbox #Garths #Auctions #Kovels #antiques