Semi-historic food question [View all]

I'd been looking for a 1943 (not '46) Joy of Cooking for a long time because I'm interested in the period. I never expected to use it; just ro read it. I finally got one a few months ago.

It's wonderful. Every other JoC I’ve seen, including the modern one I was gifted, has left me completely cold. (Of my old cookbooks, it was Betty Crocker for preference and Good Housekeeping second, both from around the year of my birth). I cracked the 1943 edition open and, within a page or two, thought ‘Wow, this is how I cook’. And there are hacks for shortages and rationing. And I love the sense of humor and occasional snide comment. This is my JoC.

But there are some differences. Apparently, 7” pies used to be a thing. (Goodwill had one plate, so now I have it. And I'm going to use it this week.) I can figure out a lot of things on my own. For instance, dry vermouth is called 'French vermouth', sweet vermouth is 'Italian'. Some can sizes are different. A few products are just no longer available. And it tells you how to open-kettle can food, which is not, repeat not, safe.

But the biggest one is that she only refers to 2 kinds of white flour, cake and bread. No mention at all of all-purpose or plain flour. Is her 'bread' flour just flour that isn't cake flour? Some of the uses make me suspect this. But when did what we now think of as bread flour (higher gluten) become commonly available? It was invented by this time, but might have only been used by professional bakers.