HOUSEHOLD NOTES January/February 2010

Breads and bugs

Edited by Anne Gray
This set of recipes is all about bread. We have run bread recipes recently that didn’t give complete instructions. The standard bread recipe will use flour, liquid, sometimes a leavening agent. The simplest bread is flour and water, baked. Beyond that, bread is about regional taste, and style.
At our house, we have made bread with everything from two to a dozen ingredients. Sometimes the bread gets one rising, sometimes two, and sometimes it goes straight from the mixing bowl to the oven. Sometimes there’s a loaf pan, sometimes a baking sheet. I’ve baked bread in ovens heated by wood, gas, electricity; on a barbecue; and directly over a wood fire.
For a novice bread maker, it’s a daunting process. What is double in bulk? What size pan will hold how much dough? How do you proof yeast? (Will there be little letters to move around?) So much to learn.
The texture of the bread will be different if you let it rise once instead of twice. The flavor will be different if you add milk instead if water, use oil instead of butter, etc. The “crumb” will vary with the liquid used. Does that mean I could make bread that didn’t leave crumbs? Maybe not.
All bread is not created equal, nor are all bread makers (the human kind). Read the whole recipe through before you start assembling and mixing. If the ingredient list, or the instructions, or any part of it doesn’t feel right or make sense, move on to another recipe. And if you find a recipe that works for you, make it your own. Modify it, tweak the ingredients, try other shapes, let it rise more or less. Do whatever you feel like doing with it. You will find a version that you and your family will like more than the others. Then you will be able to look at any bread recipe and know if it is one you want to bake.
Bread is the most basic prepared food. Don’t be afraid of it. Perfect your own style.

BROWN BREAD
Dianne Cook, Bridgewater, N.S.

4 3/4 cups hot water
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/2 cups natural bran
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
14 cups flour

Stir the hot water, butter, and molasses together in a large bowl until the butter melts. Add the salt, bran and 1/3 cup sugar to this mixture and stir well.
Combine the warm water, two teaspoons of sugar, and the yeast in another bowl and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Stir and add to the molasses mixture. Work in the flour. Knead until smooth and place in a greased bowl. Let stand in the oven with the light on for about one hour or until doubled in bulk.
Divide the dough into four pieces and shape into loaves. Place in four greased pans. Let stand in the oven with the light on for about one hour or until doubled in size. Bake at 375°F for about 20-25 minutes. Turn out to cool on racks.

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
Muriel Bird, Liverpool, N.S.

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rye flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
3 tablespoons ground flax seeds
3 tablespoons dried milk powder
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
2 teaspoons gluten powder

Put all ingredients in the bread machine in the order given and choose “whole wheat” setting. Makes one two-pound loaf. The gluten powder adds a finer texture to all bread machine bread or roll recipes.

RAISIN BREAD
Doris Seaman, Moncton, N.B.
“I have made this bread for years. It always turns out well.”

1 pkg. dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
6 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups raisins
3 teaspoons shortening
2 1/2 cups warm water

In a small bowl combine the yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, and one teaspoon sugar; set aside.
In another bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, shortening, and warm water. Add the yeast mixture and mix well. Soak the raisins in hot water until plump. Dry and sprinkle with flour before adding them to the batter.
Knead the dough well. Let rise until double. Punch down, put into two greased 9-inch bread pans. Let rise again. Bake at 350°F for 3/4 of an hour.

SIMPLE BREAD RECIPE
Bonnie Whynot, Middlewood, N.S.
“Just make and put into the oven. No need to leave aside to rise before cooking. I hope this can help Helen Wilson of Seagrave, Ont.”

1 tablespoon honey
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup cold water
3 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
2 cups white flour
or 1 cup white/1 cup whole wheat flour
or 2 cups bran
2 teaspoons salt

Melt the honey in the boiling water. When it is dissolved, add the cold water. Then sprinkle the yeast over the water and leave to work until it comes up like a sponge on top (about 15 minutes).
Measure the flour into a bowl and add salt. When the yeast is ready, beat it well with an egg beater and then gradually stir it into the flour with a wooden spoon. Put the dough into a greased 9” x 5” loaf pan and bake in a preheated 200°F oven for 25 minutes. Then turn the oven up to 350°F and bake for another 30 minutes.

SWEET AND SPICY RAISIN BREAD
Merle Taylor, Lochaber, N.S.
“I so enjoy your magazine. So much wonderful information. Down to earth. Keep up the good work. I see in Requests a Raisin Bread recipe. This is a large recipe – wonderful though. Hope to see it in print.”

2 cups raisins
3 cups water
2 teaspoons dry regular yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
8-9 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice

Boil the water and pour over the raisins. Let sit for 15 minutes. In another bowl dissolve the yeast and one teaspoon of sugar into the 1/2 cup of lukewarm water. Let sit for a few minutes. In a large bowl combine the sugar, salt, and oil. Pour the raisin mixture into this and let cool to lukewarm. Add the beaten egg and the yeast mixture, stirring well.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in five cups of flour and the spices. Stir well, gradually adding the rest of the flour. Knead well (it may not take all the flour). Place the dough in a greased bowl and let it rise until double in bulk. Place in greased pans, cover, and let rise for one hour. Bake for 35 minutes in a 350°F oven. Turn loaves out on racks to cool. The tops of the loaves may be buttered while hot. Makes four 3” x 5” x 8” double loaves.

SMALL BATCH WHITE BREAD
Kathryn Bradshaw,
St. Martins, N.B.
“Helen Wilson of Seagrave, Ont., is looking for bread recipes that make only one or two loaves. Here are two recipes, one for white bread and one for brown bread, that I use.”

1 cup water (80°F)
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dry milk powder
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons yeast

Dissolve the yeast in one cup of water and let work. When ready, combine all ingredients and mix well. You may use more sugar if you like it sweeter. Knead well. Let rise, punch down. Put in a pan and rise again. This makes two buns in a 9” x 5” x 4” pan, 18 dinner rolls, or one long loaf like French Bread. Bake for about 35 minutes in a 350°F oven.

SMALL BATCH BROWN BREAD

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons oil
3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
2 tablespoons dry skim milk powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup raisins, optional

Dissolve the yeast in two tablespoons of water. When ready, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Knead well. Let rise, punch down. Put in a pan and rise again. This makes two loaves in a 9” x 5” x 4” pan or one long loaf. Bake for about 35 minutes in a 350°F oven.

Lloyd Varner from Sackville, N.B. sent us the following letter:
“In the December issue of Rural Delivery, the cookie recipe for June Bugs has an incomplete list of ingredients. Without flour or any other ingredient to give body to the cookies, they merely melt to cover the cookie sheet when heated in the oven. Possibly they may need baking powder or baking soda as well, but I cannot tell without knowing the results expected. This looks like it would be a very good cookie recipe and it will be appreciated if you can publish a corrected list of ingredients.
“Thank you for your assistance.”

Thank you Lloyd for your question. Several readers tried the recipe as well, and we all had the same result. When I made them, I added a cup of flour to the second half of the batter to see if that would produce a firmer dough. It was still too sticky to roll, and the baked cookies were flat, but very tasty.
We contacted the reader who sent the recipe, and she suggests using two cups of dates, chopped very fine. She also says the egg should be beaten with a fork, not with an egg beater. And finally, she suggests using a spoon to drop them on a cookie sheet rather than rolling them into balls.

Mail your recipes, household hints, and requests to Household Notes, care of Rural Delivery, Box 1509, Liverpool, NS B0T 1K0.