Barbara Swell - Aunt Barbs Bread Book

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FETCH YOUR DOUGH BOWL

N obody would trade sandwiches with me in the 1963 lunchroom of John Street Elementary School in Martinsburg, West Virginia. And I mean NOBODY. While the other kids passed soft white sandwich halves and factory-made spongy pink cupcakes back and forth, there I sat with my brown speckled whole wheat sandwich and apple. I coveted my friends fluffy white bread sandwiches with the crusts removed and the grape jelly oozing out through the soggy middles. I even had a friend who used to sit on his lunchbag all morning so that his balloon bread and jelly sandwich would be perfectly flat and purple come lunchtime. I dont think my mother ever once brought squishy white bread into the house. And, wouldnt you know, neither have I.

The white vs. whole-grain bread battle has been going on for a long time. Centuries. Believe me, theres nothing new when it comes to so-called health breads vs. white flour breads. Well, maybe theres one thing new these daysit used to be that the wealthier you were, the more refined your flour. Now it appears to be the other way around; the better your grain and the more it maintains its integrity at the skilled hands of both the miller and the baker, the more expensive the bread.

Though whole grain breakfast gems were invited to the tables of most Americans by the mid-1800s, its the ungentrified, coarse family breads of the regular people who didnt have servants, cooks and nannies that I love most. Recipes for regional breads which were the daily fare of settlers, farm families, and small town dwellers rarely made it into cookbooks before the Civil War. Every country housekeeper baked her family bread weekly from whatever flours were available and specific methods occasionally showed up in farm magazines, handwritten recipe journals, or folksy literary works. Its from these early to mid-19th century sources that Ive learned to make most of the tasty, wholesome breads that youll find in this book.

LETS MAKE BREAD!

A merican bread preferences changed dramatically in the 1870s as modern roller-mills made refined wheats and other grains more accessible and affordable. By 1907, professional bakers were exasperated by the public demand for puffy white, quick-rise tasteless breads like those composed by housewives following their explicit, modern domestic science cookery books. Whole grains did, however, reappear briefly, during both world wars and then again in the back-to-the-land era of the 1960s and 70s.

Todays artisan bread movement is gaining popularity as flavorful, regionally adapted heritage grains find their way back into the dough bowls of more and more American bakers. If you want to make great old-timey breads, let the grains that are available in your area take center stage in your breads. Youll have to experiment with your recipes, but thats fun! Even bad homemade bread is edible.

Speaking of bad bread, Ive made plenty of it while writing this book. Youd think that after several decades of baking bread Id be pretty good at it. All I can say is that until you try and raise a loaf of bread from temperamental seething ale barm, hops-yeast and potato starters, you havent lived. And if, when you read this book, you find the recipes too vague, heres what I had to work with:

Cook Book, Debbie Coleman, 1855 Put the bread in sponge with milk, warm water, sour milk, or milk and water. When very light, make it into soft dough and let it rise in a dough-trough. Then put it into pans and let it rise a second time. When light, bake.

It would break my heart to convert such prose into exact measurements. Still, the story behind this recipe and so many more like it, is one worth sharing. So, the first half of this book tells the tale of yesterdays American breads and the particulars of how to re-create these great loaves using old-time methods. The second half of the book contains the recipes.

Enjoy your baking!

LOVE AND DOUGH

Nancy. An Idyl of the Kitchen

The Century Illustrated Magazine, Dec. 1883

In brown Holland apron she stood in the kitchen;

Her sleeves were rolled up, and her cheeks all aglow;

Her hair was coiled neatly; when I, indiscreetly,

Stood watching while Nancy was kneading the dough.

Now, who could be neater, or brighter, or sweeter,

Or who hum a song so delightfully low,

Or who look so slender, so graceful, so tender,

As Nancy, sweet Nancy, while kneading the dough?

How deftly she pressed it, and squeezed it, caressed it,

And twisted and turned it, now quick and now slow.

Ah, me, but that madness Ive paid for in sadness!

Twas my heart she was kneading as well as the dough.

At last, when she turned for her pan to the dresser,

She saw me and blushed, and said shyly, " Please, go

Or my bread Ill be spoiling, in spite of my toiling,

If you stand here and watch while Im kneading the dough."

I begged for permission to stay. Shed not listen;

The sweet little tyrant said, "No, sir! no! no!"

Yet when I had vanished on being thus banished,

My heart staid with Nancy while kneading the dough.

Im dreaming, sweet Nancy, and see you in fancy;

Your heart, love, has softened and pitied my woe,

And we, dear, are rich in a dainty wee kitchen

Where Nancy, my Nancy, stands kneading the dough.

~John A. Fraser, Jr.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

A ll the historic recipes in this book are recorded as found. Youll find them dated and in italics. Theyre great fun to play with, but dont get your knickers in a twist if your bread doesnt turn out as you hoped the first time around. Under selected historic recipes, Ive included an updated version that should produce a good bread. Keep in mind, though, it takes practice to produce a decent loaf of bread from any era. Its helpful to jot down any recipe adjustments you make in your dough-splattered cookbook.

Our recipe testers were quite surprised by the amount of tending these breads took. But if we look back to bread baking day in the mid to late 1900s, housewives were every bit as busy as you are today. Its just that they took a whole day out of their week to do the family baking, and in between minding their dough, they were feeding chickens, managing the cookstove, diapering the baby and running the homestead. The big difference is that they were around. And you might not want to be. Learning about retarding your dough in the refrigerator will go a long way to helping you fit your bread into your own busy schedule. (See .) For now, here are some things to keep in mind as you get out your bread bowl: