Saffron Bread (wedman)
Ingredients & Directions 1/2 ts Saffron 1/4 c Hot Water (120 to 130 -degrees) 1 c Milk 1/4 c Margarine 1 tb Lemon Rind, grated 1 tb Active Dry Yeast 1/4 c Sugar 1/4 ts Ground Nutmeg 2 1/2 To 3 c Flour 1 c Dried Currants -or- Dark -Raisins Steep the saffron in the hot -water for 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the milk and margarine in a saucepan. Heat until the margarine has melted. Cool. Add the lemon rind. Sprinkle the yeast into the milk mixture when lukewarm. Let stand for 5 minutes to dissolve. Add the sugar, nutmeg, 2 cups of the flour and the saffron mixture. Beat until smooth. Stir in the currants (or dark raisins) and another 1/2 cup of the flour. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. Then punch down and knead on a lightly-floured board until smooth. Shape into a loaf and place in an oiled 4- by 9-inch bread pan. Let rise until doubled. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 1 hour. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning out on a wire rack. When the bread is thoroughly cooled, it may be sliced. Serves 15 One Serving = Calories: 160 Carbohydrates: 20 Protein: 3 Fat: 3 Sodium: 46 Potassium: 132 Cholesterol: 0 Exchange Value: 1 Bread Exchange _ 1/2 Fruit Exchange + 1/2 Fat Exchange Yields 15 Servings
Mom Mackay's Cranberry Bread
Ingredients & Directions 2 c Flour, all-purpose 1 c Sugar, granulated 1 1/2 ts Baking powder 1/2 ts Baking soda 1 ts Salt 3/4 c Orange juice (juice -of one large orange) 2 tb Shortening 1 tb Orange peel, grated -(one large orange) 1 Egg, beaten 1 c Cranberries, halved -or chopped 1 c Walnuts or pecans, -chopped Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottom, but not the sides, of two small loaf pans. In a large bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Blend very well. Mix together the orange juice, orange peel, melted shortening and beaten egg. Mix only enough to blend uniformly. Mix in the cranberries and the nuts; stir gently. Pour the mixture into the loaf pans. Push it to the corners, leaving the center slightly hollow. Bake about an hour at 350 degrees F. The loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting. Do not try to serve warm. NOTES: * A festive cranberry-orange nut-bread — My grandmother MacKay clipped this recipe from the 1951 edition of the Pillsbury Bake-Off competition recipes, and we’ve made it a family tradition ever since. From time to time my mother and I have both tried to improve on the recipe, but it appears that the recipe is already perfect; every variation we have ever tried has been disappointing by comparison. When I was a boy, before the invention of the food processor, making this bread required cutting the cranberries in half by hand, with a knife, and the person who brought 4 loaves of cranberry bread to the family Thanksgiving meal was more welcome than the person who brought the turkey. Now, between Baker’s Secret loaf pans and Cuisinart slicer blades, you can knock out 8 perfect loaves of the stuff while watching one episode of Sesame Street. My grandmother still cuts each cranberry in half with a paring knife, and hers still tastes better than mine. Yield: 2 small loaves. * It takes practice to know when to stop mixing the dough. If you mix too much, the bread gets a chewy texture to it, whereas it should have a very crumbly consistency, like a muffin or cornbread. * It really makes a difference in the texture of this bread to use a shortening that is solid at room temperature, like Crisco. It really makes a difference in the flavor to use fresh orange-peel and not powdered. I prefer walnuts to pecans. * It might seem sensible to try to use the same orange for the peel and the juice, but it is really more trouble than it is worth to try to peel a juiced orange or juice a peeled orange. I usually use two oranges and eat the one that I took the peel from. * This bread keeps well in the freezer. Specifically, it keeps from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It also survives quite well being mailed by parcel post from Indiana to Maryland. : Difficulty: moderate. : Time: 10 minutes preparation if you have a food processor, 2 hours baking and cooling. : Precision: Measure carefully. : Brian Reid : DEC Western Research Laboratory, Palo Alto, California, USA : reid@decwrl.DEC.COM -or- {ihnp4,ucbvax,decvax,sun,pyramid}!decwrl!reid : Yields 2 Loaves
Grandmother Sophie's Butter Cookies
Ingredients & Directions 3 Sticks soft unsalted butter 1/4 ts Salt 1 c Sugar 3 lg Egg yolks 1 ts Vanilla extract 1/4 ts Almond extract 3 1/4 c Unbleached all-purpose flour -(up to 3-1/2) 1. Preheat oven to 350. Have ready 3 ungreased baking sheets. The baking sheets can be lined with regular weight aluminum foil or parchment paper for easier clean-up. 2. Put the butter & salt in a large mixing bowl & mix with an electric mixer on low speed for 15 sec.. Add the sugar & beat on medium speed for 1 min. till smooth. Stop the mixer & scrape the sides of the bowl once during the mixing. Mix in the egg yolks, vanilla, & almond extract till the egg yolks are incorporated. Stop the mixer & scrape the sides of the bowl again. On low speed, add 3 1/4 cups of the flour & mix just until the flour is incorporated completely. The dough should feel soft & smooth but not sticky. Add up to 1.4 cup more flour if necessary to achieve a soft dough. 3. To form a cookie, roll 1 Tblsp. of dough between the palms of your hands into a 1-in. ball, & flatten the ball into a 1 3/4-in. circle. Place cookies 1 in. apart on the baking sheets. Set aside 1 baking sheet of cookies at room temp. & bake the other 2 sheets about 18 min. until the edges & bottoms of the cookies are light brown. Reverse the baking sheets after 9 min. from to back & top to bottom to ensure the cookies back evenly. Bake the remaining sheet of cookies on the middle rack of the oven, reversing the baking sheet after 9 min. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 min. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Variation: Before baking , place a chocolate chip in the center of each cookie. Good Advice: Bake the cookies just until the edges are light brown. This cooks the butter enough to give the cookies their buttery taste. Pale butter cookies will have little flavor. You will need three baking sheets, then the remaining sheet. Even if your oven has tree racks, 3 sheets of cookies won’t bake properly. Doubling the recipe: This is a large recipe, so it is easier to mix separate batches of dough. To Freeze: Place the bottoms of 2 cookies together & wrap them in plastic wrap. Put the wrapped cookies in a metal or plastic freezer container & cover tightly. Freeze up to 3 months. To Serve: Remove as many cookies from the freezer as needed. Unwrap the cookies & place them on a plate. Cover with plastic wrap & defrost at room temp. Serve within 3 days. Yields 54 Cookies
Oatmeal Bread Abm
Ingredients & Directions 1/2 tb Yeast 1/2 tb Salt 1 c Oats 2 tb Oil 3 c Flour, bread 1 Eggs 1 tb Sugar 1 1/4 c Water; warm Bring all ingredients to room temperature and pour into bakery, in order. Set “baking control” at 11 o’clock. Select “white bread” and push Start. In hot, humid weather, use 1/8 c less water. Tested in DAK 1-1/2 lb R2D2 bread machine. Sylvia’s comment: perfect! Yields 24 servings
Pesto French Bread Pizza
Ingredients & Directions 1 lb Loaf of French Bread Pesto Sauce Black Olives Mozzarella Cheese Fresh Parmesan, grated Fresh Roma tomatoes, sliced Slice French bread in half lengthwise (ie. 2 halves for a 1 lb loaf or 4 “halves” for 2 1/2 lb loaves). Spread cut sides of bread with pesto (about 1 cup). Top with black olives and slices of roma tomatoes. Top generously with mozzarella cheese and 1/4 to 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Bake in oven until cheese is bubbly. Serve as appetizers or as a main meal. Slice as desired. From Yields 1 Servings
Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients & Directions 1 c All purpose flour 1/2 ts Salt 1/2 ts Baking soda 1 c QUICK QUAKER OATS 6 tb Granulated white sugar 1/2 c Brown sugar, packed 1/2 c Butter, softened 1 Egg 1/2 ts Vanilla extract 1 tb Water 1/2 c Chocolate chips or seedless -raisins (optional) This recipe is from TV Guide. Heat oven to 325 F. Sift together flour, salt and soda in a bowl. Stir in QUICK QUAKER OATS. In a seperate bowl, cream together sugar, brown sugar and butter. Add egg and vanilla to the creamed mixture and beat until smooth. Add dry mixture; then add water and mix. If desired, add raisins or chocolate chips then mix well. Drop cookies 1 Tbsp on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until light brown. MAKES 2 1/2 – 3 DOZEN. Yields 1 Servings
Old-fashioned Chocolate Bread Pudding
Ingredients & Directions 2 oz Unsweetened chocolate 1 qt Milk; scalded 2 c Bread crumbs; * see note 1/3 c Sugar 1/4 c Butter; melted 2 lg Eggs; slightly beaten 1/4 ts Salt 1 ts Vanilla extract * It is best to use crumbs from homemade bread. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 1 1/2 or 2 quart baking dish. Break the chocolate into bits and melt in the scalded milk, stirring until smooth. Add the bread crumbs and set aside to cool. When lukewarm, add remaining ingredients. Mix well, pour into prepared dish and bake for about 50 minutes or until set. Soft as a pillow with a full, light, chocolate-pudding taste. Serve this with real whipped cream, not the artificial whipped cream. From Fannie Farmer cookbook– Yields 8 servings
