by James Beard
Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until nicely browned. There will probably be a crack across the top, which is usual with baking-powder breads. Let it cool in the mold for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a rack.
With baking powder or soda breads you will notice that very often the bread cracks across the top, although otherwise it gives you a beautiful even crumb and slice. Don’t worry! Such breads are wont to break during the baking period because they are usually somewhat heavier. If you find doughy or hard lumps in the slice it is certain that you did not mix the original dough well.
Apricot Bread
Like all of the fruit breads made with baking powder, the apricot loaves are quite rich and have beautiful color and rather tight texture. They also have a wonderful bouquet. Don’t be disturbed if the loaves crack slightly in the middle as they bake. This seems to be par for the course.
[2 loaves]
1 cup boiling water
1½ cups (1 package) dried apricots
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 cup chopped nuts
Pour the boiling water over the apricots and let stand until just tender; don’t oversoak them. Drain off the water and reserve it. (If you don’t have 1 cup, add more water to it.) Roughly chop the apricots. Pour the liquid into a large mixing bowl, add the baking soda, sugar, and eggs, and mix well with a wooden spoon. Then add the apricots, flour, baking powder, and nuts and mix well again.
Butter and flour two 9 × 5 × 3-inch loaf tins. Divide the batter into two equal parts and pour into the tins. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for about 45 minutes, or until the breads have risen, are dark in color, and a straw or knife comes out clean when inserted in the center. Cool on racks and serve.
Quick Cranberry Bread
This is an unusually good version of an old American favorite, with a couple of unorthodox variations. The cranberries give the loaf good touches of color and a pleasant tartness.
[1 large loaf]
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup melted butter
1¼ cups milk mixed with 1 teaspoon rosewater
1¼ cups raw cranberries, cut in half or roughly chopped
¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Sift the flour with the soda, baking powder, and salt. In a mixing bowl, by hand or with a beater, beat the eggs and sugar until well blended. Stir in the melted butter and the milk mixed with the rosewater. Stir in the flour just until moistened, and then fold in the cranberries and nuts. (Do not overwork or beat the dough.) Butter a loaf tin about 10 inches long and 4 to 5 inches wide and spread the dough in the tin. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for about 55 to 60 minutes, or until the center of the bread springs back when touched lightly or a cake tester comes out clean when inserted. (The top will often crack, which is typical of soda and baking powder breads.) Let stand in the tin for a few minutes before turning out on a rack to cool. When thoroughly cooled, wrap in plastic or foil and let sit overnight or at least a day before cutting. Store in the refrigerator.
VARIATIONS
• Cranberry Orange Bread: Use ½ cup orange juice and ¾ cup milk as liquid in the bread. Add, with the cranberries, 3 tablespoons grated orange rind.
• Cranberry Sauce Bread: Instead of raw cranberries and sugar, use 1½ cups cranberry jelly or, preferably, canned whole or unstrained cranberry sauce. Beat the sauce into the eggs as you would beat in sugar. Use only ¾ cup milk or orange juice in the recipe. Add 3 tablespoons orange rind, if you like.
Quick Fruit Bread
This can be made with either candied orange or chopped marinated prunes, or a combination of both. It is another of the quick baking-powder breads that are becoming increasingly popular in this country. The fruit flavor is readily apparent and quite delicious. It is an excellent gift bread, makes pleasant toast, and keeps well.
The top is likely to crack considerably, which is typical of baking-powder breads, and the loaf will not rise very high. When it is turned out the color is golden, with tiny specks of orange visible. A hard outer crust will develop as the bread cools.
[1 loaf]
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 ¼ cups milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup diced candied orange
3 teaspoons orange flower water
Sift the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add the milk and beaten egg and combine thoroughly. Add the melted butter, candied fruit, and orange flower water. Mix well.
Butter a 9 × 5 × 3-inch loaf tin. Pour in the batter and bake in a preheated 375° oven 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.
VARIATIONS
• Double the recipe to make one orange-flavored loaf and one prune loaf. Separate into two batches before adding the fruit and flavoring. Prepare one batch as in the master recipe. To the other batch add ½ cup chopped prunes that have been marinated in Madeira, ½ cup pistachios, and 3 teaspoons rosewater. Proceed with the recipe.
• Add 1 tablespoon caraway seeds to the master recipe.
Raw Apple Bread
A rather unusual baking powder bread that you will find delightfully textured and interesting in color and flavor. It keeps very well and, as a matter of fact, will be better if left to mature for at least 24 hours. It is a fine bread to give as a gift.
[1 large loaf]
½ cup butter or margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
2 tablespoons buttermilk or soured milk
1 cup coarsely chopped, unpeeled apples
½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated lemon rind
Cream the butter or margarine, add the sugar slowly, and continue to beat until light and lemon colored. Beat in the eggs. Sift the flour with the salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir in the apples, nuts and vanilla or lemon rind.
Butter a 9 or 10 × 5 × 3-inch loaf tin. Spoon the batter into the tin and bake in a preheated 350° oven 50 to 60 minutes, until the loaf pulls away slightly from the sides of the tin or until a straw or cake tester inserted in the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then loosen from the pan and turn out on a rack to cool completely before slicing.
VARIATIONS
• Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon chopped nuts on top of the batter before baking.
Pain de Fruits (Fruit Bread)
Interesting in flavor and nicely textured, this French fruit bread is excellent for toast. It bakes to a delicious-looking rich brown and is a very attractive gift bread.
[1 loaf]
4 eggs
½ cup granulated sugar
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons double-acting baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, melted and quickly removed from heat
3 ounces filberts, ground
4 ounces almonds, ground
4 ounces dried figs, cut into small pieces
2 ounces candied citron, diced
½ cup golden seedless raisins, presoaked in warm water for 1 hour
Line a 9 × 5 × 3-inch bread pan with buttered waxed paper. Beat the eggs and sugar until they
form a ribbon. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and add, along with the melted butter, to the eggs and sugar. Then add the nuts, figs, citron, and raisins and blend thoroughly. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated 350° oven for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool slightly in the pan, then remove the loaf to a rack to finish cooling.
Lemon Bread
This is a tart, deliciously refreshing bread with a character all its own. I had a feeling that lemon flavor in a baking powder bread might work out very well, so I experimented and came up with this. I am delighted with it, and find that it keeps extremely well.
[1 small loaf]
1 stick (½ cup) butter
½ cup granulated sugar
Rind of one lemon, finely chopped or coarsely grated
2 eggs
½ cup lemon juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the lemon rind and the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each is added. Stir in the lemon juice, then sift in the dry ingredients gradually. Beat well after each addition until you have a light, workable batter. Pour into a buttered and floured 8½ × 4½ × 2½-inch bread pan and bake at 350° for 50 to 60 minutes. Turn out on a rack to cool. Do not slice until the next day. Serve with butter and preserves as a tea bread.
Persimmon Bread
Persimmons grow in many countries of the world, but often, as in France, they are left hanging on the trees. In this country we have learned to appreciate their superb deep-orange color, their shape, and their delicate flavor, and they are becoming increasingly popular. In earlier times they were allowed to ripen on the trees until dead ripe before being eaten raw or used for puddings, cookies, and breads. Nowadays they show up in our markets in a firm state and must be left at room temperature for several days or a week to ripen until they are almost mushy.
This old recipe, sent to me by a dear friend from the Middle West, makes a bread that is almost cakelike in texture. Spread with good fresh butter, it is very pleasant to eat along with a cup of tea or to use for a cream-cheese sandwich. It is unusual, rich, and thoroughly delicious.
Traditionally this bread is baked in four 1-pound buttered and floured coffee cans, but you can use 3- to 4-cup charlotte molds (my preference), round Pyrex dishes, or round stainless steel bowls.
[4 round loaves]
3½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground mace
2 to 2½ cups granulated sugar, or to taste
1 cup melted butter
4 eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup Cognac or bourbon
2 cups persimmon purée (the pulp of about 4 medium, very ripe persimmons—not necessary to peel)
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
2 cups raisins (optional)
Sift all five dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Then make a well in the center and add the melted butter, eggs, Cognac, persimmon purée, and, if you like, the nuts and raisins. Mix the dough until it is quite smooth. Butter and flour four molds, fill them about three-fourths full, and bake for 1 hour at 350°. Cool the loaves in the molds and turn out on a rack.
NOTE
Wrap in foil after cooling if you wish to keep them. They will keep nicely from 1 to 2 weeks.
ROLLS
Parker House
Sweet Potato
Bread Sticks
Alvin Kerr’s Zephyr Buns
Crackling Biscuits
Parker House Rolls
Parker House rolls are as much of a tradition in the United States as any bread. They were created, so the story goes, by the Parker House in Boston, which was one of our great nineteenth-century hostelries. They have been copied by every cookbook author and every baker in the country. Some versions are exceedingly good and some are absolutely dreadful because they skimp on good ingredients. Parker House rolls should be delicate, soft, and rather sweet, typical of American rolls in the nineteenth century, and they consume butter by the tons. The dough itself need not be shaped into the classic Parker House foldover. Instead, you can cut the rolled-out dough into triangles and form them into crescent shapes, or you can cut the dough into strips and braid them. There are many other ways to treat this dough, which is very pliable and pleasant to work with.
Parker House rolls freeze well and can be reheated in foil or in a microwave oven. My mother used to make great quantities of them, and they would keep nicely for several days even in the refrigerator, in those days before freezing, and reheat beautifully. They certainly are one of the most delicious rolls I know of.
[About 30 rolls]
2 packages active dry yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar (see note)
½ cup warm water (100° to 115°, approximately)
½ stick (¼ cup) butter, cut into small pieces
2 cups warm milk
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
¼ to ½ cup melted butter
1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons light cream or milk
Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in the warm water and allow to proof. Melt the ½ stick butter in the warm milk, then combine with the yeast mixture in a large mixing bowl. Mix 2 to 3 cups of flour with the salt and stir, 1 cup at a time, into the mixture in the bowl, beating vigorously with a wooden spoon to make a soft sponge. (The dough will be wet and sticky.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, set in a warm place, and let the dough rise till doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Stir it down with a wooden spoon and add about 2 more cups of flour, 1 cup at a time, to make a dough that can be kneaded with ease. Turn out on a lightly floured board and knead until velvety smooth and very elastic; press with the fingers to see if the dough is resilient. Let rest for a few minutes, then form the dough into a ball. Put into a buttered bowl and turn so that the surface is thoroughly covered with butter. Cover and put in a warm, draft-free place to rise again until doubled in bulk.
Punch the dough down with your fist, turn out on a lightly floured board, and let rest for several minutes, until you are able to roll it out to a thickness of ½ inch. Cut out rounds of dough with a round 2- or 2½-inch cutter, or with a water glass dipped in flour. (The odd bits of leftover dough can be reworked into a ball, rolled out, and cut.) Brush the center of each round with melted butter. Take a pencil, a chopstick, or any cylinder of similar size and make a deep indentation in the center of the circle, without breaking through the dough. Fold over one-third of each round and press down to seal. Arrange these folded rolls on a buttered baking sheet about ½ inch apart. Brush again with melted butter and allow the rolls to rise until almost doubled in size. They will probably touch each other. Brush them with the egg wash and bake in a preheated 375° oven until lightly browned, about 20 minutes, depending on size. Test one by gently tapping it on the top. If done, you will hear a very faint hollow sound. Or take one, break it open carefully, and see if it is cooked inside.
Remove the rolls to a cooling rack or serve piping hot right from the oven, with plenty of butter and preserves or honey, if desired.
NOTE
The original recipe calls for 2 tablespoons sugar; however, I feel that the rolls are richer in flavor if the sugar content is reduced.
VARIATIONS
• The dough can be rolled out and cut into triangles and shaped into crescents. Roll from the wide end of the triangle to the point, first brushing with water, then bend the ends in a bit. Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds. Arrange on a buttered baking sheet and allow to rise and bake in the same way as the standard rolls.
• The dough can also be made into little braided rolls; or it can be rolled into tiny balls and placed, in groups of threes, in well-buttered muffin tins. In either case, allow the rolls to rise, brush them well with the egg wash, and bake as directed for Parker House ro
lls.
• Butter Flakes or Butterfly Rolls: Roll dough on a floured surface into a rectangle 9 × 14 × ¼ inches. Brush with melted butter and cut into five strips about 9 × 1¼ × ¼ inches each. Stack and cut into 1½-inch stacks. Place stacks, brushed with butter, cut side down, into buttered muffin tins. Follow directions above for rising and baking.
• Twists: Roll small pieces of dough into 9-inch strips. They should be approximately ½ to ⅔ inch in diameter. Tie in loose knots and place on buttered cookie sheets. Let rise and bake according to directions above.
Sweet Potato Rolls or Bread
This is a traditional American bread that can also be made with winter squash. It is deep yellow in color and has lightness and a lasting moisture. It is probably better baked as rolls than as a loaf; however, either form comes through extremely well.
[About 24 rolls or 2 loaves]
2 packages active dry yeast
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup warm water (100° to 115°, approximately)
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon salt 3 eggs
3 to 3½ cups all-purpose flour, approximately
½ cup mashed sweet potatoes or yams (if canned, drained of all liquids first)
2 tablespoons cream
Combine the yeast with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and the warm water in a mixing bowl and let proof for 5 minutes. Add the remaining sugar, the butter, salt, and 2 of the eggs to the yeast mixture, and stir to blend well. Stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time, then stir in the sweet potatoes. Turn out on a lightly floured board and knead for 2 or 3 minutes, adding only enough flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the board. (The dough will be soft, so do not knead too heavily.) When the dough is smooth and springy to the touch, shape it into a ball. Put in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
