Oatmeal Bread

by Mrs Marvel

Mrs. Cleveland is at it again!

Oatmeal Bread (Mrs. Cleveland)

1/2 c cornmeal

1/2 c rolled oats

Pour over 2 c hot water Continue reading →

Milk & Water Bread – Pat’s Version

by Mrs Marvel

Gram was called Pat, Aunt Pat or Grandma Pat by all who knew her, even though her name was Katharine, so this must have been her version of milk & water bread.  She told me once that when she was little her father called her his little Patsy and Pat just stayed with her as she grew.

Milk & Water Bread – Pat’s Version

Mix one packet dry yeast with about 1/2 teacup full of lukewarm water and 1 tsp sugar. Let stand at least 1/2 hour – more if the yeast is slow to rise. Set the mixture into a large cereal dish to prevent spill over. Add one level tsp salt to 5 tbsp of butter or margarine and 1/2 c dry milk. Pour over 5 c fairly warm water to melt the butter. Add the risen yeast and stir well. Add flour enough to knead.

Again, no further baking instructions. These look almost like notes to herself, since she knew how hot and how long to bake bread.

Moist and not too sweet

by Mrs Marvel

Tonight I decided to try making the Apple Sauce Cake I posted a few days ago.  Before making the cake, I carefully read through the instructions, and being as there is no oven temperature, I consulted a few other spice/coffee cake recipes and decided on a temp & time.

First, straining the applesauce is something I didn’t consider very well.  I don’t actually own a strainer, so it is now on my shopping list.  I used doubled paper towels, but I don’t recommend this.  You could use cheesecloth, which is what I was angling for, but I don’t care for the output.  It was a little more liquidy than I would think is desired.  In future, I will strain in a proper strainer until no liquid drips from the apple pulp. As you can see, I substituted butter for ‘fat’ as the original recipe requested.  :-)  I used softened butter and creamed the butter and brown sugar until well mixed.  In another bowl, I combined all the dry ingredients and mixed them together well.  You could use a sifter, but I haven’t had the best experiences with them, so I just use a spoon to combine the dry ingredients.  I folded all the dry ingredients, the raisins and the applesauce into the butter and sugar mix, then added the eggs last, for no reason other than Melody wanted to break the eggs and she was across the counter from me. I beat the mix for 2 minutes, although I suspect the designated 2 minutes is actually for hand mixing (i.e. with a spoon and your arm power only).  We made sure the batter tasted good – it did – and we put it into a greased loaf pan.  I used a loaf pan because that is what the recipe called for, but an 8×8 or an 8″ round would also suffice.

Some other recipes I consulted called to bake the cake for 40 minutes at 350.  I checked our cake at 35 minutes and it was still quite moist and unbaked at the top but beginning to darken and crisp on the sides, so I returned it to the oven at 275 for 15 minutes.  After cooling, it was still very moist at the top, I suspect because my applesauce was not drained sufficiently.

The cake is moist and not too sweet, more like a spice cake than a regular cake.  You would not need to frost this, but if you did a lightly sweetened cream cheese frosting would be perfect.

Mrs. Cleveland’s Rolls

by Mrs Marvel

Mrs. Cleveland’s Rolls

Make a sponge of:

2 large potatoes

1 cup water

1 cup milk

1 yeast cake

2 eggs beaten separately

2 tbsp sugar Continue reading →