Our Loaf of Bread and the Hungarian Connection

Originally published July 26, 1984

Brown bread, served hot and steaming with baked beans is typically New England. Germans and Austrians specialize in black bread, rye breads or bread flavored with caraway seeds and poppy seeds. The Scandinavians also have a large array of dark breads, crisp breads, etc., and the Turks produce a soft brown aromatic bread that must be eaten fresh. Cornbread, still a southern specialty, long dominated American bread boxes because wheat was a luxury.

Wheat bread began its march to leadership when an American, Oliver Evans, pioneered in grinding flour with “bolting” (sifting) devices instead of with ancient millstones. Evans’ water-driven flour mill, the country’s first “automated” factory, was established in 1787. The Evans process was covered by federal patents after 1790 and by 1837, 1,200 automatic mills, using Evans’ patent or infringing on it, were producing some two million barrels of flour a year in states west of the Alleghenies.

While corn, rye and whole wheat doughs will rise only slightly, white bread made of bolted flour can be light and airy, if somewhat deficient in B vitamins and fiber. The Hungarian Count Steven Szechenyi produced such a fine, aristocratic white flour in the 1870’s  that it captured a wide market, and in 1879 the governor of Minnesota had Hungarian engineers come to Minneapolis to put up rolling mills on which Messrs. Crosby and Washburn established the General Mills Company.

Some Americans survived nicely on cornbread, or on sourdough bread, now associated with the prospectors of California, Alaska and the Yukon. Made of fermented dough, sourdough bread actually goes back to 4000 B.C. and may be the oldest of breads. Columbus had a sourdough started aboard ship when he reached the New World. The gold seekers carried starters (self-perpetuating yeast mixtures combining flour, sugar and water) in starter pots strapped to their backs; they were prepared to make bread anywhere they stopped to make a claim. When they pulled up stakes and moved on, the sourdough starters and starter pots moved on with them.

Here are some breads that you will find are fun to make and which everyone will enjoy.

Today’s recipes:
Irish Oatmeal Bread
Zucchini Bread
Beer Twists
Psome - “Greek City Bread”
Brethren Cheddar Bread

Irish Oatmeal Bread Recipe

This smells great while cooking and tastes even better. Makes two loaves, serve it with unsalted butter. Store extra loaf wrapped in aluminum foil and reheat in oven.

Ingredients:
3 cups sifted flour
1-1/4 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1-1/2 T. baking powder
1 T. salt
1/2 cup honey
1-1/2 cups milk
1 T. melted butter
1 egg, beaten

V.S.P. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sifted flour, rolled oats, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, add mix honey, milk and butter with the beaten egg. Pour egg mixture into oat mixture, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Mixture will be lumpy. Spread into two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake one hour. Turn out of pans onto a wire rack. Brush with more melted butter while warm. Serve.

Zucchini Bread Recipe

When your neighbor begins to offer zucchini from his garden this is the best way to use them. Makes two loaves and these can be easily frozen for later use.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 T. vanilla
2 cups sifted flour
1 T. cinnamon
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/4 t. baking powder
2 cups coarsely grated zucchini, loosely packed
1 cup chopped nuts

V.S.P. In a bowl, beat eggs until fluffy. Beat in sugar, oil and vanilla until it is thick and lemon colored. Add remaining ingredients, mix well and pour into two loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Invert on wire racks and let cool completely. Serve.

Beer Twists Recipe

These rolls are from Brazil and everyone will enjoy these when you sprinkle them with powdered sugar just as you take them from the oven. Serve with coffee or tea.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 lb. unsalted butter, unsoftened
1 T. sugar
8 oz. beer

The night before you plan to serve:
Step 1. Cut butter into flour with a pastry blender. Add sugar and beer and mix well.

Step 2. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured board and knead until it is no longer sticky. Cover the dough and refrigerate it overnight.

To bake the twists:
Step 3. Tear off chunks of dough the size of a large walnut. Roll each piece between your palms into a 2-inch cylinder. Twist each cylinder two or three times and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Step 4. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Psome - Greek "City Bread” Recipe

This Psome is translated as Greek city bread and usually is not eaten by Greek village people. This makes two loaves.

Ingredients:
2 pkgs. dry active yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
3 T. sugar
1 T. salt
1/4 cup melted butter
6 cups sifted flour
2 T. cream
2 T. sesame seeds

Step 1. Sprinkle the yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar in the lukewarm water. Cover and let stand for 7 to 8 minutes until the mixture is bubbly.

Step 2. Stir the remaining sugar, salt, butter and egg together.

Step 3. Scald the milk. When it is lukewarm, add it and the yeast mixture to the egg mixture. Add the flour and stir well.

Step 4. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead for 10 minutes.

Step 5. Butter the inside of a large bowl and turn the dough ball in the bowl, rotating it so all sides are lightly oiled. Cover with a tea towel and let stand in a warm place until double in bulk, about 2 hours.

Step 6. Punch the dough down with your fist. Turn the dough out on a floured board again and knead for 2 to 3 minutes more.

Step 7. Divide the dough into two pieces and place each into a well-greased 9-inch cake pan or place both loaves on a greased cookie sheet.

Step 8. Brush the tops with cream and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Step 9. Cover with a tea towel and let stand in a warm place until the dough doubles again - about 1 hour.

Step 10. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Serve.

Brethren Cheddar Bread Recipe

This bread is from the Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts. During the Civil War the Shakers built their communities in New England. These good people shunned all embellishment, produced their own furniture and practiced complete celibacy (very few of us are left). This makes four loaves.

Ingredients:
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 T. sugar
3 t. baking powder
1-1/4 t. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 cups coarsely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 T. minced fresh dill or 1 t. dried dill weed
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 cups milk

V.S.P. Sift together in a large bowl the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbly - about the texture of uncooked oatmeal. Stir in the shredded cheese and the dill.

Combine the eggs and milk, then add to the dry ingredients all at once, stirring just enough to moisten the dry ingredients uniformly. Divide batter among four very well greased loaf pans and bake in a 400 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until loaves are nicely browned and sound hollow when thumped. Cool loaves upright on wire racks for 10 minutes, then invert and remove from pans. Slice fairly thick and serve.

These loaves freeze well. Simply wrap snuggly in aluminum foil and place in freezer. Bring to room temperature before slicing.

Chapattis - Indian Bread Recipe

This Indian bread is one of the traditional unleavened breads of Asia.

Ingredients:
1 cup sifted flour (whole wheat if you have it)
1/8 t. salt
1/2 cup water

V.S.P. Sift the flour and the salt into a bowl; gradually work in just enough water, using the fingers, to make a soft dough. Divide into 10 pieces and flatten into circles on a lightly floured surface. Cover with a towel and let stand 20 minutes. Roll out as thin as possible.

Heat an ungreased skillet or griddle and place the dough circles on it. Bake over low heat, turning frequently, until crisp and browned. To keep flat, press down gently with a spatula or paper towel. Serve.