Funny, it doesn't taste that old! I found this recipe for "Oatmeal Molasses Bread" in Mrs. Gulau's stack of recipes that I "inherited" from Lene's Web. This one was published in the February, 1952 edition of "Household" magazine. It was folded and kept in a red Lustro-Ware recipe box along with many, many other bread recipes, most of which I didn't keep.I replaced the 1/4 cup of molasses with honey and the shortening with butter. I added 1/8 cup of water to the recipe too, since it's very dry this time of year. The bread came out delicious! We enjoyed some warm slices with honey drizzled on them. Tasty!
I didn't follow the pictorial series of shenanigans used to form the loaves (below). My approach to loaf-forming is very straightforward. I let the bread maker mix and knead the dough. When the dough is finished proofing, I roll it out into a rectangle close to the recommended size, roll it up gently (not too tight) with my hands, tuck in the ends and place it in the loaf pans for the second rise. Easy!
And now that I've indulged in two slices of this wonderful, honeyed bread I'm afraid I'm going to have to order some clothes from Roaman's catalog for "stout women". Is that a nice way of saying "plump"? Roaman's is still in business today and caters to "plump" women. What I really want to know is why does Roaman's send me catalogs? (If you click the photo and enlarge it, you'll notice that the clothing sizes range from 38-52.)Here are the loaf-forming shenanigans I referred to earlier, in case you wanted to know. Click to biggify.
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Did you make that 57-year-old bread with the same age yeast? hehe
ReplyDeleteYou sure are a lot more ambitious than I am these days. My latest adventure in the kitchen was making creme caramel to try and used up some of the eggs. I followed that recipe to the tee and what.a.flop. It was kinda gross actually. Won't be keepin' that one in my recipe file.
An aunt by marriage was a rather "stout" woman and I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a couple of Roaman's catalogs lying around her house. I think those sizes correlate to bust sizes and not sizes like 14 or 16. In that case, I definitely would fall in the 38-52 range. Perhaps you should send me one of those catalogs. I'm sure I could squeeze a couple of those nifty housedresses in my closet. :)
Here in th NC Appalachins, the old timers thought a man was lucky to get a stout woman, was much better suited for the farm.
ReplyDeleteI like anything oatmeal, I'd like to try that recipe.
I thought of you last night, I was on ETSY and saw a retro apron.
Susan, nope, I don't have any 57 year old yeast in the freezer. But wouldn't it be neat if I did? It would probably have to rise for several days! LOL I fit into the "stout" category too, although my weight seems to yo-yo through the years. I think you're right about those numbers referring to bust sizes.
ReplyDeleteJoanna, when I look at photos of my relatives taken way back when, I see that most of the women were big. I come from a line of big-boned women who were pretty plump by the time they were grandmas. It's funny how, even back then, skinny women were used for advertising. But how many of women in the 1950s were actually that size? I don't think there were very many skinny women. If you do try the recipe, my notes were accurate changes to make. The bread made some delicious ham sandwiches for lunch today! And a retro apron? Did it have chooks on it too???