Fair
Recipe:
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tsps baking powder
1 egg
2 tbs cooking oil
1 cups milk
1 cup nuts
Let rise 25 - 30 minutes. Bake at 325 for 1 hour, or until done.
Yep... those are the only instructions. No order as to what gets mixed first.... no instruction as to what kind, or how many pans to use. So a great deal of this was just me using what baking knowledge I had based on the ingredients.
I mixed it in this order: Eggs, sugar and oil beat together first, then flour, salt and baking powder get mixed in alternately with the milk in 3 steps, trying to work very quickly so as to not let the flour get overworked. I mixed in the nuts ( I used pecans, because I typically always have pecans on hand). I tasted the dough, and it was sweet... but lacked any personality. So I added 2 tsps of pumpkin pie spice (awesome to have if you don't have a lot of cupboard space... mixes all your "sweet spices" together in one handy little can). It helped... kind of.
I also dipped into my memory from my Jr High days when every one and their mother (literally) was making "Amish Friendship Bread" and rather then greasing and flouring a pan, I buttered and sugared it instead. It's a handy little trick for baking things like pound cakes or zucchini bread. It just makes the outside sweeter and a little crunchy.
I should point out, I used the loaf pan because, quite simply, the recipe called this "bread". I found out later, this was probably a bad choice. The dough was very dense, and didn't contain much oil either. I wasn't really sure what kind of consistency to expect from the finished product. But I poured it into the pan and let it rise for
a full half hour.
As you can see, it did rise ever so slightly... but I was getting a smidge nervous because with that much baking powder, it should have risen a lot more.
But I put it to bake for it's hour in the oven anyway.
After an hour I went to retrieve my Nut Bread and was delighted to see this.
All golden-brown, and smelled delicious... when you tapped the top it "sounded hollow" just like bakers say breads should if they're perfectly cooked. So I grabbed my bread knife and started to cut 2 pieces so that Ben and I could try Mrs. Roselius's Nut Bread's Maiden Voyage...
The first piece cut beautifully! I was very excited, because while I think I'm a pretty fair hand at cooking, baking anything other than cookies is usually a disaster for me. I thought I had finally broken my streak... when all of a sudden my knife cut into this
Ew.A good 4 inches of the center of the loaf was pure goo, and subsequently ended up in the trash. The ends were very tasty though. And after having sampled both "Fresh from the Oven" and "Next Morning for Breakfast", I can tell you that it's much tastier fresh from the oven.
So, next time (if there *is* a next time) instead of a standard loaf pan, I think I'll use a shallower, wider baking dish. I'll definitely repeat the butter and sugaring process, and maybe even add a little more spice. I think it might do well also to replace the oil with butter, and maybe even double the amount of fat used. I have my suspicions that this recipe is a "war recipe" since it calls for such a small amount of oil and had no frills like Cinnamon or nutmeg. Though, the full cup of sugar is a little suspect for a recipe based on food rations...
Tonight I'm of to the grocery for the first time since starting this blog. So I'll be shopping with these recipes in mind ( first of all, most of the "main dish" type recipes call for some sort of canned soup or another. I don't typically buy those, so I haven't been able to attempt may of the recipes in that category). So expect a few savory recipes next time :)
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