Aunt Sarah's White Bread and Rolls
A historical recipe from Mary at the farm, and book of recipes compiled during her visit among the "Pennsylvania Germans", by Thomas, Edith M. (Edith May) (1915).
A historical recipe
Mary at the farm, and book of recipes compiled during her visit among the "Pennsylvania Germans", by Thomas, Edith M. (Edith May) (1915). Project Gutenberg eBook #13545.
From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.
United States
Known as an American recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.
Ingredients 6 ingredients
- 1 quart potato water
- 1 tablespoonful butter
- 1 tablespoonful sugar
- 1 cup good yeast
- 1/2 tablespoonful salt
- 1 Fleischman yeast
Cook safely
Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.
- Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
- Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
- Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.
Method
Chef Wood
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- 1 quart potato water.
- 1 mashed potato.
- 1 tablespoonful butter or lard.
- 1 tablespoonful sugar.
- 1 Fleischman yeast cake, or 1 cup good yeast.
- 1/2 tablespoonful salt.
- Flour to stiffen (about three quarts).
- At 9 o'clock in the evening put in a large bowl the mashed potato, the quart of luke-warm potato water (water in which potatoes were boiled for dinner), butter or sweet lard, sugar, salt, and mix with flour into a batter, to which add the Fleischman's or any good yeast cake, dissolved in a little luke-warm water.
- Beat well and stir in flour until quite stiff, turn out on a well-floured bake-board and knead well about 25 minutes, until the dough is smooth, fine-grained and elastic, and does not stick lo the bake-board or hands.
- Chop a knife through the dough several times;
- knead and chop again.
- This makes the bread finer and closer-grained, or, so Aunt Sarah thought.
- Knead in all the flour necessary when first mixing the bread.
- When sufficiently kneaded, form into a large, round ball of dough, rub all over with soft lard, or butter, to prevent forming a crust on top and keep from sticking to bowl, and set to rise, closely-covered with a cloth and blanket, in a warm place until morning.
- In the morning the bread should be very light, doubled in quantity.
- Take out enough dough for an ordinary loaf, separate this into three parts, roll each piece with the hand on the bake-board into long, narrow pieces.
- Pinch the three pieces together at one end and braid, or plait, into a narrow loaf.
- Brush over top with melted butter;
- set to rise in a warm place in a bread pan, closely-covered, until it doubles in size--or, if preferred, mold into ordinary-shaped loaves, and let rise until doubled in size, when bake in a moderately-hot oven with steady heat.
- Frequently, when the "Twist" loaves of bread were quite light and ready to be placed in the oven, Aunt Sarah brushed the tops with yolk of egg, or a little milk, then strewed "Poppy Seeds" thickly over.
- The poppy seeds give an agreeable flavor to the crust of the bread.
Plating
Cookware for this recipe
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Saucepan
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Cake tin
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Mixing bowl
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Chef's knife
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Cutting board
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Wooden spoon
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Pastry brush