bread – Secrets from Granny

For at least 40 years, since I had my first babies and my sister Dolly came to visit us in Corvallis, I have been making fruitcakes for Christmas. The recipe has evolved over the years. Here is a rough description, in case someone might want to try it, or to just know what goes into the fruitcake.

10 cups Dried Fruit from previous season, or fill in with storebought dried fruit. Some years I have lots of dried cherries, or Italian plums. This year’s variety included

8 cups dried apricots

2 cups raisins

2 cups of chopped dates

You may chop the fruit into smaller pieces, particularly the dates, but I leave the apricots in pretty big pieces.

Soak the dried ftuit in 2 cups of dark rum overnight

The next day ( or the day after ) start the batter. Preheat the oven to 350. Use coconut oil to grease your loaf pans. I like to use small loaf pans for individual gifts, and a medium sized one for a family size loaf.

Cream together the following ingredients one at a time. Using a stand mixer is very helpful.

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup honey

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 T. Grated orange peel

1/2 cup orange or apple juice

Blend together the following dry ingredients

3 3/4 cups flour. You may use a mixture of all purpose and whole wheat, in whatever proportions you desire

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 – 4 teaspoons cinnamon

1 t. grated nutmeg

1 t. ginger

1 t. cardamom

1/2 t. cloves

Mix the dry ingredients and the wet together

Chop into large pieces about 4 cups of a variety of nuts. I vary according to what I have on hand. Choices can include almonds, pecans, walnuts , Brazil nuts, hazelnuts. Use a food processor to chop if you have one.

Mix the nuts , the soaked dried fruits and the batter together . You will need a large bowl.

Scoop the batter into the prepared pans, and flatten the tops with a rubber spatula. Fill to almost the top of the pan.

Bake in the center racks for about 45 minutes for the small loaves or about 1 hour and 15 minutes for the large loaves. Rotate midway through the baking. You may also want to cover the tops with tinfoil near the end of the baking to prevent the fruit from scorching. Check for done ness by seeing a golden brown risen loaf with some cracking on top. Cool in the pans for at least 10 minutes. After cooling , remove from pans to cool completely.

Wash pans, and replace the loaves back into the pans. Douse the loaves with between 2 T and 1/2 cup of dark rum. Cover the tray with plastic bags or other airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for a few days. Wrap in parchment paper and tinfoil for gift giving.

Voila!

I am on a quest to learn how to make bread. Since I was in our hometown of Entiat last week, and because I am excited to learn what I can in living a healthy, happy life, I took the opportunity to take a lesson from Mom and learn some of her sourdough techniques. There were a few bits of info that I hadn’t seen in my recipe book, that I hope to use for my next batches of bread. I will share them with you!

Mama keeps her starter in the ‘fridge in a mason jar with a handy plastic lid that screws on tight, but opens easily. She pours her entire starter into two bowls, and adds flour (some of which she grinds from whole grains), and water to both. She lets them both sit out and bubble, on top of the stove. She then stores one batch (the mother) back in her jar, and makes the dough with the other, (the baby).

We used part of our dough to make a delicious eggplant and roasted and home canned tomato pizza!

Hopefully later this summer, when the tomatoes and other fruits and veggies are ripe for harvesting, I’ll get a lesson on canning!

Tag: bread

40 year old Fruitcake

Mama Knows Bread.