Rosemary for Remembrance

From Woman's World, August, 1936 p. 24, but this time not nasty. 


To begin at the beginning, here are two quick sandwich breads -Chocolate Bread which you will find perfectly grand for cream cheese or marmalade sandwiches, and Date-Nut-Orange Bread.

Chocolate Bread
3 cups sifted cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter or shortening
1 1/4 cups milk
2 squares (ounces) unsweetened chocolate, melted

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add sugar and when thoroughly blended moisten with the beaten egg. shortening and milk,. adding these gradually and mixing well. Finally add the chocolate and when well blended turn into a greased loaf-pan and bake in a moderate oven-350 degrees F.--about one and a quarter hours.

Date-Nut-Orange Bread

2 cups white flour
1 teaspoon soda [baking soda, I assume, not washing]
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups graham flour
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup chopped nut-meats
2/3 cup pitted dates, cut small
Grated rind 1 orange
2 cups sour milk
1/2 cup molasses

Sift together the white hour. soda, salt and baking powder. Add the graham flour, sugar, nut-meats,
dates and orange rind and moisten with the blended sour milk and molasses. Turn into one large well greased bread pan and bake in a moderate oven-350 degrees F.-about one and a quarter hours.

...
Another variety of the rolled sandwich is the one where buttered fresh bread is rolled around a spray of watercress. a short stalk of celery (plain or stuffed) or a tip of cooked asparagus, any of these being first dipped into French dressing for greater flavor.
[I've seen recipes where the asparagus was dipped in hollandaise. Mm.]

...
Afternoon Tea Sandwiches

Cucumber: White bread with filling of finely minced well drained cucumber seasoned with onion juice, lemon juice and minced parsley.

Rolled Mint: Cream butter for sandwiches then work into it very finely minced mint-1 teaspoon to 2/3 cup butter.

Peach Cream: Spread white, graham or whole wheat bread first with softened butter then with cream cheese., next with peach (or apricot) marmalade. Nuts if you like but they are good enough without. Serve either as open or closed sandwiches.

Tropical: Use white bread, spread with creamed butter then with currant jelly into which shredded coconut, plain or toasted, has been beaten with a fork. Top with thinly sliced bananas sprinkled with lemon juice. Serve either open or closed.

Date Nut: Thin slices of pound cake or sponge cake with filling of chopped dates and nuts (in equal proportions) moistened with orange juice.

Campfire Sandwiches

Split, toast and butter round sandwich rolls. Fill with piping hot slices of sautéed canned corned beef hash, top with a little prepared horseradish, mustard or mustard pickle. Serve dill pickles on the side.

Roquefort-Ham for the Slag Party*

Combine finely minced ham with one-fourth its bulk each of mashed roquefort cheese and chopped sweet pickles. Moisten with French dressing or mayonnaise. Use buttered whole wheat or rye bread or pumpernickel, topping the filling, if desired, with thinly sliced, well chilled, seasoned fresh tomatoes.

Century Club

Use three slices buttered toast for each sandwich. Arrange on the first, lettuce, crisp bacon and sliced tomato moistened with French dressing or mayonnaise. Cover with second slice of toast, placing on this lettuce, cold tongue and minced mustard pickle. Top with remaining toast slice, cut through to form two triangles and garnish with pickle fans.

* okay, it's really Stag Party, but I prefer the OCR version. 

I read a recipe in James Beard's American Cooking and then made up my own.

Preheat oven to 350.

1. Wash and core 4 baking apples -- I bought Rome Beauties for the purpose.
2. Stand apples on their bottoms in a baking dish; trim bottoms if necessary to make them stand up.
3. Stuff with pecan pieces and ~1 tablespoon of butter cut into bits, alternating layers until you get to the top.
4. Mix 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup water. (vary proportions according to taste and to how expensive maple syrup is.)
5. Pour maple mixture into apples. Pour remainder of mixture into baking pan. If there's less than half an inch or so, top up with water.
6. Bake apples uncovered for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on apples. Baste with fluids from the pan every 10 minutes. Apples are done when you can push a skewer from the core to the outside.
7. Take out of oven and let cool. James Beard says to serve them cold; I'm going to rewarm gently in the oven for supper.

If you're feeling fancy, pour off the remainder of the basting mixture, boil down to a syrup, and pass as a sauce at the table.

No, I'm not Jewish, but I like doughnuts. The SF Chronicle chose to put this recipe behind its paywall, so I'm duplicating it here. I have a batch rising right now; watch this space to see if they're as good as they sound.

Make-Ahead Sufganiyot (Jelly Doughnuts)

Makes 12 large doughnuts or 36 doughnut holes

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups bread flour
2 egg yolks + 1 whole egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed

Vegetable oil, for frying
Preserves or jelly, for filling
Powdered sugar, for dusting

In a small saucepan, warm the milk, sugar and salt until dissolved. Pour out ¼ cup of the warmed milk (not too hot) into a small bowl, and mix with the yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes, until it bubbles.

Meanwhile, place the milk back on the stove and add the butter, stirring just until the butter melts. Pour the milk and butter mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, and mix in the 2 cups of bread flour until combined. Add the yeast mixture, eggs and vanilla, and continue to mix on medium speed until incorporated. Add 1½ cups all-purpose flour, and mix for 3-5 minutes, until dough is well combined and slightly tacky.

Pour the remaining ½ cup all-purpose flour on a work surface and turn dough out onto the flour. Work in the flour, kneading the dough with your hands as you go, for 5 minutes or so. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and set in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about 1½ hours. Turn out again onto a floured surface, punch down, and roll out to ½-inch thickness.

To make doughnut holes that you will fill after frying, use a small 1-1½-inch round cookie cutter, floured, to cut out the shapes, setting them on a parchment-lined baking sheet as you cut. To make large doughnuts, cut out the dough into 2½-inch circles.

Set doughnuts aside to proof, letting them again double in size, about 45 minutes.

At this point you can freeze the doughnuts by placing the whole cookie sheet into the freezer and letting flash-freeze for at least 30 minutes before transferring the doughnuts to a zip-top bag. When ready to fry, leave at room temperature until thawed, about 1 hour. Do not let sit too long at room temperature once thawed, or the doughnuts will overproof.

To fry: Pour oil to a depth of 3 inches in a medium saucepan. Heat until the oil reaches 375 degrees, or the deep-fry stage. Working with about 2 larger doughnuts or 4 doughnut holes at a time, drop into the hot oil and fry, flipping once, until cooked through and golden brown all over. The holes will be cooked in about 2 minutes, and the larger ones in 3-4 minutes (take care not to burn the outside). Remove to paper towels to drain.

To fill, fit a pastry bag with a small tip or use a squeeze bottle, fill with jam and squirt into the center of each doughnut or doughnut hole before sprinkling with powdered sugar and serving.

Per large doughnut: 321 calories, 19 g fat (6 g saturated), 60 mg cholesterol, 238 mg sodium, 31 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 6 g protein.

 Sunset beet bread
Yields two large free-form loaves.  As-baked instructions given; original quantities in brackets[].   The original recipe called for 1.5 pounds beets to be steamed, cooled, skins slipped, and pureed to yield 1.5 cups puree.   I took two fist-sized beets, scrubbed, wrapped in foil, roasted at 400 degrees (the temperature of the roast already in the oven; anything above 300 would do) until done, cooled overnight, and pureed to yield 4 cups.

1 pkg (2.25 tsp) active dry yeast
.25 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
1 T sugar [2T]

At room temperature:
1/2 c milk
1/4 c butter (should be soft)
1 egg

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg [1 tsp]
1/2 tsp ground white pepper [not in original]
1 tsp salt
Vegetable puree

6+ cups mix of all-purpose flour and bread flour [5+ cups all-purpose]

Proof yeast in water and sugar.   Add all other ingredients and 5 cups of flour,  adding flour in cup intervals.  Mix by hand or in machine until you have a soft, non-sticky dough.  Turn out onto floured board and knead until soft and satiny.   While kneading, turn to form gluten cloak on outside; outside will be smooth and satiny, but inside will still be somewhat better.   Put in greased bowl for first rise; rise until doubled.  (possibly 1.5 hours, but you know how that goes.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Punch down dough and  divide into 2 or 3 loaves;  place in bannetons/brotformen, if you have them, or steep-sloped bowls, or free-form on cookie sheets to rise.   Bread will rise higher if the sides are supported during the rise.   Rise until almost doubled (about 45 min, ha).  Turn gently on to peel or cookie sheet.   Slash.  Put into oven.  Bake 30-40 minutes or until loaves sound hollow.   Cool on racks.

General notes:

• Shaping a boule
• If you bake freeform loaves on baker's parchment, it's much easier to get them into and out of the oven, even if you're using a peel.
• Dust brotformen/bannetons with rye flour and the bread is much less likely to stick; I used brand-new wicker molds and the loaves popped right out.
• This makes a light, American-style bread, enriched with milk, egg, and butter.   It's completely unlike a French- or Italian-style yeast/flour/water bread.
• You can't tell if this is done by checking the color.  Thump it and smell it.
• The author gives instructions on pureeing several different root vegetables, as well as spinach and tomato.  I'll definitely try this again with carrot, and maybe with butternut squash.
• This doesn't taste strongly beet-y.  The beet is there as an earthy aftertaste.