MMM! Swedish Brown Bread!

[sscutchen]

Maybe 5 years ago I converted a century's old recipe for Swedish Brown Bread that was my Grandmother-in-law's to work in my bread maker. I hadn't made it in a couple of years, though... Just got out of the habit of using the breadmaker (a Zojirushi BBCC-V20).

I noticed the yeast in the freezer yesterday, and even though it had a 2004 date, it had been in the freezer, not the fridge. So I broke out the old recipe.

Everything worked great!

And man, it is good!

[Jack D.]

So.....where's the recipe????

[sscutchen]

Heh!

Grandma Minnie Peterson's Swedish Brown Bread

Minnie Peterson was my wife's grandmother. She immigrated as a child from Sweden to Texas in the 1880's. On "bread day" as a young girl, and later as a mother and grandmother, she baked this rich, molassas-based brown bread for the family's needs for the coming week. Minnie passed the recipe down to her daughters. It became a traditional recipe, especially at family gatherings.

But the tradition is at risk. I've converted the recipe for baking in an automatic bread machine. I'm hoping that converting the recipe to a bread machine recipe may allow the current generation to keep the tradition of this bread alive in the family.


1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup molassas (about 30% Green Label if available)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp butter, cut into small pieces to aid mixing

3-1/2 cups bread machine flour (16 oz wt)
2 tsp bread machine (or instant) yeast


(Cycle details for Zojirushi BBCC-V20)

Distribute first 6 ingredients in bread machine pan.
Add flour.
Use finger to make a small furrow in flour and add yeast.
(This keeps yeast away from other ingredients while preheating.)

Set bread machine to regular bread cycle and light crust.

After kneading is complete (38 minutes after pressing start),
distribute the dough in the pan with the back of a spoon if needed.

[taylor]

Thanks for sharing. Give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile... Any chance you still have the original recipe? I don't have a bread machine and this sounds really good.

taylor
(now missing my dearly departed Swedish grandmother. I may have to go make so swedish pancakes for breakfast.)

[sscutchen]

Here's what I had for an initial non-machine recipe.

2 cups milk
1-3/4 cups water
2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp Crisco
1/4 cup Grandma's Green Label molasses
3/4 cup Grandma's Yellow Label molasses

Green label is hard to find. Sub with yellow if you can't find it.

Dissolve 1-1/2 pkg dry yeast in 1/4 cup warm water with 1 tsp of sugar.

5 lbs flour minus 3 cups

Mix first 7 ingredients well and bring to a boil. Let cool. Add yeast when lukewarm but not hot. Gradually add flour to liquid using a large mixing spoon. Put on a floured board and knead well with greased hands. You should knead until the dough does not stick to the hands. Place dough in a large bowl and grease top of dough. Cover and set in a warm place to rise until double in size.

Put on a lightly floured board and knead well. Divide dough into 8 equal parts. Knead each loaf well. Place in a greased bread pan. If you use a long pan, use two or three portions. Grease top of loaves, cover with paper towels and let rise until double in size.

Bake 45 minutes at 350 degF or until bread springs back when touched by fingers.

When done, remove from pan and brush with sugar / water mixture. Cover with a towel until cool.

[taylor]

That's great. Thanks for taking the time to post that.