Pilgrim Bread

Recently I participated in the first ever book exchange on redditgifts.com, and I received in the mail one of my all time favorite types of book, a brand spanking new Cook Book [More-With-Less by Doris Janzen Longacre] courtesy of reddit user ZazzlesThe7th. After the initial excitement of receiving a Cook Book I have never heard of, I sat down and started reading all the stories and recipes that are held within and learned that its a Mennonite Cook Book that has an amazing range of recipes from homemade laundry soap and play dough to Navajo Fry Bread and Peanut Soup and everything else in between. It also teaches you how to make bigger proportions while using less ingredients so as not to waste as much, and other useful kitchen tips such as canning food and all the different recipe measures and conversions. With so many unique and unheard of recipes I had a hard time deciding on which would be the first to be made, but after much deliberation, I decided to go with Pilgrim Bread since I enjoy making Bread and happened to have all the necessary ingredients.

Ingredients: 1/2 Cup Yellow Corn Meal

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

2 Cups Boiling Water

1/4 Cup Oil

2 Pkg. Dry Yeast

1/2 Cup Water

3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 Cup Rye Flour

4 1/4-4 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

In a large bowl, combine the Cornmeal

Brown Sugar

And Salt sifting together with a whisk

Gradually stir in the Boiling Water

Then the Oil and set aside until lukewarm

In a separate bowl, dissolve together the Yeast

And Water

Add to the cooled mixture

Beat in the Whole Wheat Flour

Rye Flour

And White Flour until a soft Dough forms

Turn out onto a slightly Floured surface

Then Knead until smooth and elastic

Place the Dough into a lightly greased bowl

Cover and let rise until double in size

Punch down the Dough

Then divide in half and knead a second time

Shape the Dough into two loaves and place into greased pans

Cover and let rise until double

Once risen, place the Dough into a preheated oven at 375 F

Bake 35-45 minutes or until the bottom of the Loaf sounds hollow when tapped

Wait for it to cool then slice and enjoy

What a interesting Bread this recipe makes, its sort of like a half multi-grain/half white bread. It has a wonderful aroma when baking and a nice golden brown crust that started off hard when removed from the oven, but quickly changes back to soft as the Bread cools. It has a subtle chew and wonderful flavors that overlap one another without any one being too over powering. Overall this is a great everyday Bread to have around, whether you want to just cover it in butter and jam, or make a ten layer sandwich like Scooby and Shaggy.