Bread Recipes to Drool Over | Montana Happy (2024)

FAQs

How did people bake in the Great Depression? ›

During the Great Depression, ingredients like eggs and dairy were hard to come by, but it didn't stop people from making delicious sweets! Crazy Cakes replaced eggs with vinegar and baking soda which made the cakes airy and fluffy much like eggs do in our baking.

You can also add herbs and seasonings such as garlic, rosemary, dill, chopped onion, jalapeño, shredded cheese, chopped nuts, dried cranberries, etc. My no yeast bread is the quick bread alternative here—you can add flavors to that loaf, too! Baker's Tip: Avoid adding too much flour to the dough as you work with it.

Quick breads use the chemical leavening agents of baking powder and/or baking soda. Baking powder and baking soda do not require time for rising, so the batter for quick bread is cooked immediately after mixing.

Give the Dough Time

To achieve a great flavored loaf, be sure to give the dough enough time to rise. While some loaves of bread can take just 40 minutes to rise, others can take up to 48 hours. Allowing time for your bread to rise correctly ensures that more starch is broken down into gluten.

Butter and especially stronger oils, such as walnut, can also add flavor to bread. Dry milk powder adds flavor to bread and can soften its texture, as in the case of this basic white sourdough. Add it to dough with the flour.

Fresh or dry herbs work equally well in bread recipes. Ensure you increase the amount of fresh herbs used (see instructions below). Or check out my Pesto Flatbread recipe where I use homemade fresh herb pesto in the bread dough.

The takeaway: If you're storing bread for a day or two at room temperature, plastic or foil (rather than cloth) are the best options. You can certainly wrap your bread in plastic wrap or a reusable wrap.

What happens if you leave an egg out of bread? ›

Bread with no egg looked as normal as any other white loaf. It had puffed up evenly and had a nice crust colour and a soft texture. The interior was soft but quite tight. This could be made lighter by skipping the pre-shaping or folding steps making the dough looser.

In baked goods, you can replace yeast with an equal amount of baking powder. Just keep in mind that the leavening effects of baking powder will not be as distinct as those of yeast. Baking powder causes baked goods to rise rapidly, but not to the same extent as yeast.

Quick breads are prepared with flour, eggs, sugar, fats and liquids including milk, buttermilk, or sour cream, and each plays a part in the overall texture and flavor of the finished product. Flour adds structure to the bread but the batter must be mixed minimally so that the gluten structure doesn't develop too much.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, homemakers stretched their food budgets with soups, rice and pasta–but beans were the commodity no household went without: cheap, high protein, and no refrigeration required until cooked.

Some of the reasons that baking can improve our mood include the fact that it is an activity that requires focus and concentration, which can ensure we stay present in the moment. Following a recipe requires calmness and concentration, which can provide a similar effect to mindfulness.

The earliest evidence of bread-making comes from ancient Egypt, where flatbreads were made using barley and emmer wheat. The process involved grinding the grains into a flour, mixing it with water and yeast, and then baking the dough over an open flame.

People baked a lot on a hearth in front of a fire in those days, or in a pot suspended over the fire. I have had great success baking bread in a cast iron dutch oven inside the oven. You heat the oven as hot as it will go (home ovens are not quite hot enough!) Inside is the dutch oven, which also heats smoking hot.