Baking Bread : Swiss Sensation Loaf

May 5, 2024 Sarah

Vintage recipes are always “interesting” to try out. The biggest is the little information you get from the tiny recipe card companies published long ago. This was brought to you by SARAN WRAP (must be in all capitals, right?). As always, I muddled my way through the recipe, using my years of baking skills to judge how I should proceed.

I did find it on other sites, so the recipe has been bandied about over the years.

Thoughts On The Recipe:

I used a stand mixer to make the dough with a metal paddle (not a dough hook), but I added the last cup of flour by hand for the best results. Make sure the butter is soft, or it won’t beat in well.

I feel that this bread would have baked even better had I heated a cast iron skillet in the oven, dropped it in parchment paper, and then the dough for baking. While it was very tasty and turned out well, the crust was soft, far softer than I prefer. I feel this was due to some steaming in the glass pie pan called for. This being a vintage recipe, people hadn’t refound how great cast iron was for baking in.

Swiss Sensation Loaf

Ingredients:

2¼ tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast
¼ cup warm water (110°)
¼ cup milk, scalded and cooled (see in directions below)
1½ tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick), sliced
3 large eggs
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Swiss cheese, diced

Directions:

Heat the milk in a microwave, in a glass measuring cup, for about a minute, keeping an eye on it. It should be hot but not boiling.

Add in the butter slices and let it cool down.

Meanwhile, put the paddle attachment on a stand mixer and add the yeast, water, and sugar to the bowl. Add the milk and butter mixture and salt. Start the mixer on low, let it mix a bit, then add the eggs. Beat in gently.

Add half the flour and work it in, then let it beat for 10 minutes on medium speed.

Using a wooden spoon or a dough hook, add the remaining flour. Depending on the humidity, it may need a bit more flour.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm area for 2 hours. In our home, we use a heating pad on medium.

Punch down the dough, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Punch down the dough and place it on a lightly floured work surface. Form a flat ball. Knead in the cheese until fully mixed in, adding more flour if the dough is sticky.

Form a round ball and place it in an oiled or buttered 8″ glass pie pan.

Cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until double, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden.

Let cool for a few minutes, then pop out using a thin metal spatula; let cool on a rack before slicing.

~Sarah

Recipes

Date Gingerbread

May 4, 2024 Sarah

I found this recipe online with a scanned picture from Better Homes & Gardens.

What era is it from? It is hard to tell, but there are a few clues about when the original recipe originated. Using baking soda with vinegar to activate the soda is an older method, often seen in Great Depression recipes and into WWII. There are no eggs, and the milk is canned, which were WWII markers. The last clue is molasses, which would have been easier to acquire than sugar in that time period, as it wasn’t rationed while sugar was.

No matter what, this cake is SO moist! It is delicious. It does not need any sauces on top at all. Even our teen boys thought it was great.

Date Gingerbread

Ingredients:

¼ cup unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp fine sea salt
1½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp dry ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup canned evaporated milk
½ cup water
1 Tbsp vinegar (white or apple cider)
1 cup molasses
1½ cups Medjool dates, pitted and chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375° and butter a glass 9″ x 9″ baking pan.

Add the flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Whisk the milk, water, vinegar, and molasses in a bowl separately.

Add butter to a stand mixer bowl and beat until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as needed.

Add the flour and mix on low speed. Then, add half the wet mixture and beat it well. Scrape the bottom of the bowl, then add the remaining liquid.

Beat for a minute to combine. Add in the dates and mix.

Scrape into the prepared baking pan and smooth out.

Bake for 30 minutes and check if it is baked in the center. Continue to bake as needed. Our cake took 45 minutes to bake in total. After 30 minutes, I checked the center with toothpicks every 5 minutes.

Let cool on a rack and slice as desired.

Note:

I used Medjol dates. Long ago, dates became popular in WWII as an agricultural item, as they were not rationed. Due to their sweetness, people started eating them instead of candy. They are quite good for us, full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Don’t use the boxes of tiny dice dates sometimes sold in stores, those are rolled in sugar. Dates are plenty sweet on their own!

~Sarah

Recipes

Pantry Staple Recipe: Carrot Cake Muffins

March 30, 2024 Sarah

It’s Easter weekend, and carrots, bunnies, and eggs are all part of this holiday. We can do the same for these carrot cake muffins, making them easily from the pantry. By using canned food, you can have these ready with minimal effort.

Carrot Cake Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp fine sea salt
4 large eggs
¾ cup avocado oil
1 14.5 to 15 ounce can carrots, rinsed and drained and mashed well
20-ounce can of crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup raisins

Directions:

Line 2 12-count muffin tins with paper liners.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Add in the eggs, oil, mashed carrots, and pineapple, and stir until mixed. Add in the raisins.

Divide between the muffin tins.

Bake for 20 minutes, check, and bake for another 5 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool on racks.

Muffins can be frozen for later treats.

Makes 24 muffins.

~Sarah

Recipes

Depression Era Recipes: Tomato Spice Cake

March 23, 2024 Sarah

The Campbell Soup Company first sold canned condensed tomato soup in 1895. A pantry staple long ago, it was affordable as America plunged headfirst into the Great Depression in the summer of 1929. The tomato spice cake came out of the extreme recipes created in that time period. The cake/bread required no eggs, milk, or oil. It’s a straightforward recipe – the authentic one, not the later version, which used a commercial spice cake mix. Always keep seeking the real recipes our ancestors created out of what they could find and, yes, afford. Even today, with the high cost of groceries, you can still cook and bake affordably.

The original recipe calls for margarine, which was far easier to get in the cities during the Great Depression and WWII than butter. If one uses margarine, this bread would be vegan.

The baked cake (though I’d call it a quick bread) comes out a pleasant shade of auburn, almost like a natural-dyed red velvet cake. And no, you don’t taste or smell the tomato soup. The soup, being acidic in nature, activates the baking soda, where traditionally, buttermilk or soured milk would have done the job. It’s great cooled and even tastier the next day, with a little butter on each slice. No frosting is needed.

Don’t be afraid to use the full amount of spices called for. Yes, it needs a whole teaspoon each!

Campbell Tomato Soup contains:

Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Water, Wheat Flour, Sugar, Contains Less Than 2% Of: Salt, Potassium Salt, Natural Flavoring, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Celery Extract, Garlic Oil.

Tomato Spice Cake

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, chopped up (room temperature)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour (we weighed, used 240 grams)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp fine sea salt
1 10.5-ounce can of condensed tomato soup
1 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Oil an 8″x4″ loaf pan.

In a stand mixer bowl or large mixing bowl, add the butter and sugar and beat until creamed.

Add in the flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt, and mix in well.

Stir the baking soda into the tomato soup and beat into the dry mixture until blended.

Scrape into the prepared pan, and smooth out.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until the center is fully baked and when a butter knife comes out clean.

Let cool for 10 minutes, then knock out of the pan. Cool on a wire rack.

Store covered.

Makes 1 loaf.

~Sarah

Recipes

Bread Machine Tomato Basil Bread

March 21, 2024November 11, 2024 Sarah

A savory big loaf of bread is perfect for pairing with warming soups. We paired the tomato basil bread with beef tips and mushrooms cooked in an InstaPot. It was great on a cool Spring evening.

The boys said the flavor of this bread reminded them of spaghetti sauce. I think it’d also be great with Parmesan cheese mixed in at first kneading.

Bread Machine Tomato Basil Bread

Ingredients:

1½ cups tomato juice*
2 Tbsp olive oil
510 grams of all-purpose or bread flour
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp dry milk
1½ tsp fine sea salt
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp dry active yeast

Directions:

Add ingredients in the order listed in the bread machine. Set for a Basic/White 2-pound loaf.

We use a Zojirushi bread machine, which heats the ingredients. If using other brands of bread machines, follow the temperature recommendations for the liquid.

Once baked, remove promptly and knock out; let cool on a rack.

Store in a bread bag once cooled.

Makes one 2-pound loaf bread.

Notes:

*Finding tomato juice outside of the section in stores for making Bloody Mary drinks is not easy these days. You could also use V-8 or similar flavored tomato juice. Instead, I used what I had on hand: 6-ounce cans of tomato paste. In a 4-cup measuring cup, stir together one can of tomato paste and four cans of water. Measure out the juice as needed. It’s considerably cheaper than buying canned tomato juice! Use any leftovers in a soup or rice recipe for no waste.

You can also use flavored tomato paste, with herbs added, for more flavor.

~Sarah