Fifties Football Food

I love my library book sale. I found a copy of Pillsbury's 10th Grand National Bake-Off Cookbook. The cookbook cost 25 cents in 1958. A recipe for this decadent bread was in it. Nobody worried about cholesterol in the Fifties.

The whole cookbook was chock full of yeast dough recipes I will never make. The Bubble Loaf was hidden at the end under "Busy Day" Short-cut Recipes. Meets my requirements: easy to make and tastes good. And you get to pull the loaf apart with your fingers.

Upon reading the recipe, I imagined eating this Bread with cold Beer, a Cheese Board and Apples while watching football in front of the TV. I can imagine this with Soup too. And I think this loaf might be excellent done with Salami. Then you would not have to cook all that Bacon. I have one of these yummies in the oven right now.

Bacon Cheese Bubble Loaf

2 cans Pillsbury Refrigerated Biscuits
1/2 pound cooked Bacon, chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup Green Pepper, chopped
1/4 cup Onion, chopped
1/2 cup melted Butter or Margarine

Combine Bacon, Cheese, Onion, Green Pepper in a large bowl. Cut the Biscuits into quarters. Dip Biscuit pieces into melted Butter and drop into the Bacon mixture. Mix until well blended. Turn into a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake in a moderately hot oven (400 degree) oven for 30-35 minutes. Loosen edges. Cool 3 minutes before removing from the pan.

Note: I did this recipe in a loaf pan, and found the middle does not bake well. I liked the way it tasted (yummy) but it did not turn out well. Then the light dawned. The refrigerated biscuits of the 50s and 60s were about half the size of current refrigerated biscuits. You only need ONE PACKAGE of biscuits. Duh.

Orange Bread

This Orange Bread is delicious all by itself or spread with Cream Cheese or Peanut Butter.

Quick breads are generally easy to make. This one requires cutting the Flour into the Shortening which is an extra step. The loaf is worth the bit of extra work.

Orange Bread

4 cups Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Shortening
2 Eggs
1 cup Milk
1 cup Candied Orange Peel
1/3 cup Syrup from Orange Peel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together Flour, Baking Powder, Salt and Sugar. Cut the Shortening into the Flour mixture. Beat Eggs thoroughly and add Milk to them. Combine with Flour mixture and stir in candied Peel and Syrup. Pour into a loaf pan and bake 45 minutes.

Whole Wheat Quick Bread

My Grandfather, Angelo Pietro de Angelis, was a baker for Rossi's bakery in Trenton, New Jersey. My family has sophisticated taste in bread. We travel well, breadwise. We like it all, from baguettes to pane rustica to bialys.

I went to culinary school. I can bake and braid a challah, but why? I go to Kaplan's Bakery on Third and Poplar. I will go the extra mile for a hard crusted Russian Black Bread or a fragrant golden Onion Rye.

Click Me!

I do not let them slice the bread and put it in a plastic bag. I am green. I just put the loaf in my shopping bag and boogie. Makes me feel so European. I have a bread knife and that is one less plastic bag clogging the universe. I get myself a kasha knish to eat while I wait.

Sometimes I give in to convenience and buy supermarket bread because it is there. I prefer to make the loaf below.

Although this is a quick bread made without yeast, it is not particularly sweet, slices well and makes excellent toast. Do not cut it until it is COLD. I make a simple vegetarian Green Pea Soup to go with this bread for a satisfying, comforting meal. Perfect for Meatless Mondays.

Whole Wheat Quick Bread

Mix together:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Combine, then mix with dry ingredients. Do not overmix. It is okay if there are a few lumps:
1 beaten egg
1 and 3/4 cups buttermilk (or whole milk soured with 2 T. vinegar)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Fold in:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Turn into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes. Makes one loaf.

Note: My children are not raisin fans. So I make this with dried cranberries to keep the peace.

1932 Rice Muffins

We have been making all sorts of muffins when snowed in and out of loaf bread. Recipe experimentation is dangerous. We added Cranberries to homemade Corn Muffins in a fit of foody fancy. The muffins were really good. And we have gone sort of muffin mad.

This recipe comes from Things You Have Always Wanted to Know About Cooking by Margaret Mitchell. The cookbook was published and printed in silver ink by The Aluminum Cooking Utensil Company in 1932. My particular copy was given away as a courtesy by Lit Brothers in Philadelphia.

I type the recipe verbatim. It makes a lovely muffin with an interesting crumb. Graphic Artists may find the illustrations and typefaces a pleasure to look at and utilize.

"Rice Muffins are among the best of their kind and are made thus: Sift together two and one half cups of flour, 5 teaspoons of baking powder, 3 tablespoons sugar, one half teaspoon of salt. Beat one egg and add one half cup of milk and three tablespoon of melted shortening, or oil, and stir into dry ingredients. Into one half cup of milk put one half cup of cold boiled rice, and stir well. Add to mixture, mix well and bake in an oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes."