{"id":3537,"date":"2010-03-30T11:16:28","date_gmt":"2010-03-30T18:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiap.webfactional.com.s96354.gridserver.com\/?p=3537"},"modified":"2019-02-21T19:17:44","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T02:17:44","slug":"brown-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgiapellegrini.com\/brown-bread\/","title":{"rendered":"Brown Bread"},"content":{"rendered":"
A while ago I uncovered a recipe book from my great-great grandmother<\/a>. It was full of recipes for brown bread. She was mildly obsessed with it I think. Maybe it tapped into her Puritan nature and she felt satisfied by its simplicity.<\/p>\n Then a while after that, I got the latest edition of our family recipe book<\/a> in the mail, a compilation of six generations of recipes from the family tree, over 25 years since the last edition. Guess what was in it?<\/p>\n More brown bread.<\/em><\/p>\n And then I was seized with the overwhelming realization that I wasn’t a legitimate member of the family tree.<\/p>\n I had never tasted, let alone made<\/em> brown bread.<\/p>\n It was time.<\/p>\n It was my destiny.<\/p>\n Brown Bread and Me would finally intersect in the history books.<\/em><\/p>\n It’s hard to make Brown Bread sound epic…<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n These are some of the things you will need.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n You sift your dry ingredients (except for the nuts, don’t sift the nuts, it will send you to the edges of insanity).<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n It has some brown flower as well as white flower.<\/p>\n Notice how I spelled flour wrong? Now would be a good time to mention that I am a terrible speller. A nice trait to have as a writer. Something about it goes against my nature… something about not liking to follow the rules.<\/p>\n I went to a grade school that encouraged creative spelling and I never recovered. In fact, while I was in L.A. a few weeks ago, I reunited with a friend from 5th grade… and somehow it came up that she was a bad speller and in that moment, our friendship was forever cemented.<\/p>\n Butt bac to tha brede…<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Corn flour too. Puritans like to be methodical and measured and unbiased.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n But because I am not methodical and measured and unbiased, I added nuts.<\/p>\n In the older recipe book it said: \u201cSometimes we cram as many chopped raisins and chopped nuts in as our conscience will allow.\u201d<\/p>\n My conscience allowed for nuts. It really did.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Baking Soda. Remember the difference between baking soda and baking powder? In case you forgot…<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Buttermilk. This may or may not have been sitting in my fridge since last June.<\/p>\n I don’t like to waste. Oh… there’s the Puritan girl in me<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Add the buttermilk to the soda and stir… you will see bubbles as the soda activates.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Molasses. It’s my new favorite sweetener. I like its earthiness.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n I also like that I can pretend I’m Jackson Pollock for 30 seconds…<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Weee…<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Great great grandmother Evelyn and great grandmother Ada would not approve.<\/p>\n Grandmother Pellegrini<\/a> would though. Right Grandmother P?<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Mix ‘er up.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Combine with the dry ingredients.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Mix ‘er up some more.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n You will have a sticky dough.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Now you will add it to a greased bread pan.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Distribute it evenly. If it has a puckered, rugged look on top, that’s how it will come out.<\/p>\n I went for rugged.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The soda really gives it a nice boost. No yeast needed.<\/p>\n