An oldie but a goodie - Memo's Brown Bread

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Cher504 on 16 May 2015 at 08:00

I've been searching for Hodgson Mills Graham Flour since reading about Zolablue's Grandmother's Brown Bread. 

http://weightloss-slim.fit/node/2630/memos-brown-bread%3C/a%3E%3C/strong%3E%C2%A0  

I love that story and how ZB was able to reinvent a lost recipe and recapture the sweet memory of her grandmother who had passed away 25 years before. It really shows how bread is so much more than just food and the story's a reminder that we all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.

Anyway....I finally found the flour! I had to ask a merchant who carried Hodgson Mills other products to order it for me and voila! You have to look really hard to see the word "Graham"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Still haven't figured out how to turn photos around)

I made Memo's Brown Bread and weighed everything as I went along, so here is Zolablue's recipe with weights in grams instead of cups. 

Ingredients:

Zolablue's method from here on out with any changes/modifications of mine in parentheses. 

Peel and slice, very thinly, one small potato and boil in 4 cups of water until very well done – usually takes about 15 minutes because of the size of the slices.  Then mash the potato in the water and usually the remaining water with the potato leaves the exact amount of liquid you need for the recipe – (586g) the 2 1/2 cups.  If you need to, add a bit more water if you don’t have enough. 

Sprinkle yeast on (60g)1/4 cup warm water.  Stir to dissolve and set aside. 

  Place sugar, salt, and shortening in mixing bowl and pour hot spud water over this and cool. The potato water should be about the temp of a baby’s bottle, warm to the wrist, otherwise it can kill the yeast. 

 By Hand:  Stir (312g) 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour into bowl containing salt, sugar & potato/potato water to make a thin batter. Add yeast and beat well. Then add (202g) 1 1/2 cups graham flour and mix well.  Stir in remaining all-purpose flour - 1 to 2 cups – until it can be handled on a floured board or counter. Knead in more flour until you have a smooth ball that no longer sticks to counter.

  By Stand Mixer:  Stir 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour into bowl containing salt, sugar & potato/potato water to make a thin batter. Add yeast and beat well. Then add 1 1/2 cups graham flour and mix well.

Stir in remaining all-purpose flour - (125 to 250g) 1 to 2 cups - to make a dough that leaves the sides of the bowl.  Knead/mix until smooth and elastic, about 7 - 10 minutes. (I wound up using all of the extra AP flour)

Place in greased bowl; turn dough over to grease top.  (Due to an unforeseen chore, I had to put the dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours right after mixing, it still turned out great) Cover and let rise in warm place until it doubles, about 1 1/2 hours. 

  Punch down.  Turn onto board and divide in half; round up each half to make a ball. (Or divide into 4 even balls) Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

  Shape into loaves and place in 2 greased loaf pans.  Cover with cloth or sheet of plastic wrap and let rise until dough reaches top of pan on sides and the top of loaf is well rounded above pan, about 1 1/4 hours. (My final rise was closer to 2 hours - maybe because of the refrigerator rest)

  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, rotating half-way through if necessary.  Cover loosely with sheet of foil the last 20 minutes, if necessary, to prevent excessive browning.  Makes 2 loaves.

It's delicious! The graham flour really is the secret ingredient; faintly reminiscent of graham crackers. It's heavenly as toast, makes great french toast. It would be good as small dinner rolls, hot dog or hamburger rolls, maybe as the basis for a cinnamon raisin pan loaf or a seeded multigrain. I'd like to try it using my sourdough to leaven, or yeast water/SD combo.

Thank you Memo and Zolablue, wherever you are - your efforts are still being savored!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very nice toasting bread for sure.  Well done.  zolablue will be pleased if she sees this.

Odd how things change over time.  When Graham invented this flour in 1829 he just ground wheat berries in a stone grist mill and it was a medium whole wheat flour.  Then, once roller mills came along, millers started messing with the process and now it really isn't the original Graham flour.  But today, the original Graham flour isn't Graham flour anymore but the roller milled processes flour is :-)  We just can't leave anything alone!

Happy Baking

It's still moist and delicious on day 4. Pretty good for a yeasted loaf. Perfect for peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese. The graham flour is gonna make its way into a lot of my breads. And probably a cheesecake crust too...yum!

cheers,

Cherie

I've made this bread many times, and, like most folks have made a few modifications which cater to my own taste and the ingredients at hand.

I've increased the graham flour to fifty per cent of the total (320 grams bread flour and 320 grams of the graham.) If I have some at hand I also add 10-15 grams wheat bran.

I also favor the taste of brown sugar in this bread and generally use 1/3 cup firmly packed. I've also used honey with good results.

I absolutely agree that Hodgson Mills Graham Flour yields the tastiest results but the local Walmart sometimes has it and sometimes does not. Therefore, I've sometimes made it with Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur whole wheat flour.  The results aren't as good, in my opinion, but still tasty and worth making.

This is a really delicious wheat bread. My family's favorite.