Memo's Brown Bread
I had promised to post this recipe for ehanner so here it is. This is the “brown” bread my grandmother used to make which we all loved so much. She passed away 25 years ago and I never thought I would taste it again.
Being a new bread baker I was determined to find out what recipe she used and duplicate it. Thankfully, my dear Aunt was there to help me since it was my grandmother’s own and not from a recipe ever recorded. As my Aunt told me, Memo (mee-moe), which was our name for our grandmother, baked this bread, before my Aunt, now 84, was born, in an old iron range heated by wood logs with guess and bigosh temps, as she says it.
So you can see that it was a challenge for me to duplicate this. Through emails my Aunt wrote from the very old hand-written notes of my grandmother and my Aunt’s own notes, I could begin. It took me several very disappointing attempts but soon I discovered the missing link. It was the type of graham flour and this is where I stress unless you use the Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Graham flour or if you know of one that is identical to that in color, texture, and flavor this bread cannot be made properly. I tried Bob’s Red Mill and it did not even come close and several regular whole wheat flours just wouldn’t do it. There is something exquisitely yet mildly sweet in the Hodgson Mill graham flour that reminds one of a graham cracker flavor. And I knew the instant I looked at the HM graham flour it was right.
You can shape the loaves however you wish but I had to do it the way my grandmother did, making the two balls for each loaf. I can see her doing it in my head, and the first time this bread came out correctly I thought I would cry I was so happy. It transported me back in time. And the toast from this bread is simply the best. I hope if you try it you like it, too.
1 envelope active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110° - 115°F)
2 1/2 cups potato water*
1 Tablespoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 Cup shortening
3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups Hodgson Mill graham flour** (see important note below)
Sprinkle yeast on 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 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 - 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 - 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.Place in greased bowl; turn dough over to grease top. 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. 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.
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.
Brush melted butter over top of loaves upon removing from oven. Allow to cool.
*I 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 – the 2 1/2 cups. If you need to, add a bit more water if you don’t have enough.
**You must use Hodgson Mill, whole wheat graham flour to be authentic to Memo’s bread, or if there is another brand that is exactly as Hodgson Mill. Hodgson Mill is the only brand of graham flour I’ve found so far that is the correct coarseness, color of grain and flavor. Other flours can be used but the entire flavor and texture of the bread is completely changed from what Memo used to make. This is a taupe colored wheat bread not golden as with regular whole wheat. It is beautiful and makes the best toast!
Zolablue,
What a nice thing you did here! Thank you so much for sharing your family memory's and stories. These are always the most interesting recipes from a time gone by. I can't wait to try it and thank you for all the effort that went into sharing your Memo's secret recipe.
Eric
...and I love sharing it. When I finally found what the difference was, that particular flour, I had memories just flooding my head. It really overwhelmed me.
If anyone knows of other flours that are identical to the Hodgson Mill I would like to know. Another note on that, I found I could get this flour locally in the health food sections, in my case the stores are called Hy-Vee. So if you have trouble finding it look there in your stores. And be sure to look carefully because the bag says Whole Wheat Graham but the "whole wheat" part is in larger letters and so it is harder to read the "graham" part underneath. Graham flour, I've read, is a little bit healthier than regular whole wheat.
And, really, I like the texture of this bread to be a little bit more coarse than it shows in the photo. Memo's bread was a much more open crumb than you expect in a loaf bread.
I think I have seen this flour in our local store. They have a pretty good health food department otherwise it mail order. I'm really looking forward to this. Your photo's set the bar way up there.
Eric
Zolablue,
Thanks for posting this recipe. Your story about the bread is touching and reminds me of times when I was a kid w/my grandmother. How great to bake this good bread and bring back good memories to go with it at the same time.
Bill
What a great story! And the bread looks delicious!
I will look for the flour because I would like to try this bread.
Thank you so much for sharing your grandmother's bread.
...to remember those who came before us and the methods they used. I have to laugh at how anal I am at times when I know my grandmother and great-grandmother and many of yours baked bread under much different circumstances. Still, I bet they'd be right in there with us using all the neat tools we have today.
My grandfather used to have their flour milled in exchange for people paying him money for their dental bills. He was a dentist, as are most of the men in my family, and would take goats, sheep and other various animals in exchange for performing dentistry on people who could not afford to pay at that time. He was very special, too.
Wish my grandmother had made bread. My Dad used to say that his mother-in-law's cooking was "when it's smokin', it's cookin; when it's burnt, it's done." Big Sigh. Your loaves are all beautiful and, best of all, they are memories.
Susan
Thanks for posting this recipe
IMade your recipe today,It came out great
I could feel her looking over my shoulder as I mixed the Graham in and Kneaded the mass. I was tempted to drag out my Great Grandmothers cast iron dutch oven and cook this over a fire. Maybe next time. I had not worked with this Graham flour before and it is different. I does seem to develop well and I was totally surprised at the rise for a WW flour. I did have one question about doneness. I baked these until it was 202F internal temp and when I popped them out of the pan the sides and bottom seemed a little soft. I thought it might be the flour is softer or the sugar is helping the top brown up faster than usual . I normally bake WW breads to the low 190's and I thought I was going overboard by going as high as I did. Any thoughts? the crumb is very mellow and sweet with a nutty aftertaste.
Eric
Wow, you guys, your loaves look better than mine! They are beautiful! Thank you so much for trying this - I'm terribly honored that you took the time out of your busy baking schedules to make this bread and I know Memo would be beside herself with joy.
Eric, as you can see my loaves are quite a lot browner and perhaps that is due to the sugar in the recipe. I even cover them with foil the last 20 minutes but I always let them bake the full 45 minutes making sure I keep the oven temp at 350. Actually, I try not to let them get "quite" that browned but it just happens now and then. Once, because the loaves were browning so quickly (which my oven likes to do anyway) I took them out about 5 minutes early and they most definately were not quite done, with that softer feeling you mention. Also, the bread did taste a bit gummy but I knew it was underbaked.
Do you think they did not bake long enough? Also, I'm not sure what is happening with the addition of potato and/or potato water. My grandmother felt it helped bread keep longer and I would agree from experience that is true and I"ve since read that. I have never taken the bread temp on this one and I've not baked any other loaf type breads except for Peter Reinhart's whole wheat. If it is too soft you're just going to have to toast is all! :o)
Interesting though, how much of a different flavor that particular graham flour has, huh? I use it in everything now and probably won't purchase other whole wheats again once I use up the 20 pounds I've already bought.
Zolablue,
Now that it has cooled completely I retract my former thought about being soft. They cooked for 45 minutes, covered with foil for about 10 minutes. Internal temp was monitored for the last 10 minutes. (I smiled at my use of these hi tech gizmo's knowing your grandmother would not need them). Temp at the end of 45 minutes was 202 and it rose to 203 on the stove top. So, your directions were fine it was the nature of the graham to be soft.
Eric
...and do you mean to tell me you actually cut hot bread! Hehe...we could not wait to cut this bread when we were little and Memo would always cut it hot and slather great hunks of the stuff with butter. Yum!
I know, we are funny ones having to do all these things. I wish I could go back in time and sit at the knees of my ancestors and watch them.
Oh, so then would you recommend the internal temp of 202, 203 to be correct when done? Just in case I might want to probe the next time. :o)
Zolablue,
I'm not ready to give advice on this quite yet. I'll leave that to you. After you bake one and poke it to see what it is when you think it looks right let me know. Having never baked with Graham WW I didn't know what to expect. Remember I'm still a novice at this. My odds of not choking a trout are better today than last Month but still learning here. ( I had to try and use those two words together myself) Very strange use.
Eric
I looked around at my regular food stores and could not find Hodgson Mill flour anywhere. I wanted to try you Memo's bread so I was thinking of just ordering some on line when I happened to go into a store in NYC over the weekend - and lo and behold Hodgson Mill Graham flour! I bought some and I am going to bake it first thing tomorrow. I will let you know how it turns out!
Weil I baked the loaf and it was delicious!
I wanted to take a photo but I only baked one love and it is basically just and end at this point.
I will be baking it agian for sure!
Thanks Z! and Memo!
I've been out of town so just getting back to catch up. I'm so happy that you found the flour and baked the bread. Don't you notice such a difference in the flavor of that HM whole wheat graham? It is such a sweet flavored flour, I just love it. I'm so happy you liked the recipe.
I have really missed baking bread and will have to make a batch of this tomorrow now that I'm home again. Interestingly, in one of the restaurants we ate in my hubby mentioned the bread we ate was so delicious and slightly sweet and it reminded him of Memo bread. I loved that he said that when you think sometimes they don't notice those subtleties.
yes the flour is really great. I will continue to get it when I am in NYC.
I also think the potato water and the little potato added to the texture. I really love this bread.
How do you shape it into those beautiful round tops??
All I do is divide the dough in half and then the halves into half again. I just round them into little balls on the counter as if making a boule and pop them into the loaf pan to rise. They just puff up into the domes you see. I'm not sure I mentioned that I butter them as soon as I take them out of the oven.
I didn't get around to making it today so I hope I can get it done tomorrow. I would like to also try baking it free form. I'm not sure how that would work but I hope it would. Also, I'd like to try it with my sourdough starter. I know it would not be the authentic bread the way my grandmother made it but it might be interesting to see if a variation would taste good. And you are right that the potato water and/or potato really adds to the tenderness and flavor of the dough.
I will try it by making the loaf with two boule shapes in the loaf pan next time.
Aunt,
I've enjoyed Zolablue's baking artistry, as well as her wonderful sense of humor, and have learned from her along the way - and therefore maybe a little from Memo, too. I enjoyed Memo's recipe and was touched by the story that goes with it and by your tribute to Memo.
Bill
First of all, to my wonderful and most generous Aunt, I'm so happy you saw this thread. Forgive me for not sending it to you myself. I was hoping you would be proud of my efforts as your approval on these recipes means a great deal. I am so very grateful to have benefitted from your help on this most special recipe and, of course, your incredible sweet dough recipe which I use for my chocolate cinnamon chip rolls. (I simply must get busy making your delicious Swedish tea ring and the orange rolls - waves to Aunt P). I don't wish to get sappy but I do hope you realize just how very much all your help has meant to me. Without it these precious things would have been lost to me.
And all you other guys, thanks and especially to Eric & Bill, you two are so very special but you must know you have contributed far more to me. Seriously, I've learned tons from you both which I've enjoyed immensely. I cannot tell you how touched I am by your comments to my Aunt. It makes me weep the happy tears, but I guess it is because I am a sentimental girl and I know you understand how important these wonderful family recipes are to keep our loved ones close to us.
And, Floyd, I just now saw that you have featured this wonderful bread on the home page. That is truly an honor and very sweet of you and so thoughtful with Mother's Day coming up. Geez...:o) I sure hope to see many more wonderful family recipes we can all enjoy making. Bring 'em on!
I just tasted this bread and it is indeed great. Thanks to Zola Blue and memo for this delicious bread. I baked it in one 10 inch loaf pan and one 9 inch pan. As I wrote earlier, I had to add lots more flour to get to the right consistency. I will bake it next time at a slightly higher oven temp. It is not as dark as shown in your pics. I made the two ball loaves and think they are neat. Besides, since there are only two of us older people who eat less than we used to, it is nice to freeze the other loaves in half packages to keep them. However, it is so good, we may cheat a bit and eat more. Thanks again, Z.
Ruth Redburn
that you had to add more flour. Didn't anyone else? By my (amatuer) calculations this bread is about 81% hydration - correct me if I'm wrong. It seems like a lot of water for a pan loaf. I was able to buy some Hodgson Mill Grahm Flour and would like to make this bread. Do I need to adjust the flour/water as Ruth did?
Larry
as larry mentioned in the comment above, i found i needed to add quite a bit more flour. i'm admittedly a new baker, but with the suggested 1-2 cups of additional flour, my dough was very sticky and wet. i think i ended up adding about another cup of flour! and even that resulted in a dough that was pretty tacky. i'm a bit nervous (it's rising right now) but it seemed the right thing to do.
as larry suggested, i'd love to hear if other people have needed to add flour and if so, how much.
thanks!
I was excited to find our local grocery carried the Hodgson Mill graham flour, so I decided to make Memo's Brown bread for lunch on Saturday. I didn't have any shortening, so I substituted unsalted butter. I was happy with the results. Our two boys ate it up. It made good toast for Sunday morning too. Thanks ZB for sharing your grandmother's recipe.
Dutchbaker
Wow, Ruth, how sweet of you to say. I was kind of wondering how this would work in a 10” pan but I don’t have one. In fact, I just purchased 2 new loaf pans because I was making do with a couple glass pans not really meant for baking. I’m anxious to try them but they are the smaller 8 1/2" size. And don’t worry about the color as my loaves don’t always come out that dark, in fact, I’d rather they didn’t quite. I just switched my oven thermometers around and I’m not sure now the one in my electric oven (where I like to bake my bread) was as accurate as I had thought. Perhaps I was baking a bit hotter than I realized. At any rate, I’m very happy you like the bread.
Sue, that is so cool you did the cold oven start. I have not tried that method yet but was contemplating whether that would work with loaf bread. I’m going to try it. And your loaves look fabulous! Even with the Bob’s Red Mill it is good but once you find the HM you will really see an enormous difference. Have you tried the health food section in your local store? That is the only section I can find it as they never put it with the regular flours.
Dutchbaker – you just did another thing I’d wanted to try. I just love that you all are making these little adjustments that work so I’m really learning here. You bread looks fantastic and I couldn’t be happier that your family enjoyed it.
Mybakehouse – I would be very interested to know how that flour compares to the Hodgson Mill. I was very surprised to see and taste such a difference between brands of graham flour. But then I’m new to bread baking so I’m interested in all the info I can get. I will check out that flour on their website as I’m about to place an order from KA anyway.
Thanks so much for this recipie. I made it yesterday, baking one loaf last night and starting the other this morning. The first loaf is gone! My 5 year old ate it with peanut butter and honey, my wife toasted with raspberry preserves, and myself toasted with blueberry jam.
My wife doesn't care for home baked bread, bad experiance in her childhood I think, but requested that I continue to make these loaves.
Thanks so much for letting me know you liked the bread. I had sent some to my neighbors and they love the stuff. She told me she had made French toast with it and that I must try it. She used very thick slices of this bread so I think that might be another tasty thing to try with it.
Also, I wanted to mention I baked it the last couple times from a cold oven start and I think it was much softer on the sides than normally for me. Next time I bake it I'm going to preheat my oven. I think it may be better with this type of graham flour to keep it from being overly soft and the cold oven start, at least for me, didn't appear to be the best way to bake this comparatively. If I find that is not the case I'll report back.
And it was good timing! I saw some Hodgson Mill graham flour at, drum roll, please...Wal Mart!...yesterday. Our WM supercenter is starting to stock some almost specialty-type items these days. Anyway, the bread looks wonderful, and the story is so, so sweet. I will have to go back and get some of that flour as soon as I can and try it. Thanks, zolablue!
Katie in SC
I sure hope you get a chance to try this bread. I know it probably seems so ordinary and, of course, it means so much to me as a family recipe. I just never thought I'd ever taste that flavor again in my life. You will see a distinct difference in that flour. I now add some to most of my white bread recipes and always when a recipe calls for whole wheat. I just think it is so much better tasting and never that bitterness from other WW.
I returned to this thread.
I finally got some time to make Memo's bread this week and it was fabulous. I did need some additional flour and I used unsalted butter in lieu of the shortening. Fortunately, I discovered that my local (well, 25 miles away) WalMart - amazingly - has a nice selection of Hodgson Mill flours. Go figure.
The bread had, to me, a great flavor and very nice sandwich-capable crumb.
I make a neighbor try out my breads and she said this is her favorite so far. Plus - my collies come running when I take out my bread knife. They vote "yes".
Thanks ZB and family!
Janet
<>Janet, I'm thrilled you saw this thread and made the bread. I'm even happier you liked it! I also have a neighbor that, out of all my bread, still says this is his very favorite so I know what you mean. Have you tried it toasted? It is TDF!
I took some new and better photos of my bread a few weeks ago so I need to post those here. I discovered my oven thermometer was on the blink and no wonder my bread was coming out a twee bit too dark. I do like darker crusts but I knew something must be wrong for this bread to be quite so dark as my initial photo.
I also just found out that Memo made a white version of this bread that I recently made and I gotta say that was some gorgeous bread with the most beautiful creamy off-white crumb. I felt scandalous making that white bread and that recipe is a definate keeper as well but nothing, to me, can beat the flavor of this brown bread. It is so sweet and the scent coming out of the oven almost makes you bread drunk!
Thanks again for trying the bread and telling me, Janet!
I have been making this for some time now, and have one issue that is still plagueing me. The bread, when sliced, has a very weak structure.
I've followed the recipie exactly and had this. I reduced some of the flour, no change. I tried a little powdered milk and had this. The bread looks and tastes great, but it seems almost to be too dried out after around a day. Sealing it in a ziplock bag helped some, but it is so crumbly and hard to work with as it just falls apart in my hands ont the way to/from the toaster.
Am I over/under proofing it? What else could I bedoing incorrectly?
Aelric
Aelric - what is the flour you are using? Does it differ from what is called for in the recipe? Also, how long are you letting the bread proof both in bulk and in the final shaping stage once you've put it into the pans? I'll try and help if I can but may have to employ someone who has more experience to give you the answers. This bread is a more heavy, moist sandwich-style bread albeit one containing a moderately coarse crumb. However I've never had it or any other bread recipe I've made crumble the way you are describing. This bread especially holds together extremely well and even in its white form it has an incredible crumb structure.
It also has very long keeping qualities. I have kept it for up to 2 weeks in a plastic ziplock bag and its still very good. The potato has keeping qualities. Are you using the potato and/or the potato water?
I hope someone can chime in to help give some advice on what might be occuring for you. Kudos to you for being so diligent.
got around to getting some graham flour from Walmart and baked this recipe this weekend.
I followed the recipe exactly and divided the dough into two parts, then two again. I rolled each portion into a ball and put two balls in each loaf pan.
The dough rose beautifully and I got good oven spring. The loaves looked magnificant.
First time in a long time that I did not wait until the bread was completely cooled to try it. I sliced off a heel and covered the rest, buttered it and sampled.
It was audacious! I offered my SO a bite and her first words were: "That's a keeper!"
I brought the bread to work and that is the consensus: "That's a keeper!"
Great bread, great bread, great bread!!!
You are making my day, Oldcampcook, I mean that sincerely! Thanks so much for the kind words and I’m always so happy when someone tries this and likes it so much. Thanks to your SO as well and your work buddies, too. I hope you tried the bread toasted because it is TDF, even if I do say so myself.
I took some photos a few weeks ago, that I’ve been meaning to post. I had discovered that one of my oven thermometers was going on the blink and I didn’t realize it before I started noticing some of my bread was getting a twee bit too dark. :o)
And, finally, I purchased the proper size loaf pans and it was a revelation to see the difference that made in my final loaves. Also, I think it helped the crumb become its proper texture as well.
yours are even prettier than mine were! What size pan are you now using?
I have already been ORDERED to make at least one more batch this weekend!
I bought the Chicago Metallic 1-pound (9 x 5 x 2.8 inches) loaf pans which are just fantastic. I give them a little spray with oil and the loaves pop right out after baking. I was initially concerned about bread sticking in the folds but they wash easily by hand or the dishwasher. I love them and plan to buy a couple more so I can make double batches.
Link here
I can’t believe you’re making this again – that’s super! In case you missed reading above my neighbor has told me I must make French toast with this bread.
Thanks for the link, ZB.
When my SO ORDERS me to do something, it is like" "I must obey. I must obey." (in a robotic deadpan voice)
I saw the bit about the French Toast and since we both like FT, I will TRY to keep some around for that!.
Zola, I have told you before how I enjoy Memo"s bread, but must relate my latest taste. My husband took half of it out of the freezer for today's lunch and being a bit hungry early, I made a slice in the toaster. It was even better than I remembered it . Thanks again for the recipe. Ruth Redburn
You guys are great. I know Memo would be so very proud. She was a wonderful, sweet lady and I can just picture her face if she could read this and know how her humble recipe had given pleasure.
Type of potato really doesn't make a difference. Here are the instruction from the recipe above :
"*I 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 – the 2 1/2 cups. If you need to, add a bit more water if you don’t have enough. "
Paddyscake, this is such a coincidence! I received my Bosch mixer today and one of the recipes I have been wanting to try is Memo's bread. So of course I looked it up on TFL to check the quantities of potato and water. It was too late to start it so instead I made the breadsticks from a recent post. Tomorrow is the annual last day of school picnic at the beach and I know the breadsticks will be popular with the kids. Fingers crossed for some sunshine - it is raining yet again this evening! A.
Zola, it has been over a year since I read your post and bought my graham flour. Life gets busy! But I kept it in the freezer, and yesterday I made my own Memo's brown bread. It's awesome! Wheaty without that "telltale" wheat taste that turns my kids off. I used organic unsalted butter instead of the shortening, but other than that I followed the recipe. I'm so excited to have a new favorite brown bread. And the kids loved it, too.
Thank you again for sharing your memories!
Katie in SC
Baking day and I wanted an old favorite, Memo's. I had found Hodgson's whole wheat graham flour in Wallmart but it was 'certified organic' in a box! So I used it for this loaf. I also made a portion of the flour and potato water into a poolish and let it sit overnight. It turned out good as ever.
Also - I made (from a recipe off of "allrecipes.com") a Squash Braid bread using a butternut squash, only shaped into rolls. I used whey as the liquid since I made some 30-minute mozzarella earlier in the week. With leftover squash I made a soup using a recipe from a library book, "Souped Up" that other TFL's were talking about. Nice meal for a long cool fall day. Anet
Memo's bread and squash rolls
Those look great and I have to get around to the Memo's Bread! It looks so good!
Just recently baked Memo's recipe and want to add my name to the list thanking her for same. For me a really special and Fast recipe.
cb
I know that this thread goes back to the dark ages, but since I've been baking it since then, I feel qualified to comment.
I love this bread. I've made a couple of slight changes to the recipe. I use half white and half graham flour, and prefer the flavor that way. I also use somewhat more sugar than the recipe calls for, about 1/4 cup. I've used both white and light brown sugar.
I buy the Hodgson Mill Four at a local WalMart. There are two WalMarts near here and, Oddly enough, one of them has the Hodgson Mill Flour and one does not. Go figure.
Thank you so much for this recipe. It is a treasure.
Haven't baked in ages and when I thought about baking again, this is one of two recipes that came to mind. It's an all time family favorite. I've always used bob's red mill graham flour but today I ordered the hodgson mill online. I usually do boules but I'm going to try loaves and maybe rolls this time. Thank you for sharing this great recipe! We love it!