RRC - Mrs. Rabbit's Brown Bread

My first few years of life were spent in England. As I learned to talk, I did so with a British accent. As I learned to “read” books, I did so with Beatrix Potter. Peter Rabbit and his friends became fast favorites.

We later moved back to the US and luckily one Christmas morning, I opened up a large heavy package that had been sent from Britain. It contained the entire Beatrix Potter series containing Peter rabbit and all his friends! Throughout my childhood, I read about Peter Rabbit, Jeremiah Puddleduck and Flopsy Bunny.

When the Retro Recipe Challenge for this month, hosted by Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried, asked us to revisit our childhood storybooks, I simply had to honor Peter Rabbit! The story was first published in 1902 and talks of a mischievous rabbit who did not listen to his mother. She had given clear instructions not to go into Mr. MacGregors garden, for their very own father had been baked into a pie by Mrs. MacGregor. Then, Mrs. Rabbit, “took a basket and her umbrella, and went through the wood to the baker's. She bought a loaf of brown bread and five currant buns.” What did Peter do? You will have to read The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter to find out!

Mrs. Rabbits Brown Bread is my submission to this month's Retro Recipe Challenge. And for me, the challenge is finding older recipes without old cookbooks. I chose a recipe I found at Saveur for brown bread which was made during WWII by English cookbook writer Doris Grant. It is a no-knead, one rise brown bread that became popular all over Ireland.

Doris Grant’s Brown Bread

1 tbsp. butter
2 7-gram packets active dry yeast
2 tbsp. black treacle (molasses)
10 cups stone-ground whole wheat flour
1 1⁄2 tbsp. fine sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 200F. Grease two 5" × 81/2" loaf pans with butter and set them aside in a warm spot. Put yeast into a small glass bowl, add molasses and 1/2 cup lukewarm water, and stir to dissolve. Set aside and let rest until yeast bubbles and becomes frothy, about 10 minutes.

2. Put flour and salt into a large ovenproof bowl and stir well to combine. Place bowl in oven and let rest until flour mixture is warmed through, about 10 minutes. Remove bowl from oven, add the yeast mixture and 3 1/2 cups lukewarm water, and mix together with your hands until well combined and a sticky dough forms.

3. Increase heat to 400F. Divide dough evenly between the 2 prepared loaf pans, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm spot until bread has grown by one-third, 15–20 minutes. Bake bread on middle rack of oven until the loaves are browned on top, about 45 minutes. Loosely cover loaves with foil, then continue to bake for 25–30 minutes more.

4. Let bread cool in pans for 10 minutes, then gently run a table knife around inside edges of pans to loosen. Turn loaves out onto a rack and let rest until completely cool, 2–3 hours. Makes two 5" × 81/2" loaves. From Saveur, Issue #91

Comments: Here in Peru, we do not seem to have stone ground whole wheat flour so I used a combination of wheat germ, wheat bran, pseudo-wheat flour and white flour. I found these loaves to be incredibly dense but did enjoy not kneading and the short rise time. I think next time I make brown bread, I shall try a more modern, lighter version!