My next project plan was for a cookie, but I lack necessary ingredients and don't have the substitutions either (from The Food Substitution Bible (best "cook"book EVER): lemon oil + vodka = lemon extract). So I decided to hunt through the recipes for one that included ingredients I actually have on hand. I found this Applesauce Nut Bread recipe, which will conveniently get rid of the large quantity of applesauce I bought for another project that didn't work out. The recipe is pretty basic, flour, egg, baking powder and soda, applesauce, sugar and some nuts. I put it together as instructed in the recipe, which says to combine dry ingredients and then add the wet. This is somewhat foreign to me since it normally goes in reverse. Well, Grandma hasn't been wrong yet so I gave it a try (there are 10 minutes to go in bake time). I also decided to make a second loaf - the recipe only makes one loaf at a time - and combine the ingredients with dry into wet. I also added some cinnamon and cloves - I'm apparently out of nutmeg - just for fun.
I know my grandmother made her own applesauce, so I'm guessing that's what she used. I don't know if her applesauce had any spice in it, or if it was just apples. My aunt cannot stand the smell (or taste) of cooking apples to this day b/c she'd have to remove the skins as the apples cooked. Having made apple butter - applesauce becomes apple butter once you add brown sugar and other spices - this fall I can tell you that I cannot imagine having to remove the skins by hand. We used a food mill and that was hard enough.
Bread is out of the oven! Oh, I do have to admit to nearly botching the whole thing by forgetting to add the sugar to the "original" recipe.
Back to the applesauce. My applesauce says "applesauce made from real apples" and no sugar added. Ok, I could maybe see adding sugar, after all that's what we did to ours for apple butter and apples can get a little tart in the cooking process. I recall looking at the different brands for one without a bunch of extra stuff in it, i.e. corn syrup, water, something else I can't pronounce. There were 2 and I wanted (for some reason) the bigger jar, thus my need to get rid of it. But really, only two products in a standard grocery store that don't have a bunch of extra crap in the applesauce???
I think I have as much of a problem with the slogan "applesauce made from real apples". Really?? Exactly what else would applesauce be made of?? Yes, yes. Anything else resembling an apple, like pears, but still. What happened to the good old days of food? I read an article in the paper recently that quoted a book by Michael Pollan, if your great grandmother wouldn't know what the ingredient is, don't eat it. I think I can get behind that.
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| left one is the original version, right one is mine |
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| Grandma's loaf, a little crusty on the outside, moist on the inside, highlights the applesauce and nuts |
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| My loaf, cinnamon and cloves complement and dampen the applesauce a little, don't notice the nuts as much. Moist w/ chewier crust. |
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| Mmmmmmm |
There is nothing like fresh hot bread and butter!
ReplyDeleteAnd, where is my slice?
ReplyDelete