Merciful God, You are great in compassion and Your tenderness for us is without measure. We ask You to give us today our daily bread, and also provide for the needs of all of Your hungry children around the world. Through Christ Your Son and Our Lord. Amen.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Swope Bread

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If you enjoy fresh-baked bread, but have anxiety about making yeast breads (let me convert you, please!), today's recipe is for you. This recipe is printed on the side of the Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour bag. I noticed it one day when I was making bread and tucked the idea away for another day. Last Friday, when I was out of yeast but in need of bread for dinner, I pulled the bag out and made a loaf. What a wonderful bread it is! It tastes like a sweet whole wheat yeast bread, but no yeast is involved. Even the texture is like a yeast bread -- remarkable. And besides making a yummy dinner bread, it makes a fabulous toast. It takes a little longer than store-bought bread to toast to a crunchy texture, but worth the time it takes for the extra cycle in the toaster. Yum!



Swope Bread


4 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. unbleached white flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. salt
1 quart buttermilk (4 c.)
4 t. baking soda

Grease two bread pans. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl mix flours with sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, mix buttermilk and baking soda. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture. Stir until thoroughly combined. Spoon batter into bread pans and smooth tops. Place in center of oven. Turn oven down to 350 degrees F. and bake for 50 minutes. Turn out and cool completely on wire racks.

Bag up leftovers in a thick zipper bag and place in the freezer.

(I challenge you to leave it untouched until dinner!)


If you like this recipe, you might also like Irish Soda Bread, and Beer Bread.

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7 comments:

Charlotte (WaltzingM) said...

That looks very similar to the Colonial Brown Bread we made for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's feast day. I'll have to try your version and see how they compare. A side by side taste test, I think. Husband will be thrilled! : )

Lisa said...

You gotta love Bob's Red Mill. They have the greatest products. Glad to hear their recipe came to the rescue. The bread does look delicious!

Abby said...

OK. I can do this! No yeast (scares me) and no beer (we don't drink it). Fresh bread on the table? My husband might die.

Carina said...

Barbara,

What size bread pans did you use? I only have the 9x5 size which I knew is a bit larger than the "traditional" bread pan size and am wondering if this will be a problem....

Barbara said...

Carina,
I use glass 9 x 5 pans. The bread didn't rise exceptionally high (they would have been higher in 8 x 4 pans), but it was still a nice-sized loaf.

Mary Elizabeth said...

I made this tonight and it was delicious! Thank you for sharing!!

My only frightening moment occured when I used baking powder instead of soda (because I did not have soda on hand) and it reacted quite dramatically with the buttermilk (which I admit, I should have anticipated) but the kids thought it was great and fortunately I had a spare bowl handy to catch the over-flow. Once we got it all mixed, though, it was wonderful and everyone LOVED it! Thanks again!

Shaun said...

It's in the oven now; oh I sure hope it turns out, my in-laws are here for supper ;)