Bran Bread (Cup nuts Mrs W J Fendick)

A sour-milk quick bread of the graham-and-bran type common in church cookbooks a century ago. The method is intact; several of the quantities are not, so read the notes on measurement before you shop.

• Missing quantitiesAs printed, no amount is given for the bran itself, the sour milk, or the raisins; the molasses figure ("14 C") and the duplicated trailing salt figure ("12 t") have plainly lost their fractions, though the method list does specify 1 level teaspoon salt. Whatever bran and milk quantities you settle on are a reconstruction, not the original.
• Moderate oven"Moderate" in a wood- or early gas-range cookbook of this vintage means about 350F. An hour at that temperature suits a loaf; check with a skewer at 45 minutes.
• Sour milk and sodaSour milk here is naturally clabbered raw milk, not spoiled pasteurised milk. Use buttermilk. The soda is what reacts with its acid, so mix it into the milk and get the batter into the pan without delay.
• Two leavenersThe rounded teaspoon of soda works on the sour milk; the baking powder is insurance for the heavy graham and bran. Do not increase either, or the crumb takes on a soapy, metallic edge.
• Graham flourGraham flour is coarse whole-wheat flour, stone-ground with the bran and germ left in. Whole-wheat flour is the direct substitute; it absorbs liquid slowly, so the batter will thicken as it stands.
• BranWheat bran sold as a baking ingredient is what is wanted, not a sweetened bran breakfast cereal, which would add sugar and change the liquid balance.
• MixingStir only until the dry streaks disappear. Beating develops gluten in the white flour and gives a tough, tunnelled loaf under a domed crust.
• Pans and yieldWith the bran and liquid amounts missing the yield cannot be fixed, but a batter built on 2 C graham, 1 C white flour and 1/2 C corn meal will want roughly one 9x5-inch loaf pan or two smaller ones; grease well, as molasses and bran both stick.