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Apple Bread
1 lb. apples 1 yeast cake 1/2 cup lukewarm water 1 teaspoon salt 5 cups flour 4 tablespoons melted shortening Peel, core and stew apples. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water, add slightly cooked apples, half of the flour and the melted shortening. Mix well. Cover and put in a warm place to rise until light--about one and one--half hours. Mix in remainder of flour, and the salt; knead lightly and let rise in a well greased bowl until double in bulk. Form into loaves, filling pans half full; cover and let rise until light--about one hour. Bake in a hot oven about 45 minutes.
A plain yeast bread enriched with stewed apple in place of milk or sugar. The one thing to get right is the temperature of the apple: it must be no warmer than lukewarm when it meets the yeast.
- Cool the apples firstStewed apple straight off the stove will kill the yeast. The recipe asks only for "slightly cooked" fruit; cook the peeled, cored apples down with very little water and let the pulp cool to about 100F before combining. A pound of apples gives roughly a cup to a cup and a half of pulp.
- Yeast cakeA compressed yeast cake of this period is usually taken as equivalent to one modern packet of active dry yeast, about 2 1/4 teaspoons. Dissolve it in the half cup of lukewarm water (105-110F) and give it five minutes to foam.
- Hot ovenA "hot oven" in this period is generally taken as roughly 400-450F. At the upper end the crust will darken considerably on a loaf this size, so around 400F is the safer reading; the bread is done at an internal temperature of 190-200F.
- Salt goes in lateThe recipe holds the salt back until the second addition of flour. Withholding salt from a sponge so as not to retard the yeast is a recognised rationale, though the recipe gives no reason. Make sure it is distributed evenly during kneading or you will get salty streaks.
- Flour is approximateFive cups is a starting point only, since the water content of stewed apple varies widely. Add the second half of the flour gradually and stop when the dough is soft but no longer sticky.
- Two rises, then the pan riseThe sponge rises about 1 1/2 hours, the kneaded dough until doubled (roughly another hour), and the shaped loaves about an hour more. Total time is close to four hours.
- YieldEnough for two standard 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pans, filled half full as directed. Do not overfill; apple dough rises energetically.
- Texture and keepingThe fruit gives a moist, close crumb with a faint sweetness rather than an apple flavour. It stales more slowly than a lean white loaf and toasts well on the second and third day.