Breads for the Sweet Tooth

by

Food+Drink

One of many memorable aspects of my mountain boyhood focuses on what were simply known as “sweets.” By today’s health standards virtually everyone I knew during my youth consumed an inordinate amount of desserts, jams and jellies, honey and syrups, and indeed pretty much anything and everything suitable for a sweet tooth.

Our dietary habits would bring resounding condemnation from modern-day health advocates, but keep in mind that in the middle of the last century most high country residents, and certainly those in my family and community circles, burned a great many calories. That was the result of manual labor, and the link between a hankering for tasty treats featuring some type of sweetening and hard work is readily understandable when you realize the manner in which physical exertion required that inner human fires be fueled with energy-rich foods.

That fuel came in various forms, with starch-laden foodstuffs such as the mountain staff of life, corn (especially in the form of cornbread), along with potatoes, looming large. But there were also sweets without end, from honey, jelly, or sorghum syrup to adorn breakfast biscuits to fried fruit pies for snacking during the day; from pies and cobblers to wonders such as old-time seven-layer stack cakes. There were also plenty of sweets of the sort that might have been known in other geographical regions ors different level of society as tea cakes or provender deemed suitable for serving at a high tea. In the world I knew, however, once devoid of such social niceties, they were simply known as sweet breads. Typically these baked goods featured some type of fruit, nut, or special sweetening for added flavor appeal and they came in a variety of forms—muffins, loaves, or in the flat shape associated with baking pans. Always though, there were two common characteristics—sweetness and scrumptious taste.

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The need to fuel the inner man or woman these savory treats once fulfilled is largely gone, but their taste appeal transcends the bounds of generational change or physical needs. Try one or more of the examples of “sweet breads” offered below and I think you will readily understand why mountain folk were mighty partial to such culinary offerings.

Black Walnut and Banana Bread

Bananas were the most common of all store-bought fruits in yesteryear, and pretty much everyone with gumption gathered and cracked black walnuts from nature’s rich larder each fall. The two have long been combined to make a sweet bread that cries out for anointing with a slab of butter or spread of cream cheese.

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup finely chopped black walnuts

Preparation:

Mix vegetable oil, sugar, eggs, and bananas well.  Add flour, salt, baking soda, and walnuts and mix thoroughly.  Place in greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for an hour or in four small loaf pans with a baking time of 40 minutes.

TIP:  Freeze overripe bananas when you need to delay mixing up a batch of the bread.

Pumpkin Bread

Planting pumpkins among rows of corn, sometimes in company with cornfield beans for the Cherokee-based “three sisters” approach to agriculture, was once commonplace. Today most folks just turn to store-bought canned pumpkin, but whether it involves eating pumpkins you grew personally or processed “pumpkin meat” from a grocery store shelf, this recipe offers the basis of a rightly popular sweet bread of enduring appeal.

Ingredients:

  • 2½ cups sugar
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 3 eggs
  • 15 ounces of processed pumpkin
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1¼ teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1½ cups black walnuts

Preparation:

Combine sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and shortening. In a separate bowl sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. Combine pumpkin mixture with sifted mixture. Stir in black walnuts. Pour into greased loaf pans and bake for an hour at 350 degrees.

NOTE: Other nuts may be used; pecans are especially good in this recipe.

Honey Nut Bread

Combine honey, nuts (ideally those gathering, cracked, and picked with your own labor) and flour with suitable accompaniments and you have the makings of a truly tasty treat.

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup coarsely chopped nuts
  • 2 cups flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • ½ cup honey
  • ½ cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preparation:

Sift dry ingredients and add nuts (pecans, English walnuts, black walnuts, or even hickory nuts can be used). Combine beaten egg, honey, milk, and melted butter, and add to first mixture. Stir until ingredients are just moist. Bake in greased bread pan at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Makes wonderful breakfast bread when sliced and toasted.

Apple Bread

Apples have long been the dominant fruit among mountain folks, thanks at least in part to the fact they are wonderfully suited to regional climate and terrain. For the better part of two centuries apples have featured prominently as a cash crop in the area, and in days gone by almost everyone had, at a minimum, a half dozen of so apple trees on their property. It’s a wonderfully versatile fruit, and here’s a fine example of that versatility.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup softened butter
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups finely shredded apples
  • ½ cup chopped nuts (black walnuts are especially good)

Preparation:

Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add flour mixture alternately with apples. Stir in walnuts. Spoon into a well-greased loaf pan or use parchment paper to line the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until done. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. This apple bread is perfect for breakfast or an evening snack.

Zucchini Bread

When garden productivity of this easily grown member of the squash family reaches the point where neighbors hide out of fear they are about the receive yet another gift of zucchini, turn to this method of using the vegetable.

Ingredients:

  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup oil
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 cups grated zucchini
  • 1 cup nuts

Preparation:

Beat eggs and sugar; add oil and lemon juice. Sift together flour and remaining dry ingredients; add to egg mixture. Mix well. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Bake in greased loaf pans at 325 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes or until done.

TIPS: Pecan halves can be laid on top of the loaves for extra visual appeal. Also, this bread freezes well so consider preparing a bunch of loaves when inundated by zucchini.

Smoky Mountain Persimmon Bread

Often styled “nature’s candy,” fully ripe sticky sweet persimmons are a treat eaten raw (just be sure they are actually ripe; otherwise you’ll think you swallowed a mouthful of alum) and also make a rich bread as sweet and satisfying as about any dessert imaginable.

Ingredients:

  • 2 brimming cups of persimmon pulp (fruits should be squishy ripe, and incidentally, pulp freezes well)
  • 3½ cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • Pinch (maybe half a teaspoon) of nutmeg or allspice
  • 2 cups sugar (either brown sugar or refined sugar works fine)
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) melted butter (allow to cool to room temperature after melting)
  • 4 large eggs, lightly whisked
  • 1 cups black walnuts (you can substitute 2 cups of lightly toasted and chopped pecans or English walnuts)
  • 2 cups dried fruit such as apricots, raisins, yellow raisins, or dates
  • 2/3 cup bourbon (a cheap brand is fine)

Preparation:

Butter a pair of loaf pans or use non-stick pans. Sift flour, salt, spice, baking soda, and sugar into a large plastic mixing bowl. Whisk in the butter, eggs, bourbon, and persimmon pulp until thoroughly mixed. Add and whisk in nuts and dried fruit. Place batter in pans and slide into pre-heated 350-degree oven. Check periodically as bread begins to brown by inserting a toothpick. When the toothpick comes out clean the bread is ready. Cooking time varies depending on configuration of pans you use.

NOTE: Once cooled, wrap to keep moist. The bread will keep several days (but likely be eaten much sooner) and it freezes well. It is rich and somewhat reminiscent of a dark fruit cake.

TIP: While wild persimmons are plentiful, their domesticate brethren are just as tasty, have no seeds, and are easily worked up. Increasingly they are seasonally available in grocery stores.

Molasses Bread

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of ginger
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • cup of melted butter
  • 1 cup of molasses
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1 egg

Preparation:

Sift all dry ingredients together. Stir in melted butter and molasses mixing well. Add milk and egg; mix well. Pour mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes or until done.

TIPS: If you don’t have buttermilk available, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of whole milk as a substitute.  Another substitution possibility is to use sorghum instead of molasses.

Blackberry Cornbread

In my personal view adding sugar to cornbread mix is an abomination fit exclusively for those plagued by stark culinary ignorance or perhaps a temporary spate of having taken leave of their senses, but there’s a way to give cornbread a special taste boost in that direction without so much as a hint of visitation to the sugar jar. Just mix up a batch of cornbread with your favorite recipe (mine appears below) and then, immediately after emptying it into a piping hot cast iron skillet, carefully pour  two cups of blackberries across the top and pop it in the oven. Slathered with butter when hot from the oven, this is a gift from the culinary gods.

Ingredients:

  • 1 extra large egg
  • 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
  • ¼ cup bacon drippings
  • 2 cups stone-ground corn meal

Preparation:

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and place the pan, well-seasoned by rubbing in a bit of the bacon grease or by running a piece of streaked meat across it after the pan is hot, in it for a few minutes. Then take out and pour the batter into the pan, add the blackberries, return to oven, and cook until golden brown.

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