Happy National American Beer Day. Beer is one of the star-ingredients in this recipe…
PEPPER-ITCH ARM SEASONED STUFFING BREAD
By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – Best Of The Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 99). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]
This is a heavy, well-seasoned bread that is not meant to be eaten with butter like ordinary bread.
INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups bottled wheat germ
3 cups self-rising flour
1 egg, well-beaten
12-ounce can light beer
1 cup each, finely diced: celery and fresh white onion
1 tablespoon each: rubbed sage and dill seeds
INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix each ingredient in a small bowl, as listed, until a smooth batter. Pour into a greased and floured 9-inch loaf pan (NOT Pyrex) and bake for 80 minutes at 375°F. After an hour of baking, loosely cover the top of the bread with foil to keep the crust from over-browning.
When the bread comes out of the oven, wipe the top crust in 1 tablespoon of soft margarine or butter. Cool for 1 hour. Cut into ½-inch slices and dry in single layers on cookie sheets in a 200°F oven, turning the slices often, until the bread is brittle enough that you can crumble it between your fingers.
Store it like bread crumbs, in a container with a tight-fitting lid…at room temperature to use within 2 months. Freeze up to a year.
TO USE THE STUFFING BREAD: mix 8 cups of bread crumbs with 1 envelope dry onion soup mix, 1 cup raisins and 1 cup chopped walnuts. Add 1 cup applesauce, ½ cup melted butter or margarine and ½ cup chicken broth or water. Bake in a greased 2½ quart baking dish, covered, at 350°F for 30 minutes.
OR – combine 1 loaf of crumbled bread with a 21-ounce can apple pie filling, 2 well-beaten eggs and a 10-ounce can cream of celery soup. Spread in a well-greased 9 x 12 x 2” baking dish. Spray a sheet of foil with Pam and place it Pam-side down ceiling the edges around the baking dish. Bake at 375°F for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before cutting into squares to serve at once with meat or poultry. Serves 6 to 8 adequately. Leftovers freeze well up to 6 months.
OR – brown 1-lb breakfast-style bulk pork sausage in a skillet, crumbling it with the back of a fork until well cooked. Stir both sausage and drippings into the stuffing mixture before baking it. You can also add 1 cup diced celery or peeled and chopped apples to the stuffing mixture before baking it.
See also…
Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Family Stories Of Women’s Small Business
