Pilgrim's Bread

Today I tried Pilgrim's Bread! It was the recipe that my cousin Leah gave me and it is so darn yummy! I think after having fresh baked bread for the last week or two it's going to be hard to ever go back to store bought bread but at least with this recipe and some of my others I will hopefully not have to buy any more bread (except for french toast bread!). 


Something I have learned through out my few years of cooking and baking is that recipe's are just guide lines. You can always change them if you want to and it is always best to learn how to cook things from the masters. For instance, I could give you the recipe to my Apple Turnovers (and the next time I make them I will) but I change things here and there to make them perfect. Or you could get Josh's Brownie recipe but if you actually watch him make it he adds a little bit more of some things until it looks just right. So considering my cousin said she has been baking this bread for 7 years I would definitely consider her a master at it! So all the little substitutes and extra tid bits are from the master herself, hopefully they are as helpful to you as they were to me!


Pilgrim's Bread:
1/2 c. yellow cornmeal (you could use corn flour)
1/3 c. brown sugar (you can use maple syrup)
1 T salt
1 c. oatmeal (rolled oats)
2 c. boiling water
1/4 c. oil
4tsp. yeast
1/2 c. warm water
2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. rye flour (you could use whole wheat flour (I did!))
white flour - 3 c.?

Mix cornmeal, brown sugar, salt and oatmeal in a large bowl. 

Add boiling water. Now Leah said that the left over water from boiling potato's makes the bread taste really yummy. We're not big potato people so I didn't have any to use when I made my bread. But I plan on saving my potato water the next time I make potato's... whenever that is, I don't think it's on my meal plan... or maybe it is... Anyway. Stir in oil. 

Cool until lukewarm (30min.) 


Soften yeast in 1/2 c. warm water and use your super awesome bowl that you got at the 100 yen store in Japan (I love my bowls!) and stir into cooled cornmeal mixture. 

Add whole wheat and rye flour. Mix. 

Add enough white flour to make a moderately stiff dough. 

Knead 6-8min. by hand or about 3 minutes in a kitchen aid mixer (which are glorious things!). 

Shape into a ball, place in greased bowl turning once to grease surface. 

Cover and let rise in warm place until double - approx. 60min. Two secret's on rising your dough if you don't have a window with direct sunlight. One way you can do it that I learned from my mother is to place a cooling rack over two burners on your stove and put you pans/bowl on the rack and cover with a towel. Turn burners on for 45 seconds and it should be warm enough to rise your dough. The second secret is from Leah, she said to preheat your oven for 2 min. and then shut it off and turn on the interior light (granted you have a light, I do but in all of our other places we didn't) and put the bread dough in to rise.


Punch down and divide into 2 balls, let rest 10min.

Shape into loaves and put in pans. 

Let rise in warm place until double -approx. 30min. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes while you get to watch your two adorable children play!

And then the bread will be done and you will be in heaven!