Shredded Wheat Bread Recipe

Many of you asked for my recipe for shredded wheat bread after reading my post A Promise in a Loaf of Bread. I will share it with you today.

I have two go-to cookbooks written by a woman named Marjorie Standish. They are:

Cooking Down East, published in 1969 and
Keep Cooking the Maine Way, published in 1973
both published by the Maine Sunday Telegram

They are favorites of my mother, myself and now my daughter. The recipes are easy to follow, there are no exotic ingredients, and there are interesting notes about each chapter such as:

Baking beans is one of the best of all Maine cooking customs, isn't it? Have you ever stopped to think of the many times you have walked into a cozy Maine kitchen and smelled them baking? All kinds of beans, baked in all sorts of ways and by all kinds of fuel. 

There are two other booklet style cookbooks that she wrote which I have.  One is a how to guide for making chowders and stews, and the other for cooking seafood.

My husband, who was raised by his grandparents, speaks fondly of his grandmother's cooking. These recipes follow her style. There are some recipes however I won't attempt like the Jellied Veal Loaf which does not appeal to me in the slightest.

Mrs. Standish began her Cooking Down East  newspaper column in the Maine Sunday Telegram in 1948. It was published in the newspaper for 25 years, and prompted the writing of her cookbooks. Having a degree in Home Economics from the University of Maine at Farmington (then called Farmington Normal School), she taught for five years as a home economics teacher. Imagine my surprise one day when an older woman I know told me Mrs. Standish was her Home Ec teacher.

Now for the recipe as it appears in Cooking Down East:

Shredded Wheat Bread
2 cups boiling water
2 shredded wheat biscuits
2 tablespoons shortening
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup molasses
1 yeast cake
1/4 cup lukewarm water
about 5 cups flour, unsifted

Measure water, shortening, salt and molasses into mixing bowl, crumble shredded wheat into this. Dissolve yeast in warm water, add to first mixture when it has cooled to lukewarm.

Add flour by cupfuls, using as much as batter will take, until you have a stiff dough. Knead for 8 minutes. Grease bowl, place dough in it, let rise for 2 hours, covered. Punch down, let rise another hour.

Turn out on floured board, whack down, let relax for 10 minutes. Make into 2 loaves, place in greased pans, let rise until doubled. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes. Turn onto rack, brush tops with butter, cool and store.

I would think there might be some (myself included) who wouldn't wait for it to cool before trying a slice, and I doubt you'd need to store it for long.

There are more little gems in this cookbook. I have fond memories of my mother's Melt in Your Mouth Blueberry Cake, and Doughnut Muffins. I'd be happy to share those with you as well if you'd like.

These cookbooks are available on Amazon, or you may be able to find some on ebay or in used bookstores.

Thanks for stopping by Little Birdie Blessings today. I'm appreciative of each of you.