The following recipe comes from a Mary Margaret McBride cookbook series of 12 volumes published in the late 1950s. It was sold in the supermarket, one volume each week. It is a favorite in Doris’s family, and if you like yeast breads, you’ll love this. It also makes great toast. Makes 3 loaves.
Ingredients and Directions
Pour ½ cup lukewarm water over 2 packages quick granular yeast to soften.
Pour 3 cups scalded milk (low fat or non-fat works just as well) over:
1 ½ cups regular uncooked oats
½ cup sugar
1 Tbl salt
1 ½ cups dried currants (not raisins)
Cool to lukewarm.
Beat in 3 to 3 ½ cups sifted enriched flour (Doris likes King Arthur’s flour). Beat in softened yeast and beaten eggs. Add enough flour to make a stiff dough. (Of course, this is even easier if you have a bread hook for your stand mixer.) Turn out on a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, adding flour as needed until no longer sticky. Round the dough into a ball, place in greased bowl, cover and let rise until double in bulk, about 2 hrs. Punch down, turn over, cover and let rise again until double in bulk, about one hour. (Doris finds if she puts the bowl in the oven and fills a 9 x 13 baking dish with boiling water on the rack below it, the bread rises quickly.) Punch down, divide dough into 3 parts; round each part into a ball, cover and let rest 10 minutes.
Flatten each dough ball into a long rectangle with rolling pin to break bubbles. Combine ½ cup sugar with 3 Tbl cinnamon and sprinkle this mixture evenly over each dough. Roll up each dough crosswise to form the loaf. Seal edges. Place seam side down in greased bread pans. Brush lightly with melted fat, cover and let rise until double in bulk, about 1 ½ hours.
Bake in a moderate oven (375 degrees) 40 to 50 minutes until bread is brown and begins to leave sides of pan.
a little of each 