Fare Exchange: Waffles of Insane Greatness and Communion bread

Good morning, February friends. Today readers are seeking help with sprouts, specifically for baking sprouted grain bread and making mung bean and other sprouts at home. We are also on the hunt for an arthritis cure. Can gin-soaked raisins make a difference and, if so, how do you prepare them? Finally, we need an easy recipe for old-fashioned boiled custard.

The requesters today are a pair whom we shall call Mr. and Mrs. Wednesday. She is looking for “recipes using sprouts, particularly sprouted grain bread, like the Ezekiel bread that is in the frozen section of the grocery. I once had a set of plastic tops designed for making sprouts in canning jars, and I would like to know where to buy them, how to make the sprouts, and which kinds are the best sprouts to make.” Mr. Wednesday’s part is to ask for help in making boiled custard like his mama used to make. Then, too, he hopes there is truly a reliable arthritis cure made with gin and raisins. “If there is, please pass on the recipe.”

WAFFLES

Sally Sieg sent the waffle recipe that was requested, and these waffles do have an appealing title, “Waffles of Insane Greatness,” a phrase that also describes Aretha Frankenstein’s pancake mix. She wrote, “I have used this many times and these waffles are outstanding. Also, I have used Aretha’s pancake mix several times to make waffles. If I remember right, I made the mix a little thinner with more buttermilk, so that they would be somewhat crisper, and they turned out quite well too.”

Waffles of Insane Greatness like Aretha Frankenstein’s

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole milk or buttermilk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butter and syrup, for serving

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt; mix well. Add the milk or buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and mix well. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.

Heat a waffle iron. Do not use nonstick spray on the waffle iron; the oil in the batter will allow the waffle to release easily. Follow the directions on your waffle iron to cook the waffles. Serve immediately with butter and syrup.

COMMUNION BREAD

Sarah Miller shared her recipe for whole-wheat bread, again in answer to a request. She bakes this bread to be used at Holy Communion. She explained: “This is a very old, and to me, a prized recipe. I have people who can’t swallow the regular bread tell me that they have no problem at all with this bread. I use a Dak bread machine for the mixing only and use quick-rise bread machine yeast.”

This is a quarter-century baking custom with her, and its roots go back farther in the family’s history. “I have made this bread for Communion for the past 25-plus years for services at various Hamilton County Methodist churches.

“I order my whole-wheat bread flour from Old Mill at Pigeon Forge, Tenn. It is usually delivered within two to three days. I also order the stone-ground meal. It is really wonderful – just like the meal my grandfather used to grind down on Sand Mountain in the 1940s.”

Whole Wheat Bread for Communion Bread

1 package dry yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast

14 cup warm water (to dissolve yeast or to add to dough if using bread machine yeast)

2 12 cups hot water

12 cup packed brown sugar

3 teaspoons salt

14 cup shortening

3 cups stirred whole-wheat bread flour

5 cups sifted white bread flour

Soften dry yeast in 14 cup warm water or go by your bread machine’s instructions Combine hot water, brown sugar, salt and shortening, stirring until shortening is melted

Cool until lukewarm.

Follow instructions for your bread machine about when to put in yeast and other ingredients.

Mix flours together in large bowl or, if using bread machine, add to container. Slowly add warm water containing brown sugar, salt and shortening mixture. Will be a moderately stiff dough.

Place in a greased bowl, cover and allow to double in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours

Punch dough down and cut into 2 portions. Cover and allow to rest 10 minutes. Shape into loaves or baguettes, place in a French bread pan (or regular loaf pans) and allow to rise 1 1/2 hours or until doubled.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes. A regular loaf will need to bake about 40-45 minutes. Cover with foil if browning too quickly. Remove from oven when done and let cool on wire rack.

Can be made into rolls if you prefer. It will make about 3 dozen nice fat rolls. They freeze really well.

Note: I use the manual setting on my machine and put the dough into a greased bowl when the mixing cycle is through, then I let it rise just like making bread the old-fashioned way.

MORE CORNBREAD

Here’s a tried-and-true recipe for Mexican cornbread, from the pen of Betty Franklin. This one contains ground beef, so it is really a one-dish meal.

Mexican Cornbread

1 can (17- or 20-ounce) Mexican-style corn

1/2 teaspoon soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup milk

1/2 cup corn oil

1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained

1 large onion, chopped fine

3 jalapeno peppers, chopped and rinsed

2 pounds grated cheese

Mix together corn, soda, salt, meal, milk and corn oil to make a batter.

Butter a casserole dish and barely cover the bottom of the pan with batter. (Most of the batter goes on top.)

Layer over batter meat, onions and peppers, cheese and then the rest of the batter on top.

Bake for 50 minutes in a 350-degree oven.

Today was bread day, but who knows what next week will bring? Whatever the category, it be a smorgasbord, or will you specialize? It’s bound to be worth reading and cooking.