Ethlyn Goodwin's Brown Bread

Ethlyn Goodwin's Brown Bread
(Makes 2 loaves)

1 cup molasses
2 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon shortening
2 cups sour milk (2 cups milk with 2 tablespoons of vinegar)
2 cups graham flour
2 cups white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8x4-inch or 9x5-inch loaf pans.

Make soured milk: warm the milk gently (1 minute in the microwave will suffice) stir in vinegar. Set the soured milk aside.

Combine the graham flour, white flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.  

Cream the sugar and shortening together.  Beat in the egg, molasses, and soured milk.  

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a big spoon, just until combined. 

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pans.

Bake until firm and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 45 minutes to 1 hour. 

Allow the bread to cool in the loaf pan for 15 minutes, then carefully invert the bread onto a wire rack.

This bread is a heavy/dense bread  that Mother always made whenever we had homemade baked beans.  We would often times put our beans on the bread, especially if the beans were a little sloppy.  Mother usually added black raisins to her bread and that enhanced the flavor of the bread.

I  don't think I was ever to a Grange meeting or a Church dinner that someone didn't bring Brown Bread.  It seemed to be a favorite of everyone.

This recipe is in my Mother's hand writing and my daughter has her recipe box and the majority of her recipes that we have all copied and shared with the rest of the family.  Susie even made me a quilted pot holder with Mother's biscuit recipe recipe in the middle of it.  I thought that was a really neat idea.