Here is the 1st of 100 recipes which will be recreated and photographed over the year of my blog…
Nothing Fancy Wartime Loaf
* 600 ml (1 pint) of warm water
* 5 teaspoons of quick rise yeast
* couple pinches of sugar
* 2 lb of wholewheat (wholemeal) flour
* 1.5 teaspoons salt
* 1 tablespoon rolled oats (for top)
* drizzle of vegetable oil
Method
Place flour in large bowl
Mix in all dry ingredients except the rolled oats
Drizzle in vegetable oil
Pour in warm water
Mix thoroughly
When dough comes together knead for 10 minutes until dough is silky
Place back in bowl and cover
Let dough rise somewhere warm until doubled in size
Knead dough briefly again
Place dough into 4 x 1/2 lb tins (or 2 x 1 lb tins) that have been floured
Brush top with a little water and sprinkle on some rolled oats
Leave to rise for around 20 minutes
PLace in oven at 180 0C for around 30-40 mins (depending on the size of the loaf)
Remove from oven
Cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting
PS Note that the original recipe called for old fashioned yeast but I replaced with quick rise yeast (it simply is very hard to get hold of those little squares of yeast that would have been used)
I love making our own bread. So satisfying! I’ve been doing it for 4 years now and it’s so easy at this point. I will have to convert this recipe and check it out. Thanks!
Jenn
Hi
Loved your recipes and would like to copy them for whole series of event we are having next year about living during World War 2.
I want to create items for a Nostalgic Tea and another for a supper meal between a “Bingo and Dance” evening.
Several of your recipes seem ideal for all our events but I seem unable to copy or save them on my computer.
And of course I would want to distribute the recipes to my various cooks in the village.
Hope you can help
Kate
How is this different to how we would do this today? Sorry, I just can’t work it out, am I just being thick or….?
Hi it isn’t really any different (except the type of yeast in the 1940s would have been different)- the recipes I am using are all authentic recipes but occasionally I change an ingredient like yeast simply because I can’t get hold of old fashioned type yeast anymore!!
C xx
Just an FYI. Larger supermarkets (with their own bakeries in-store) like Asda will give you an oz or two of fresh yeast if you ask. I make my own ‘morning goods’ from time to time and always do this at my nearest store.
Hi. Today my lovely old Auntie in Auatralia said she fancied making some ‘Dunkirk’ bread but couldn’t find her recipe.
This was a recipe created for wartime and the days of austerity following the war.
I tried my Mrs Beetons but it was published in 1939, too early.
She can only remember that she should use self raising flour.
Can anyone help, please?
Judith. Durham
I don’t recall anyone baking bread since it was one of the few things which was NOT rationed. That didn’t come about until after the war! I suppose some people did, but t wouldn’t have been a common occurrence.
For these measurements, I assume that the measurements for teaspoons and tablespoons are in UK measurements and not US? (I only learned there’s a difference today!) I assume that it’s UK, but one needs to make sure… lest I end up with absolutely revolting bread.
Great recipe. Does anyone who reads this blog remember the old Bee-Ro flour cookbook. It was a freebie and was some fifteen pages of recipes. Don’t know why but I have had this little book on my mind when reading around here. It was published in the UK to promote the Bee-Ro flour. I do remember the ration books, I was around six years of age and needed them to buy the occasional candy treat in the UK.
I have two Bero cookery books, an original version, the second a modernised one, though there is very little difference. The recipes are excellent, and great favourites with my family.
I am not from the UK, so the Bee-Ro cookbook is not familiar to me, but I am always interested in old cookbooks. Did you not find it on Amazon? They sometimes have books like that.
David, according to some of the war diaries, baking bread was common in the UK. Some, I suppose, did not wish to stand in food lines for the rather awful bread that was being provided.
I doubt the Bee-Ro flour book would be on Amazon as it was a freebie when you bought the flour. It is purely nostalgia on my part by enquiring if anyone had heard of it. There were some nice recipes for scones and cakes etc. in it.
Yes, my mother had the small Be-Ro cook book. I dont know what happened to it, probably my dad threw it out.
That bread recipe is more or less how I make bread anyway, except I use half wholemeal and half white flour. You can do without the sugar, which is really only there to make the dough rise more quickly, you just need to be patient.
Just wanted to let you know that the BeRo book is still going strong and can be purchased on the Be Ro website. I bought one each for my (adult) children and they use them all the time. It has all the basics in there and they are all old faithfuls. Well worth buying.
Hi Carolyn, just wondering..how long does the bread keep??
Thanks :0)
it’s the best hank you
it’s the best i have ever tasted
This was a bread my mom would make when I was a child…having grown up in England during the war she remembered well the rationing and though I do not remember her saying bread was rationed bread was baked in the home. Loved coming home from school to the smell of fresh bread warm out of the oven slathered with butter. Thank you for the recipe and bringing a good memory forward today. I will make this.
Thanks for advising of the Be-Ro website. Never even thought this might have existed. I did mispell Be-Ro. Saw a very simple recipe for plain scones with minimum ingredients and I will try this soon. Can’t beat simple. This has made my day and thanks a million.
Tip – if you have a bakery in town see them. I was happy to sell or give a bit of yeast depending on quantity to those who asked.
30g of Bakers Yeast would be more than enough for this recipe. (20g to 1 kg of flour is standard)
Be nice to the baker though – you’re ‘cheating’ him/her out of selling a loaf, so buy a few finger buns or tea cake or something when you ask.
Another tip –
You don’t NEED sugar in bread – but it helps the dough to rise quickly. You can get bread improver from the supermarket or the baker. Bread improver is just soy flour with enzymes. The enzymes help the yeast convert the carbohydrates in the flour into sugars the yeast can use more readily.
Golly …. must be getting old!
Big mistake … Lord Dalton was responsible for our wonderful nutrition! Not Hugh Dalton, who came along a bit later!
Goodness …. Woolton! Woolton!
I seem to have Dalton on my mind!
Baron Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton to be precise!