Got a large pot and some empty coffee cans? According to
Ruth Ross of Spring Valley, New York, that's all the
equipment it takes to cook up some of the richest,
moistest, most health ful dessert breads
(and dinner breads and any-old-time breads) you've ever
laid tongue to!
Moist and delicate, slightly sweet and abounding with bits
of fruit . . . it's the fanciest bread of all! You know
what I'm talking about: date-nut loaves. The ones that go
great with cream cheese . . . and cost about $1.17 a pound.
(Then too, who can resist those deliciously tender
loaves-in-a-can known as Boston brown bread? Their velvety
slices transform a simple baked-bean supper into a glorious
meal . . . but at 75¢ a can, what price glory?)
No doubt about it, these wonderfully rich, tawny brown
loaves are a sheer delight to eat. But the price! Alas,
that's what's hard to swallow.
On the other hand, I can show you how to make these same
delicacies at home . . . without an oven,
without kneading, without using white
flour or sugar, and without the sky-high price
tags. All you need are [1] a few one-pound coffee cans, [2]
a pot (with cover) large enough to hold them, [3] some
cookie cutters to support the coffee tins inside the pot,
and [4] a single burner atop a stove. I call this my Basic
Steaming Kit, and I use it to steam-bake a variety
of delectable breads and cakes for just pennies per
loaf.
First, I make up a batter . . . then I grease my coffee
cans, fill 'em about halfway (to allow for rising), and
cover each one snugly with a plastic lid or aluminum foil.
Next, I set the dough-laden containers on cookie cutters in
the bottom of a deep pot, fill that pot with just enough
water to submerge the cutters, and set the whole works on a
burner. Finally, I cover the pot and let it simmer for
about two hours . . . until the neat, cylindrical loaves
are done to perfection.
Incidentally, it's not necessary to hover over that
steaming pot for those two hours either . . . you can go
off and read a book, if you want. (It is a good
idea, however, to check from time to time to make sure that
all the water hasn't boiled away.)
Adapt Your Bread Recipes Just the Way You Want Them
The nice thing about making your own steamed breads is that
you control what goes into each loaf. I've adapted my
recipes to work with whole grain flours, bran flakes, brown
rice, and honey . . . and you, of course, also can
substitute whatever ingredients you generally use. (Just
remember: old-fashioned roughage—which you don't get
in modern-day white flours—and honey—which your
body responds to differently than it responds to refined
sugar—are better for you.)
Where fruit is called for, feel free to substitute. A
windfall of most any kind of fruit can be incorporated in
the recipes that follow, and since it will all be cut up,
it needn't be blemish-free.
Be resourceful . . . use whatever's most abundant and/or
least expensive. If dates skyrocket in price over the
holidays, wait till winter's over and grocers have marked
the fruit down to half price. (Shelled nuts, too, plummet
in price after they've been on the shelves a certain length
of time.) In the meantime, use raisins or pitted prunes . .
. and if raisins are high this month, leave 'em out of the
recipe altogether! The resulting bread will be good, just a
little bit smaller in size.
For the biggest money savings of all, buy your
ingredients in bulk. You should have very little
trouble obtaining staple foods—grains, flours, honey,
dried fruit—at half price (or even less) this way.
You say you have no place to put 25-pound sacks of whole
wheat and brown rice? No problem. Store them in plain view!
We bought some 30-pound-capacity olive containers from the
local delicatessen for 50¢ apiece, and the
terra-cotta-colored tubs—filled with flour, rice, and
whatnot—look right at home in our living room.
Choosing Your Cans and Molds
You don't have to cook your steamed breads in
one-pound coffee cans. Any size container you think would
make a good-looking loaf will work. (Remember, though, that
batter baked in smaller cans does cook faster.) If you
steam your loaves in several different sized containers,
you can stack them in tiers, wedding cake style. (Those
round containers that fruitcakes and cookies come in are
ideal for making the bottom layers.) And, if you
really get hooked on steam baking, you'll soon
find yourself—like me—hunting down fancy molds
at garage sales.
For everyday use, however, I prefer ordinary one-pound
coffee cans—the kind that come with plastic
lids—because their tops can be used to hold heat
inside the containers as the baking takes place. The only
disadvantage to the plastic lids is, that after a steaming
or two, they warp or split . . . at which point you must
either scrounge up some more coffee tins with lids, or
begin to seal the containers with aluminum foil. (And the
foil, of course, can be reused many times.)
By the way, if your cans are—like most coffee
containers—ridged along the inside, don't worry about
your luscious nut loaves getting stuck and not coming out
when they're done. Surprisingly, what happens is that the
loaves actually shrink away from the can's sides
as they cook, making it a simple task—when they're
finished—to turn them out to cool.
And if your "large pot" isn't deep enough to hold coffee
cans, don't fret. You can substitute No. 303 cans, which
aren't quite as tall (but which can be sealed with
those plastic lids).
A small hint for those who have gas ovens: Wash and dry
your cans and molds when you've finished baking and store
them in the oven (I also keep my iron frying pans there) to
keep them from rusting. The pilot light generates enough
heat to keep the air inside the oven warm and dry.
Now for some recipes:
Blueberry Gingerbread
Here's a sweet 'n simple, no-risk recipe to get you
started. water
1 package of gingerbread mix
1 pint of fresh blueberries
Add water to the gingerbread mix as per the instructions on
the package. (There's no need to add an egg, however.) Fold
in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into two greased
coffee cans . . . then cover the cans with lids or foil,
set them on cookie cutters inside a large pot, add just
enough water to the pot to submerge the bottoms of the
cans, and bring the water to a boil. Cover, reduce heat,
and simmer for two hours. (Note: It's OK to peek under the
coffee can lids, and it definitely is advisable to check
the pot now and then to make sure that all the water hasn't
boiled away. If it looks as though it might, add a little
hot tap water.)
At the end of the steaming period, remove the cans from the
pot, take off their lids, and—when they're cool
enough to handle—run a knife around the insides of
the containers. Finally, turn the loaves out gently onto a
convenient surface to cool. Then slice one and serve it hot
with ice-cold whipped cream . . . or cold with a glass of
milk. Either way, it's utterly scrumptious!
Steamed Date and Honey Bread
This recipe calls for more ingredients than the one above,
but is really no harder to prepare . . . and certainly no
more difficult to eat!
2 cups of yellow cornmeal
2 cups of rye flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 cup of bran flakes (health food store variety)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of double-acting baking powder
1 cup of honey
3 cups of skim milk, reconstituted from powdered skim
milk
1 cup of chopped, pitted dates
1 cup of chopped walnuts
Combine the cornmeal, the two flours, the bran flakes,
salt, cinnamon, and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir in
the honey and skim milk, and fold in the dates and nuts.
Then spoon about 2-1/2 cupfuls of batter into each of three
well-greased coffee cans (or equivalent containers) and
cook according to the instructions given for Blueberry
Gingerbread.
Serve: the sliced, cooled bread with cream cheese. (You can
store leftovers—if there are any!—wrapped, in
the refrigerator.)
Boston Brown Bread
Follow the Date and Honey Bread recipe, but substitute two
cups of raisins for the dates and chopped nuts.
Year-Round Fruitcake
The great thing about this fruitcake (as opposed to the
more traditional kinds) is that it needn't be allowed to
mellow for weeks or months before it can be eaten. To the
contrary: It can be—and frequently is—consumed
fresh from the steam pot!
You may want to use dried fruit during the winter and fresh
fruit in summer—or combinations of the two—in
place of the cranberries and dates that this recipe calls
for. (In any case, though, keep the total amount of fruit
to about three cups.) Some particularly savory
combinations, I've found, are: two cups of skinned, chopped
peaches plus a cup of chopped prunes . . . two cups of
peeled and chopped apples plus a cup of raisins . . . one
cup each of chopped rhubarb, dates, and nuts. (Cut the
rhubarb into fine pieces so you won't end up with too much
tartness per forkful of cake.) Whatever combination you
decide to try, always use a very sweet fruit—such as
dates—to balance a sour fruit.
Hint: To make a tiered cake, find a fruitcake
tin—with cover—that you can bake the bottom
layer in. (If the inside isn't as fresh and shiny as you
think it should be, line the container and its cover with
aluminum foil, grease the foil, and then proceed as usual.)
2 cups of white, stone-ground cornmeal
1/2 cup of soy flour
2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup of bran flakes (health food store variety)
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of powdered ginger
2 teaspoons of double-acting baking powder
1 cup of honey
3 cups of skim milk
1 cup of finely cut-up cranberries } or fruit of your
choice
1 cup of chopped dates
1 cup of chopped walnuts
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, then fill a
greased fruitcake pan slightly more than half full with the
batter. Cover the container with a greased lid and set it
on cookie cutters in a steaming pot.
Pour the remainder of the batter into a second, smaller
container if you wish to make a tiered cake. (You'll have
to use two pots for the steaming if the fruitcake pan fills
the first one.)
Steam the bottom layer for two hours and the smaller loaf
an hour and fifty minutes. Afterwards, turn both cakes out
and-when they've cooled to room temperatureplace the larger
cake on your fanciest plate and set the smaller one on top.
Drizzle honey over all as a glaze, if you like, and
decorate the fruitcake with a sprig of holly or a holiday
candle (optional).
Carob Tea Bread
If you love chocolate—but it doesn't love
you—try this elegant, dark-brown bread. 3/4 cup of
carob powder
1-1/2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes or pumpkin
1 cup of rolled oats
3 cups of rye flour
1-3/4 cups of honey
1 cup of cornmeal (white or yellow)
1 cup of cooked brown rice
2-1/2 cups of skim milk
1 teaspoon of salt
1-1/2 cups of raisins Combine all ingredients in a large
bowl, mix, and fill a greased six-cup towering mold to
within two inches of the top with batter . . . then pour
the remaining batter into a greased coffee can to make a
second loaf. Steam the mold for two and a half hours, and
the can for two hours.
For best results, store the fully cooled loaves in your
refrigerator for a few days to let them "ripen".
Then toast the slices of bread and serve them piping hot
with butter or margarine. The combination of
crisp-on-the-outside and moist-on-the-inside textures is
superb. (And a little melted butter never hurt anything
either!)
Main Dish Loaf
Bread was once the "staff of life" . . . meaning that you
could literally subsist on it. The following
creation—although sautéed and served like
hamburger in the end—probably qualifies as a bread in
the Biblical sense, simply because it's so chock-full of
life-sustaining protein, vitamins, and fiber.
3 cups of rolled oats
1 six-ounce can of tomato paste
3 cans of water (2-1/4 cups)
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
2 teaspoons of poultry seasoning
3 teaspoons of garlic salt
1 cup of bran flakes (health food store variety)
1/2 cup of soy flour
1 cup of dry skim milk powder
1 cup of cornmeal chili powder to taste
margarine, oil, or good frying fat
Combine the oats with the tomato paste and water and allow
the mixture to stand while you round up the remaining
ingredients. Next, add the seasonings (all except chili
powder) to the oats/tomato paste/water mixture . . . then
stir in the bran flakes, soy flour, dry milk, and cornmeal.
Divide the batter equally between two greased coffee cans,
cover the batter-laden containers with lids or foil, and
steam them for two or more hours. When a knife inserted
into the center of a loaf comes out clean—with no
batter sticking to it—the loaves are done. (Allow the
cans to cool before you turn out their contents.)
Wrap the completely cool loaves and store them in the
refrigerator till needed . . . or, slice one into
patty-like rounds, heat a small amount of oil or margarine
(or any tasty fat you've been saving) in a skillet, and fry
the slices as you would hamburger. Sprinkle the patties
with chili powder as they sizzle and you won't have to ring
the dinner bell twice! (Try serving the patties with tomato
sauce—or gravy—and some cooked greens on the
side. It's fantastic!)
Note: Leftover slices can be stored in the fridge and
refried for another meal. The refried patties are
extracrisp . . . marvelous for breakfast with lots of honey
and black coffee.
UP WITH STEAM POWER! I hope that—by
now—you're beginning to get as steamed up about
steamed breads as I am . . . and that you'll proceed
directly to the kitchen to try your hand (and a few
recycled one-pound coffee cans) on some blueberry
gingerbread . . . or date and honey bread . . . or
year-round fruitcake . . . or main dish loaf. Try a few of
these low-cost, healthful, steam-cooked delicacies and I'll
bet you give up those expensive store-bought nut loaves and
brown breads altogether!