Iszard's Brown Bread Recipe by Barbara
I saw this recipe in the May issue of Echoes, the publication by Steuben County Historical Society. (Iszard's Department Store was in Chemung County in Elmira, not our county which is Steuben, but I digress.) I have heard about the tea room at Iszard's from friends who grew up around here. Driving to Elmira from Corning to go shopping was a big deal. Enjoying their tea room was part of the experience.
There is a lot of chatter online and in the newspapers about the authentic Iszard's Brown Bread recipe. They all seem to use whole wheat flour, buttermilk and raisins in various ratios. Sometimes nuts. Linda Ferris wrote this article. She doesn't say where she found the recipe. The recipe seems to have been kept a secret from what I have read.
But what intrigued me about this recipe is the simple use of molasses and raisins, key ingredients for making hermits. I have been on the hunt to find a good recipe to make hermits, a cookie I remember from my college days living in Rhode Island. I would buy them at the library. All of my experiments have failed. The results of this recipe come very close to the flavors of a hermit. Just a little too cake-like. Getting closer to my memory of hermits.
The only change I made was to increase the raisins and the salt and to skip the nuts. And add additional directions for how to make the bread.
I am going to take a slice to my friend who grew up in Elmira Heights and see what she thinks. Is it close to the real thing?
--Barbara
Iszard's Tea Room Brown Bread
(adapted from Linda Ferris's recipe in Echoes)
Makes 2 loaves
1/4 cup white sugar
3 T. shortening, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup molasses
2 cups whole buttermilk
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 cup raisins
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Line two loaf pans with parchment paper and spray with baking spray, including the paper. If you having trouble getting the paper to stay put, spray a little baking spray underneath the paper, and it will adhere.
Sift the flours and salt together and set aside.
In a stand mixer, cream together the sugar and shortening. Scrape down the sides.
Add the egg, and mix well.
Measure out the buttermilk and add the baking soda to it and set aside.
First add the molasses to the mixer, and incorporate until smooth.
Then add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix together.
Then half of buttermilk soda mixture and mix together.
And another 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix together.
Add the rest of the buttermilk soda mixture and mix together.
Add the raisins and the rest of the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.
Divide the batter evenly into the two pans.
Push the batter into the corners so that it is smooth on top and will bake evenly.
Place in the upper rack of the oven, and bake for 1 hour at 300 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean.
Slice and serve.
From what I've read, they served the bread with cream cheese.
I liked it plain. Tom put butter on his.
B