The last time my mom went to the Brimfield Flea Market, she came back with a little something extra for me -- a magazine advertisement from the May 1918 issue of The Delineator, an American women's magazine published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It's an ad for Royal Baking Powder, and provides three recipes "for wheatless days," to encourage families to consume less flour. She bought the ad for me because I'm gluten free (so all of my days are "wheatless") and it's now hanging framed in our kitchen. "Reinforcing the battle line," the ad copy reads. "If each of the 22 million families in the United States used each of the following recipes once a week in place of white flour bread or cake, the saving would be 871,000 barrels of flour a month. Enough to supply the needs of all the Allied armies."
The three recipes listed on the ad are for corn meal and rice bread; peanut butter bread; and spice cake. I gave the peanut butter bread a try this past weekend!
Here's the recipe word for word, with my notes in parentheses, in case you want to try it too:
- 2 cups rye, barley, or oat flour (I used a gluten-free all purpose flour)
- 4 teaspoons Royal Baking Powder (Or, you know, any baking powder)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup sugar or corn syrup (I used sugar)
- 1 cup milk
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into bowl; add peanut butter and sugar or syrup and mix. Add the milk and mix well. Bake in greased loaf pan in moderate oven (I set mine at 350 degrees F) 30 to 35 minutes. This is best when a day old (<-- very true!). Cut into thin slices, it makes very good sandwiches. This can also be baked as biscuits.
It's crumbly, but very good. I recommend trying it toasted with butter, or drizzled in honey or chocolate syrup.
I want to try the spice cake recipe next! I just have to figure out what 1/4 cup citron is...
PS - How to make your own peanut butter, and my favorite recipe for peanut butter cookies.
