Ruth's Nut Bread

On my mother's kitchen wall, there are four framed pieces of artwork, each depicting a Peanuts cartoon character and one of my grandmother's recipes.  On one of these pictures was a recipe for Nut Bread.  Now, if you've read through many older recipes, you have noticed that many of these recipes don't really go into much detail.  It was assumed during that time that the basics of baking and cooking were understood; were things that little girls learned from their mothers at an early age, and if not then, at least by the time they were married and would need to be cooking for their husbands.

Hence, recipes seemed to just state the basics.  This nut bread recipe, for example, didn't say what KIND of nut was recommended...just that you needed a cup of nuts.  Using common sense though, I'm going to suggest using either pecans or walnuts; stay away from peanuts, almonds or a can of Planter's mixed nuts:) This recipe also didn't go into particular detail in terms of how the ingredients should be mixed, just that they should.  I chose not to use any type of electric mixer here, just about a dozen turns of a spoon to blend the wet and dry ingredients.

In our world of  "quick" breads of every kind, yes, this bread may take just a few more steps.  But the end result is a homemade feeling bread, with a density, flavor and texture that quick breads just can't offer.



Ruth's Nut Bread

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup nuts

1 egg

1 cup milk

4 tbsp butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.  Add nuts.  Combine egg, milk and melted butter and then add mixture to dry ingredients.  Bake for 50 minutes.