Onion Bread

AllenOK

New member
This is from "Uncle" John Rae's Bread Book. I inherited that cookbook years ago. I managed to type this one up, as I loved making it. A few years ago, that tattered old paperback fell apart. I may need to go to abebooks to get another copy.

Onion Bread
Yields: 2 loaves

¼ c dehydrated onions
¼ c water
¼ c warm water
1 T yeast
1 pt milk, warm
2 T shortening
2 T sugar
1 t salt
1 # 8 oz bread flour
1 t celery salt
½ t poultry seasoning
1 T melted butter

Allow onions to rehydrate in ¼ c of the water. Proof the yeast in the ¼ c warm water in a mixer bowl. Add warm milk, shortening, sugar, and salt.
Sift the flour with celery salt and poultry seasoning.
Muffin method: add dry ingredients to wet. Knead on machine 10 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, roll dough around in the bowl to thoroughly coat with fat. Allow dough to rise until doubled. Punch down and let rest 12 – 15 minutes.
Make-up into two loaves, and place in greased pans. Let loaves rise until doubled. Split loaves, if desired, and brush with melted butter.
Bake @ 400°F until done, about 30 minutes.
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
I love onion breads, and I'm going to make this one really soon. I make a no-knead bread with carmelized onions and roasted garlic.
 

Maverick2272

Stewed Monkey
Super Site Supporter
Sounds great, but how do you do the dehydrated onions? Did you buy them that way or dehydrate them yourself?
Thanks!
 

suziquzie

New member
Hey Mav, you can get the onions at the store!
Usually in the spice section (I think super Wallyworld has a cheap bottle), or our stores have a rack of little packages of spices and a few dehydrated veggies that are WAY cheaper than the bottled ones..... usually in the produce section.
Or if you want LOTS and LOTS of them, Sam's club has 'em.
None of the above? I'll send ya some!
HTH.
 

UnConundrum

New member
Gold Site Supporter
That does sound interesting with the poultry seasoning and celery salt... Have to give this one a try :) Gotta buy some poultry seasoning first ;)
 

UnConundrum

New member
Gold Site Supporter
This is from "Uncle" John Rae's Bread Book.

Do you happen to have an ISBN number?

Also, you have about 20 oz. of liquid and 24 oz of flour. That's about an 83% hydration, a pretty wet dough. Is it hard to handle?
 
Last edited:

AllenOK

New member
I've since lost the bits and pieces of this book. I just ran a search on abebooks.com, and didn't get any hits.

I always added more flour as needed to make the dough managable.

TIP: This makes a great "stuffing bread". Bake a few loaves before Thanksgiving, and if you can keep everyone from eating the stuff, dice it up, dry it out, and use it for stuffing.
 

UnConundrum

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Gold Site Supporter
Made it last night. Everyone enjoyed it :)
 

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PieSusan

Tortes Are Us
Super Site Supporter
Sorry, I searched for you and I can't seem to find the book, either. Are you sure that you have the name of the author or book right?
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Also, you have about 20 oz. of liquid and 24 oz of flour. That's about an 83% hydration, a pretty wet dough. Is it hard to handle?
I only see about 18 oz of liquid, making it about 75% hydration, which is on the upper end for rustic breads. You need to keep in mind the dehydrated onions will absorb some of the liquid while they rehydrate, thus bringing him back into the averagre range for standard bread. My Italian bread has about the same amount of liquid, and I use 1#13 oz of flour, and it requires no additional flour. I get a nice crumb as well.
 

UnConundrum

New member
Gold Site Supporter
Quarter cup + quarter cup + pint = 2oz + 2oz +16oz = 20. Sure the onions will absorb some water... we could add their weight to the dry weight. The quarter cup of onions weighs about 20 grams or a little less than 3/4 ounce. If we just call it an ounce, that's 20/25 or 80% hydration. I make a lot of breads in this range, but all by hand using my no-knead method (like the baguette recipe that is 2# of flour and 1.6# of water recipe here . In a machine, 80% turns out like a batter.
 

AllenOK

New member
Made it last night. Everyone enjoyed it :)

Glad you liked it! I always find that the first loaf usually dissappears within 15 minutes of it cooling down enough to cut. Try making a toasted sandwich of some kind with it. It's amazing.

Sorry, I searched for you and I can't seem to find the book, either. Are you sure that you have the name of the author or book right?

Thank you PieSusan. No, I'm not sure that I have the name or the title correct. I do know that the author was a German immigrant to America, probably before WWII. His last name could be spelled "Rae", "Rhae", or something else. The title could also be Uncle John's Bread Book.
 

UnConundrum

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Gold Site Supporter
Found [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Johns-original-bread-book/dp/0883651432/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1235361103&sr=1-1"] THIS ONE [/ame] from 1975 ... probably not old enough.
 

AllenOK

New member
Yup, that's it! Probably the same printing, as well. It's been so long since I've seen any of it, I'm not totally sure about the dates.
 
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