Quick Schnitzbrot

[Tropicalsenior]

Quick Schnitzbrot

 

 

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons anis seed

1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 small jar baby food, prunes

1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup chopped dried prunes
1/4 cup chopped dates or dried figs

1/4 cup rum soaked raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts

 

 

Combine sugar, flour, soda, salt  and spices and mix well with a whisk.Combine milk, egg, baby food and oil and mix until egg is well incorporated. Chop prunes and dates and coat with flour; mix into flour mixture. Very gently combine liquid, raisins and flour mixture.

Pour into greased 9" x 5" loaf pan and bake at 350 degreesF for 1 hour.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

There is a story behind this bread. My German grandmother always used to make Schnitzbrote every Christmas, but the Schnitzbrote that she made was the real German yeast bread. It is a very dark heavy yeast bread. I loved it but I was the only one in the family that did so I got all the bread that she sent to the family. Wrapped in foil it would keep for months in the refrigerator. Grandma, being very old school never wrote down a recipe so hers was lost forever. Years later, when recipes became available on the internet I tried every one that I could find. I've never had so many back-to-back failures in my life. One batch came out so hard that we thought about keeping them for self-defense in case someone broke in the house we could beat them to death with the loaves. Not one to give up easily, I decided to incorporate the flavors in a quick bread and this is the recipe that I developed. It has quickly become my favorite quick bread.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[liuzhou]

Is that plain flour in your recipe or ...?

[Tropicalsenior]

1 minute ago, liuzhou said:

Is that plain flour in your recipe or ...?

Yes it is, thank you. I will correct it. Unfortunately, when I wrote the recipe I wrote it just for my archives and had no plan to share it.

[liuzhou]

I might give that a try some day soon. First I need to thik of a sub for the baby food. And I'm not sure if what you call raisins are what I call raisins.

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

I might give that a try some day soon. First I need to thik of a sub for the baby food. And I'm not sure if what you call raisins are what I call raisins.

If I were to make it, and I think I just might, for the baby food, I would simply use whatever amount a small baby food jar holds (Google... 4 ounces) of my prune spread that I make to eat on toast.  Equal amounts of dried prunes and water, cooked to soft and mushy, processed in the food processor with a goodly dollop of minced ginger.  

Edited October 3, 2022 by Darienne (log)

[liuzhou]

38 minutes ago, Darienne said:

If I were to make it, and I think I just might, for the baby food, I would simply use whatever amount a small baby food jar holds (Google... 4 ounces) of my prune spread that I make to eat on toast.  Equal amounts of dried prunes and water, cooked to soft and mushy, processed in the food processor with a goodly dollop of minced ginger.  

 

Yes. Problem is that prunes are not that common round here.

I might mush up some 杨梅 (yáng méi) - Myrica rubra, a local fruit instead. Nothing like prunes, but a nice bitter-sweet flavour. Could work.

杨梅 (yáng méi)

Edited October 3, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

And I'm not sure if what you call raisins are what I call raisins.

The raisins that we get here are just dried grapes.

In the picture above, these raisins have been plumped in rum. I don't like putting the dried raisins in anything because they draw out the moisture of whatever you are baking. I always keep them in a jar in the refrigerator covered with rum.

Once in awhile I can get these raisins here

and they are delicious. Much better than the dried little bullets that you usually have to buy.

13 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

45 minutes ago, Darienne said:

If I were to make it, and I think I just might, for the baby food, I would simply use whatever amount a small baby food jar holds (Google... 4 ounces) of my prune spread that I make to eat on toast.  Equal amounts of dried prunes and water, cooked to soft and mushy, processed in the food processor with a goodly dollop of minced ginger.  

Expand  

 

Yes. Problem is that prunes are not that common round here.

I might mush up some 杨梅 (yáng méi), a local fruit instead.

That would probably work for the baby food but for the dried prunes you could substitute any other dried fruit that you want. I checked on the amount of the baby food that I use and it says that it has 113g.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Tropicalsenior said:

The raisins that we get here are just dried grapes.

 

Me too, but in the UK, not all dried grapes are raisins. Hence my question.

 

The ones you show we do, however, call raisins. The Chinese ones are green raisins.

 

BTW, the yang mei are available both dried and fresh. Could use a mixture. I'm thinking around Christmas time.

[Tropicalsenior]

By the way, if anyone has a foolproof recipe for the real Schnitzbrote, I would dearly love to have it.

[Tropicalsenior]

6 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

both dried and fresh.

To make the baby food mixture, I think that I would probably use the dried and cook them as @Darienne said. This recipe is pretty forgiving and you can substitute any kind of dried fruit that you like. If I have it on hand I also like to add homemade candied citrus peels.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, Tropicalsenior said:

This recipe is pretty forgiving

 

That was the impression I got reading it. Apart from the baby food and prunes I can get everything else.

[Tropicalsenior]

1 minute ago, liuzhou said:

 

That was the impression I got reading it. Apart from the baby food and prunes I can get everything else.

I think that you will like it because it is not cloyingly sweet like other fruit breads. The one thing that makes it uniquely Schnitzbrote is the anise flavor. Without that, it is just plain fruit bread.

[liuzhou]

5 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I think that you will like it because it is not cloyingly sweet like other fruit breads. The one thing that makes it uniquely Schnitzbrote is the anise flavor. Without that, it is just plain fruit bread.

 

Yes, that was the first attraction.

[CookBot]

@Tropicalsenior, thanks so  much for this.  I can't wait to try it.  I love a dark, spicy, sweet quick bread. 

 

I especially like the idea of the aniseed.  This will motivate me to dump my ancient jar and get some fresh.  For the baby food, I think I'll just macerate some dried plums (prunes) and puree them.  If your store carries the commercial ones called D'Noir Plums, they're pretty delectable.

 

Thanks again!

 

[Tropicalsenior]

2 hours ago, CookBot said:

If your store carries the commercial ones called D'Noir Plums, they're pretty delectable

Thank you for the suggestion but living in Costa Rica, I feel lucky when I can find the baby food and just plain dried prunes.

If you do make your own prune mixture, make it on the liquid side. Let me know how your bread turns out.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)