Farmer Boy Recipe - "When Legends Collide!"

I have always been intrigued by legends.  By definition, a legend is a story coming down from the past; especially one popularly accepted as historical though not verifiable.  Most of the legends that I know of are so outrageous that it is understood that they could never have been true.  Some, houwever, have some basis of fact behind them.  I find it to be fun tracking down the origins of legends.

When I was a child Disney had an animated short called, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".  This was based on the short story by Washington Irving, written in 1820.  He got his idea from an old German folktale, written by Karl Musaus.  In the Disney version of this tale, the setting was in Tarry Town, New York in 1790.  A schoolmaster, named Ichabod Crane, had romantic designs on a certain young lady.  He had a rival who kept him from accomplishing that romance.  And it seems that a ghost galloped throughout the roads on Halloween night.  It was the ghost of the "Headless Horseman", who had his head taken off with a cannon ball during a battle in the Revolutionary War.  Somehow Ichabod is out that night and is chased by the ghost.  At one point the ghost picks up a Jack-O-Lantern and hurls it at Ichabod.  It was a pretty frightening animated film for such a young, impressionable boy as I was, even though I knew it was just a silly story.

This story, as legends go, has been told and retold for all these years since it was first written down.  There were a number of Hollywood films made after this legend as well.  The latest starred actor, Johnny Depp, as Ichabod.  Some have taken the legend seriously.  The real town of North Tarry Town, New York has even changed their name to capitalize on the story.  They are now known as, "Sleepy Hollow".  Their high school team is called, "The Horsemen".

There are many legends out there and another one that I'm aware of has to do with food!  This one takes place in a fishing village on the east coast of the United States, around 1850.  There are many versions of this story as well.  I particularly like this version: It seems there was this Whaling Boat Captain, who was married to a gal who didn't appreciate his being gone on such long voyages.  Upon his return from one of his trips, he came home to find that his wife had gone off and left him alone.  She left him with only a few items in their pantry; flour, molasses, oats, and corn meal.  Being famished from the long voyage, he set out to make a meal from what he'd found available.  As he made a loaf of bread with these ingredients, he cursed at her absence, saying, "Anna, damn her!"  And so was born the "Anadama Bread".

Other versions have the man coming home to the same meal prepared by his wife each time - a gruel made of cornmeal, oats and molasses.  And In some the man throws a sack of flour at his wife and as it hits her head it falls into the bowl of gruel and creates this recipe.  I even heard of one version that said it had originated on the west coast; where it was a gold miner, instead of a fisherman!

Now, whether there is any truth to this or any other of these type of legends is not the point here.  The point is that this is a great recipe!  (And, as many versions of the legend, there are as many versions of this recipe!) This is my version of the recipe. Note: Before you begin to make this recipe, you'll have to decide if you are going to do it the old-fashioned way or use a bread machine. I like to do it the old-fashioned way, but the convenience of the bread machine doing all the kneading and timed rising is a great luxury we have these days!

Anadama Bread  

Ingredients:  

• 1/3 Cup - oatmeal (Old-fashioned Rolled Oats or Quick Oats)
• 3 Tablespoons - coarse cornmeal
• 1 1/2 Cups - boiling water
• 3 Tablespoons - butter
• 3 Tablespoons - black strap molasses
• 2 teaspoons - salt
• 1 1/4 Cup - whole wheat flour
• 2 1/2 Cups - bread flour
• 1/3 Cup - dry milk
• 3 Tablespoons - gluten
• 2 teaspoons - active dry yeast 

Directions:

Place the oatmeal and cornmeal in a heat-proof bowl & add the water.  Stir to prevent lumping.  Let this sit to cool for about 20 minutes.  Add the molasses and butter.  Mix in the dry ingredients. Knead till a ball of dough springs back when a thumb is pressed in the middle. (This could take about 15 minutes.)  Cover and let rise  (about 30 minutes). Punch it down and let it rise again (about an hour).  Repeat the rise again.  At this point - either form it into a log shape and place it on parchment paper-lined sheet pan to rise once more for about 20 minutes, or place it in a lightly greased loaf pan.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 375 degrees F.  (If you chose to use a bread machine, you can skip all this rising and punching.  If you want to shape it or bake it in a pan in the oven, you can take it out of the machine after the rising.) Once it is baked you should take it out of the pan to cool.  This bread makes absolutely great sandwiches!

And this is where legends collide: I have experimented with the recipe and come up with a new one!  This is the combination of , "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Anadama Bread".  I call this,               "Anadrama Pumpkin Bread".

Simply follow the same ingredients as the other recipe, but in place of the 1 1/2 Cups of boiling water, use 1 Cup of water and 1/2 Cup of canned pumpkin.  Also add 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spices.  You may also wish to add the option of 1/2 cup of raisins.  Bake as in the other recipe.  Other options would be: chopped nuts or even pumpkin seeds. *Note: be careful - it might rise higher than your bread machine can handle!  I suggest baking it in the oven instead.

Now, I don't advocate throwing anything or cursing when you get angry or frustrated, but this is my swing on this new legend: The Whaling Captain comes home after a long voyage to find that his wife has made that same old mush again!  He picks up a pumpkin and smashes it down on the table. (Maybe this is how that band got their name.:)  Seeing this, Anna apologizes; explaining how she thought it was his favorite meal. He explains that it is a favorite, but that it's just too much of a good thing.  He apologizes for treating her as one of his crew.  And together they make a loaf of bread using all those ingredients.  "All's well that ends well", as Charles Ingalls would say.

If you get the chance, read, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", by Washington Irving.  You should be able to see a real good moral in Rip's story.  Any writing that has the reader considering or re-considering their own reactions when faced with difficulties in life is always a good thing!  These lessons are better taught by reading a story than by living through them yourself!  I'd rather learn from someone else's mistakes than my own any day!

If you try either or both of these recipes, please take a minute and let us all know by leaving a comment on this blog site.  And let others know about this blog site too.  Thanks. The Old Man in the Bib Overalls