Warning: That 1950s cookbook I found made me ruin three batches of bread

Picked up a 'Bless This Mess' cookbook from 1954 at a garage sale in Tucson, and it swore by using 'scalded milk' straight from the cow - but there's no way they accounted for modern pasteurization temps, because my dough turned into soup each time before I figured out to cool it down first. Has anyone else hit this trap with vintage recipes that assume different ingredients?

2 comments

2 Comments

drew7911mo ago

Tucson? That's brutal with the altitude and dry heat messing with dough anyway. I'm curious though - did you adjust for modern dairy's lower fat content too? My grandma's 1940s cookie recipe called for "rich cream" that today's heavy whipping cream doesn't even come close to matching. The butterfat was way higher back then. Did your bread end up with that weird dense crumb texture after you finally got the milk to work?

cameron3181mo ago

That dairy's definitely different now, and your grandma's "rich cream" probably had closer to 40% butterfat.