You must make this onion bread. It’s easy to make – in any kind of oven – and it’s delicious.
About the Recipe
I’ve had this bread baked in a dutch oven over an open fire, baked in a wood-burning stove and baked in an electric oven, and it turns out perfect every time. I first learned to make this recipe during a wood stove cooking class at Living History Farms. We made it again in another class where we learned to cook over an open fire. And I’ve made it several times in my own oven at home.
The recipe is adapted from Foods of the Frontier by Gertrude Harris. The instructions from the original recipe were somewhat vague – and included no instructions for how hot or how long to bake. I’ll do my best here to provide a bit more detail for baking in a traditional oven; however, bread-baking does vary based on your own oven. I also cheated a bit using a Kitchen Aid mixer to mix and knead the dough, which was a tool we didn’t have in the Living History Farms cooking classes. 🙂
How to Make It
Warm a cup of water to precisely 110 degrees. Stir in your yeast, and let “proof” for about 10 to 15 minutes – or until frothy.
Meanwhile melt your butter, and set it aside to cool. Chop your onion and prepare the rest of your ingredients.
Save aside about 1/4 cup of the chopped onion. Mix all of the rest of your ingredients together in a stand mixer with the mixing paddle. Change out the paddle for your dough hook, and knead in the mixer for about 10 minutes. Keep adding flour until the dough is no longer sticky and forms into a ball.
Let the dough rise for 20 minutes.
Divide the dough into three parts. Roll into strands, and braid the bread. Let rise for about an hour.
Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with extra onion.
Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown.
Just found your site through :pastry studio. This bread sounds delicious. I love that you’ve baked it in a wood cookstove. We used to have a Home Comfort in our previous home. It was used for heat and cooking and I’ve made many great meals with it. We had an ice storm one Thanksgiving and our company was iced in for 3 days. The entire meal was cooked in the stove by default… we lost our power shortly after preparations began. I will pop by again…. your photos and narrative have a very welcoming demeanor. 🙂
Hi Kate! Thank you for your note! Pastry Studio is one of my favorite food blogs. I love your story about cooking Thanksgiving dinner on a wood-burning stove. That is impressive! While learning to cook on the wood-burning stove in cooking class, I thought it took a bit more work – but the food tasted fantastic. I bet your dinner was delicious!!