The request for a bread recipe using Carolina rice sent me on a hunt.
First, I read a short history about rice growing in South Carolina in a
book entitled "Food" by Waverley Root. According to the author, details
vary about how rice was introduced to that state, and success in growing
it was not achieved until people realized that it needed to be grown in
water. Slaves then were given the back-breaking work of raising rice in
the coastal malarial swamps and, by the mid-eighteenth century, the
result of that labor was known as Carolina Gold.
In 1731, 42,000 barrels of rice, and three times that amount in 1765,
were exported, much of it to England for high prices, and some to
southern Europe. Then came the American Revolution and the British
occupation of Charleston. Alas, the entire harvested rice crop was sent
to England, including the grain which should have been saved for seed.
Thomas Jefferson is credited for reviving the stricken South Carolina
rice industry by illegally smuggling new rice seed in 1787 from Italy,
producer of the best rice in Europe at that time.
"As President, Jefferson persuaded the French to pay in advance for
shipments of Carolina rice, hoping . . . to loosen the stranglehold the
British still exercised over the American economy." He failed in
releasing that grip because buying rice from South Carolina was a good
deal for the British--no where else could the grain be bought so cheaply.
This proved to be a good deal for South Carolina, too, because the rice
trade "helped the South to recover from the economic ravages of the
Revolution more quickly than the North."
By 1840, South Carolina could account for sixty percent of all rice grown
in the United States. After the Civil War, large areas of rice were
planted in Louisiana and South Carolina lost its lead. Today, California
claims the highest yield of rice per acre in the world. In 1980, the
United States produced about 10 billion pounds of rice a year on more
than two million acres of land, and was the world's leading exporter.
Asia produced ninety percent of the world's total rice grown, consumed
entirely by Asians, and bought more.
Research in my various cookbooks yielded but four bread recipes using
rice or rice bran, but none specifically called for Carolina rice. The
first recipe is from The United States Regional Cook Book published in
1939, in the Southern recipes section. A variation with rice follows the
basic recipe.
Good Old Southern Popovers
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk.
Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Beat eggs, add milk, and stir gradually
into flour to make a smooth batter. Beat thoroughly with egg beater.
Fill greased custard cups or sizzling hot heavy metal muffin pans 2/3
full. Bake in a very hot oven (450F) for 15 minutes, then
reduce to moderate heat (350F) and continue baking 20 minutes or
until firm. Makes 12 large popovers.
For RICE popovers, use 3/4 cup mashed cooked rice instead of half the
flour. Mix and bake as above. The recipe suggested using the popovers
as patty shells to hold creamed mixtures.
The next two recipes are from the 1990 edition of The Fannnie Farmer
Cookbook.
Banana Rice Bran Muffins (
As of this writing, rice bran threatens to overtake oat brain in the
nineties.
1 1/2 cups rice bran
1 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (lowfat milk acceptable)
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup pecan pieces (optional)
Preheat the oven to 425F. Put the rice bran, flour, brown
sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a mixing bowl and stir to
blend. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, egg whites, vegetable oil,
banana, and pecans. Pour the banana mixture into the dry ingredients and
stir just to mix. Spoon into the muffin pans, filling each cup about 2/3
full. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until golden brown.
Berkshire Muffins
Leftover rice and some cornmeal give these muffins a rustic texture and
taste. Yield: 12 small muffins.
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup white flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 well beaten egg yolk
1 tablespoon melter butter
1 egg white, beaten stiff
Preheat the oven to 375F. Butter muffin pans. Scald the milk,
slowly pour it on the cornmeal, and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in the
rice, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the egg yolk and
butter, and blend well. Gently fold in the egg white and spoon into the
muffin pans, filling each cup about 1/2 full. Bake for about 20 minutes.
The last recipe, for Pain Au Riz (rice bread), is from Bernard Clayton's
"New Complete Book of Breads," published in 1995.
The yield is two plump loaves.
Pain au Riz is a brown loaf, thanks to molasses, and speckled throughout
with cooked grains of rice and black currants. It is a delicious,
different kind of bread that is great for sandwiches, toasted for
breakfast, and for snacks in between. It is a French creation, one of
Cecile Chemin's, a fine cookbook author.
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup molasses (see note)
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 packages dry yeast
4 cups (approximately) bread or all-purpose flour
1 egg
2 cups cooked and cooled rice
1/2 cup currants
Note: There is a choice between unsulphured molasses (Plantation, Golden
Harvest, etc.) which has a distinct and assertive flavor, or a milk
molasses such as Br'er Rabbit, either light or dark.
Baking pans: 2 medium (8" X 4") loaf pans, greased or Teflon.
Two mixing and kneading directions are given: (1) by hand or mixer, and
(2) by processor.
By hand or mixer, 5 minutes. In a medium saucepan, warm the milk,
molasses, butter, and salt. In a separate bowl, sprinkle the yeast over
2 cups flour and stir to blend. Pour in the milk mixture and beat 100
strokes with a spoon, or for 2 minutes with the mixer flat beater. While
beating, add the egg, rice, and currants.
Kneading, 8-10 minutes. Add the remaining flour, a little at a time,
until the dough forms a solid mass and pulls away from the sides of the
bowl, about 10 minutes by hand, or 8 minutes under a dough hook. The
dough will be quite sticky as you begin but will become elastic and
smooth as sprinkles of flour are added. Refrain from using too much
flour. Keep the dough elastic and not a hard ball.
By processor, 2 minutes. Attach the plastic dough blade. Add the milk,
molasses, butter, salt, and yeast to the work bowl. Pulse once to mix.
Add 2 cups flour. Pulse. Add the egg and then the rice and currants.
Pulse to blend. Add the flour through the work tube, with the processor
on, 1/2 cup at a time.
Kneading, 45 seconds. When the dough cleans the sides of the bowl and
forms a ball riding on top of the blade, process for 45 seconds to knead.
First rising. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic
wrap, and put aside at room temperature to double in volume, about 1
hour.
Shaping, 15 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, cover with a cloth,
and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Cut the dough into two pieces. Form
rectangular loaves, the length of the pans. Place the dough in the pans
and press down with your fingers to push the dough into the corners and
level.
Second rising, 45 minutes. Cover the loaves with waxed or parchment
paper and leave to rise at room temperature until the dough reaches 1
inch above the edge of the pans, about 45 minutes.
Prehead. Preheat the oven to 400F, 20 minutes before baking.
Baking, 400F, 35 minutes. A design cut in the top of the loaves
will make them more appealing. Cut with a razor blade the length of the
loaf, or make 4 or 5 diagonal cuts. Place the loaves on the middle or
lower shelf of the oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until the loaves test
done when tapped on the bottom with a forefinger.
Final step. Turn out from the pans onto a metal rack to cool. The
bread's dark deliciousness may surprise you when sliced.
I hope the information and the recipes are useful.
Lynn Cragholm
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