Popcorn Bread

Sweet Jezebel's Note:

A "mystery" bread to serve at a party and see if the guests can guess the secret ingredient. Makes 3 big and beautiful loaves of a good-tasting, slightly sweet all-purpose bread. Be sure the water-and-milk mixture is not too warm before adding the yeast. --The Middlebury Inn, Middlebury, Vermont

• Total Time: 2 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 2 hrs
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 3 loaves

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dry yeast
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 cups popped popcorn (no old maids)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 7 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Combine water and milk in a large bowl. Stir in yeast and sugar and let them "work" about 10 minutes.
2. Run popcorn through a blender or food processor until it is the consistency of cornmeal. Add popcorn and salt to the mixture in the bowl.
3. Then add eggs and cooled melted butter and gradually work in all 7 cups of flour. If you don't have a machine, knead the mixture well by hand.
4. Let dough rise (usually 25-30 minutes). Punch it down then let rise once more.
5. Put dough out onto a rolling board. Separate into 3 equal pieces. Roll into shape and place in greased bread pans. Let rise until doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until loaves are golden brown. Remove from oven and butter the crusts.

Reviews

[Krista Smith]

I finally got around to making this after looking at it for years, maybe and going 'hmm... that sounds interesting'. I misread the recipe (seeing 1 1/2 TEASPOONS instead of 1 1/2 Tablespoons of yeast) before shopping and only bought one packet of yeast I was forced to use another from the cabinet when I realized my mistake during the mixing process. The cabinet packet was old and I'm afraid that's where my problem was. My bread never rose but I decided to bake it anyway and it didn't turn out too bad. I'll attempt this again sometime with fresh yeast.

[lilypads]

Hmmm, popcorn bread.Well, when I saw this recipe I knew I just had to try it myself. I am always looking for recipes to try in my bread maker, and I decided to try making the full batch with 7 cups of flour in my machine!(dough cycle) I kind of helped the machine out a bit to start by pushing down the mound of flour to help the blades "grab and mix."My machine took over and did a beautiful job right to the finished dough stage.I had 3 huge loaves of soft and tender bread with an ever so slightly yellow shade (there was no butter in the popcorn)to it. Tastes wonderful, and I will be making this again, as it is soooo easy done in the bread maker. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

[Chef233624]

Easy and tastes great. My six year old Granddaughter loves it - imagine that.