With a rich yellow dough and an overabundance of dried fruits packed inside, Cornish Saffron Bread looks like the ultimate European Christmas treat. According to the Spitznas family of Frostburg Maryland, “in Cornwall, saffron bread is made on special occasions throughout the year, but in Western Maryland it became distinctly associated with Christmas.”
In 1955, Dr. James E. Spitznas (1893-1958) and his wife Elizabeth (1911-1994) (who were then living in Baltimore County) shared their recipe and story with Baltimore Sun food columnist Virginia Roeder. Roeder described Cornwall as the “land of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table,” but Dr. Spitznas pointed out that the tradition of Cornish saffron bread “probably preceded King Arthur by many centuries,” as the Phoenicians had been visiting Cornwall with packages of saffron for over 2000 years.
James & Elizabeth Spitznas making saffron bread together, 1955, Baltimore Sun
Dr. Spitznas recalled relatives from Cornwall mailing fragrant packages of dried saffron to Frostburg as the Christmas holiday approached.
Spitznas’ family had emigrated to the United States in 1874 from the village of Phillack, Cornwall. In the UK census, Dr. Spitznas’ grandparents Paul and Catherine Goldsworthy had been listed as “wire weavers and sieve makers.” In 1880 in Frostburg, Paul is listed as a laborer. It is possible that he came to do work relating to the mines of Western Maryland, like many other Cornish and Scottish settlers in Western Maryland throughout the 19th century.
Sarah Grace Goldsworthy became Sarah Spitznas and passed this recipe to James and his sister Sarah D. In 1948, Sarah D. and James’ wife Elizabeth measured and tested the old recipe to contribute it to the “Maryland Cooking” book.
The massive quantities called for in the “Maryland Cooking” recipe make enough bread to share with family, friends, and coworkers. I halved the recipe and still ended up with enough bread to freeze and eat for months to come. I think this will make an unusual French Toast, maybe good with a white wine sauce. As with all fruitcakes and fruit-containing Christmas breads, the dried fruits and nuts are variable by taste. I used currants, pineapple, and pecans. Don’t let raisins be the boss of you just because it’s Christmas!
Recipe:
Recipe from “Maryland Cooking,” 1948, Maryland Home Economics Association
Recipe note: after forming into loaves or buns, make sure to let rise again! The Spitznas used a bread pan but I didn’t have one so I rolled them into loaves.
It’s hard to know where to begin with Sally Lunn. As Wikipedia points out, “the origins of the Sally Lunn are shrouded in myth,” and I am not exactly the caliber of historian capable of cracking the Da Vinci Code of bread. That might be a good movie to someone though*.
Sally Lunn is a delicious brioche that takes the form of a bun in England, where it originates, but tends to be made in a tube pan in the U.S. Although the first recorded mention of the bread was in 1780 in the town of Bath, England, there isn’t really any historical remnant of Sally Lunn’s supposed namesake.
One legend is that she was a Huguenot refugee named Solange Luyon. Another theory is that the bread’s name is a mutation of the French phrase “Sol et lune” – sun and moon – referring to the golden crust and white interior.
1964, Daily Capital News, Jefferson City Missouri
One thing we know for certain is that Sally Lunn has been a Southern mainstay for over two centuries. Although Mary Randolph did not call the bread “Sally Lunn” in her book “The Virginia Housewife,” the basic recipe appears there as French Rolls. A recipe for “Sallie Lund” appeared in the classic 1881 African-American authored “What Mrs. Fisher Knows about Old Southern Cooking,” one of the definitive collections of Southern recipes.
I have about 30 Sally Lunn recipes in my Maryland database, starting with several hand-written manuscripts from around 1850. When the spate of published Maryland cookbooks came out in the late 1800s**, each had at least one recipe for Sally Lunn. The recipes are all essentially the same. Even the frugal Elizabeth Ellicott Lea includes a staggering quarter pound of butter in the Sally Lunn recipe appearing in her 1859 cookbook. Later recipes start to substitute baking powder as leavening. This is such a quick bread to make that I usually stick with the yeast versions.
The Southern Heritage cookbook library includes many recipes that are sourced from “Maryland’s Way,” updated for clarity. Sally Lunn is one such recipe. It is included in the “Breakfast and Brunch” volume as a part of a Thanksgiving Breakfast. The menu includes:
Hot Apple Toddy
Buttery Fried Oysters
Old Maryland Baked Ham
Fresh Broccoli Salad in Lettuce Cups
Tomato Pie
Beaten Biscuits
Sally Lunn
Baked Ginger Apples
Maryland Rocks
The mystery that interests me is why this bread came to be known as so particularly “Southern.” I suppose it is possible that British foods like tea, pudding and Sally Lunn may have remained popular in the South on the eve of the Revolution, which was originally seen as a New England-centric cause. Anti-British sentiment may have been stronger in the northern colonies. Or maybe I’m reading too much into this.
Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water in a large mixing bowl. Let stand five minutes or until bubbly. Stir in milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, and 3 cups flour. Beat at medium speed of an electric mixer 1 minute or until well blended. Stir in remaining flour to make a soft dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
Stir dough down; spoon into a well-greased and floured 10-inch Bundt pan. Cover and repeat rising procedure 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool 10 minutes in pan. Remove from pan; place on a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or cold.
Note: Cold bread may be sliced, buttered, and toasted, if desired.
This recipe comes from “The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro,” a fascinating cookbook compiled in 1958 by the National Council of Negro Women. The book is organized as a calendar of sorts, with recipes assigned to specific dates. Several recipes in this cookbook have particular Maryland connections, including a pie dedicated to Benjamin Banneker and “Shrimp Boat Maryland,” contributed by the Baltimore chapter of the NCNW. This cornbread recipe falls on March 10th, the day that Harriet Tubman died in 1913.
Writing a biography of Tubman to accompany this post seemed a little bit unnecessary. Harriet Tubman is undoubtedly one of Maryland’s most cherished heroes. Compared to many other figures in American history, she has a large proportion of children’s books written about her and we all grow up with a sense of familiarity with her story.
After making this cornbread I began to think about that, and I did some more research into the actual details of her heroics and her life. I would encourage others to do so – you may be surprised to find how little you truly know.
Harriet Tubman (left) rescued 70 enslaved people on 13 trips back to Maryland
The recipe was contributed to the book by Vivian Carter Mason, the third president of the National Council of Negro Women. Mason’s mother used to make the cornbread for “Aunt Harriet” when Tubman was visiting with the family and sharing stories with the children (including young Vivian.)
Harriet Tubman is believed to be the daughter of a cook, and it is said that she raised money selling food she made. In Beafort, SC, near the site of the Combahee raid that freed more than 750 enslaved people, Tubman “sold Union soldiers root beer, pie and ginger bread, which she baked during the night, after her day’s work,” according to an NPR story.
Reading through the various accounts of Tubman’s life will turn up many contradictions as well as a tragic paucity of information about her enslaved Maryland childhood. At the time of her death, Harriet Tubman was beginning to be forgotten, especially by the white media. In the decades following, her story and legend were built back up to suit different ideas about what makes an American hero. We would all do well to read more and get a sense of the real person behind a new face on currency. We in America love our heroes. When the heroes had been outlaws in our own unjust system the canonization is complicated. Seeking a better understanding of it may just offer a valuable lens for the present.
Recipe:
3-4 slices salt pork
1 cup of plain white flour
3 cups yellow conmeal
1 heaping tb baking powder
pinch baking soda
enough sour milk to moisten ingredients
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2 tb brown sugar
Parboil salt pork (this removes some of the salt), drain & pat dry. Fry to a crisp and set the grease aside. Mix dry ingredients and add in beaten eggs followed by enough milk to make a thick batter. Cut up salt pork and add to batter, along with desired amount of pork grease (I used just under ¼ cup). Pour into well greased pan or skillet and bake at 350° until bread shrinks from sides of pan and browns/cracks on top. Serve hot buttered generously.
Recipe Adapted from “Our ‘Aunt Harriet’s’ Favorite Dish”, the Historical Cookbook of the American Negro
I’ve been gradually getting to “know” Elizabeth Ellicott Lea a little better, and coming to really like her.
At first her no-frills thrift seemed unexciting and maybe even a little stern. Certainly she doesn’t radiate the Maryland pride of other authors who boast their Maryland-ness in the titles of their cookbooks. Lea was a Quaker first and foremost, and a Marylander by chance. But thrift as an ethos suits me well, and more and more I’ve come to trust Lea with what to do with seasonal ingredients and simple comforts, like home-baked bread.
I recently chose her recipe for “French Rolls” to make some grilled sandwiches with.
I’m no bread expert, so I’m not sure what makes these rolls “French.” A recipe in the Maryland Gazette in 1831 -14 years before Lea’s book- bears little resemblance to Lea’s method.
Lea offers ample general advice on baking bread, “the most important article of food” by her estimation.
“It is significant to note that within the context of the broader regional culture in which Elizabeth Lea lived, there was a large class of poor whites and blacks who depended upon hearth baking [in a dutch oven] as their sole source of bread. It is interesting that Lea’s recipe took this into account, because very few period cookbooks, American or British, devote much space to it. “Baking in dirt,” as some Welsh cooks characterize it (the pot is covered with ashes), was generally considered primitive by the 1840s and an unappetizing way to go about the business of bread baking, regardless of the delightful ‘hearthy’ flavor.” – William Woys Weaver, “A Quaker Woman’s Cookbook: The “Domestic Cookery” of Elizabeth Ellicott Lea”
Lea’s tips on rising, testing stove heat, using a dutch oven or a brick oven, etc. may be somewhat useful to a hearth cook but I can’t say for sure what her yeast would’ve been like. The 1831 recipe in the Gazette suggested ‘distillers yeast’ or ‘ale yeast’, brewing being just as common an activity as baking. Lea has advice on making the yeast from hops, corn flour, potatoes, or milk. Hop yeast is declared best.
I also can’t claim to know what her flour would have been like. Let’s be real here – Maryland is corn country. Although once home to many mills, the types of wheat that grow well in Maryland are not what we would pass off as bread flour today. According to Lynne Hoot from The Maryland Grain Producers Association, “Maryland grows soft red winter wheat which is not a good bread flour, it is used more for cookies, pretzels and pastry.”
Frederick Town Herald 1832
This may have differed slightly in the past, as flour had not been industrialized to the uniform consistency we now know.
“Millers produced a variety of flours depending upon the moisture in the grain, its quality, starch and gluten content, and the fineness of the grinding. Typically the miller blended various types of wheat to produce a particular product. Mills yielded several grades of flour. The best or most pure was the pastry white, followed by white, then seconds, thirds, and middlings. The bran, which was the husk of the grain, and the pollard, or the part of the wheat next to the husk, were discarded or fed to animals.“ – Tillers of the Soil: A History of Agriculture in Mid-Maryland, Paula S. Reed, 2011
Maryland was home to dozens of grist mills, and millers created their own blends that varied from mill to mill.
Milling regions, “A Guide to Patapsco Valley Mill Sites”
James Walter Peirce 2004. Each section hosted 5-10 mills. About a fifth were grist mills.
Before transportation brought in large-scale competition from the midwest, Maryland’s rivers were dotted with mills, including Elizabeth Lea’s family’s mill. Many ruins remain along the banks of the Patapsco, or have been reduced to the innumerable algae-covered bricks that can be found in the riverbed.
“Most of our wheat for harvest is double cropped with soybeans so we get 3 crops in 2 years. Corn, winter wheat, short season soybeans, a cover crop and then year 2, back to corn. Our production acreage is about 250,000 acres and about 18 million bushels. We grow a lot more wheat as a cover crop but that is not harvested, it is simply used for environmental protection to take up any remaining nutrients left from the previous crop (and mineralized from crop residue left on the field), and to protect the soil from erosion.”
Curious how the most uncompromising of local-food evangelists deal with this, I reached out to Woodberry Kitchen. Much like in Lea’s time, the bakers compensate with blends that vary based on what is available.
“We are indeed using quite a bit of local flour, thanks to the incredible work of a few farmers. Heinz Thomet at Next Step Produce in Charles County, MD is growing a number of varieties of wheat, as well as barley, rye, sorghum, buckwheat, and rice. He has a German made Haussler 20” stone mill that he uses to mill flour for us. Omar Beiler in Kinzer, PA is the other significant source of flour for us. He grows heritage varieties of wheat, as well as emmer, einkorn, and some heritage varieties of corn. We get our corn products from him, as well as our whole wheat flour and a “T-85” or high extraction flour. He has an Austrian made Ostiroller 20″ stone mill. Our last local source is Small Valley Milling; they specialize in spelt and we get our whole and white spelt flours from them.” – Russell Trimmer, bread baker at Woodberry Kitchen
Luckily for the buying public, their spelt bread is -bafflingly- not gross.
Maryland newspaper ad, 1944
As anyone who bakes bread is aware, this type of baking requires a level of intuition that is hard to comprehend in the age of industrialized flour. But according to some, we have been paying a price for consistency.
“Before the advent of industrial agriculture, Americans enjoyed a wide range of regional flours milled from equally diverse wheats, which in turn could be used to make breads that were astonishingly flavorful and nutritious. For nearly a century, however, America has grown wheat tailored to an industrial system designed to produce nutrient-poor flour and insipid, spongy breads soaked in preservatives. For the sake of profit and expediency, we forfeited pleasure and health” – Ferris Jabr, “Bread Is Broken” New York Times 2015
Lea advises that “coarse brown flour or middlings makes very sweet light bread, by putting in scalded corn meal, say, to two loaves, half a pint, and is also good to use for breakfast made as buckwheat cakes…” For some recipes she recommends saleratus, a baking-soda precursor.
Her french rolls recipe (as I attempted it) turned out lovely, and took relatively little effort. Most importantly, it helped us get further acquainted when she asserted “there is nothing in any department of cooking that gives more satisfaction to a young housekeeper than to have accomplished what is called good baking.”
Recipe:
“To one quart of sweet milk, boiled and cooled, half a pound of butter, half a tea-cup of yeast, a little salt, and flour enough to make a soft dough; beat up the milk, butter and yeast in the middle of the flour; let it stand till light, in a warm place; then work it up with the whites of two eggs, beaten light; let it rise again, then mould out into long rolls; let them stand on the board or table, to lighten, an hour or two, then grease your pans and bake in an oven or stove.”
Mix yeast with a small amount of the milk and let sit until creamy and bubbly. Combine remaining milk, butter, yeast, salt and about half the flour and stir until ingredients are moistened. Add more flour and continue stirring until dough forms a rubbery ball that is sticky but not wet – pulls away from the bowl like gum. If using a mixer, start with the beater, switch to the hook to add flour and watch for the dough to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Form into a ball, leave covered in a greased bowl until doubled – about 1 hour in summer temperatures.
Work the egg whites into the dough as you knead it down again, kneading for a few minutes. Return to the bowl for a second rise.
Remove from bowl and beat down into a ball – divide into half, then quarters, etc. until you have the desired number and size of rolls or loaves.
Bake at 350° until it is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. I have no idea how long that is. I have stopped timing my baking because I am a champ I guess. Don’t worry, it’ll backfire.
When Mercedes V. Rankin shared her recipe for “Portuguese Sweet Bread” in the “Bethel Cookbook”, assembled by the parish of the historic Bethel A.M.E. in 1979, she probably hoped to do her part to raise money for her church.
What she surely did not know is that some random weirdo would bake this bread 36 years later, search her name and uncover stories from her past and other ways she strove to make a difference.
Mercedes Rankin, I learned, was one of the first female police officers put “on the beat” in Baltimore.
Born Mercedes Rawlings in 1933, Rankin joined the Baltimore City Police Department in 1960. In 1968 she married fellow police officer Donald O. Rankin.
Mercedes Rankin appears to have been an involved officer, engaging with community groups, working with troubled youth and the elderly, and in 1969 receiving a citation for her work developing a block mothers program to aid children in need.
In 1973, when the BCPD ended the policy of discrimination based on gender, Mercedes became one of the first two officers put on the beat, along with Sergeant Bessie Norris, who was in the Narcotics division.
“They won’t last a day,” said one male member of the force when told of the change. – ‘Sex Distinction Ended in Police Hiring, Duties’, Baltimore Sun, 1973
Although many people seem to have amnesia about this, Baltimore had its share of turmoil in the 1970s. Mercedes Rankin was assigned to patrol a troubled area in the Northwestern District. In 1977, one of the youth she worked with after school was slain before he could testify in a robbery case. “Tony was just a charming little fellow,” she said of the young man.
Rankin seems to have reacted to her promotion humbly and in stride.
“Sergeant Rankin said yesterday she is not frightened by her high-crime-area assignment. “I think I can handle myself. I feel like I’m one of the boys,” she said. “Once more women are assigned, they’ll be accepted.” – ‘Sex Distinction Ended in Police Hiring, Duties’, Baltimore Sun, 1973
One of the most telling insights into the character of Mercedes Rankin is a letter she wrote to the Baltimore Sun in 1965 in apparent response to Rev. Marion Bascom making a quip about police getting “kick-backs”:
“Officers Catania and Osborne… practically gave their lives to save the lives of seven small children. Did they get kick backs?…
Violet Hill Whyte… has done little else but worry about Baltimore’s people and their problems…
If police are receiving kick-backs and Bascom has knowledge of this, why doesn’t he become a better citizen and report it to the proper authorities?
Mr. Bascom should go into the districts and see an officer receive a smile from the people he helps. This is his kick-back, his reward, and that smile is far more precious than any kick-back he could ever receive. Take it from one who knows.”
Note how she champions the accomplishments of others. At least in the press, Rankin didn’t make much of her groundbreaking status, the apparent empathy and outreach that she brought to the position, nor to the fact that she was promoted to sergeant 11 months before her husband Donald.
At the time when Mercedes Rankin contributed her recipe to the Bethel Cookbook, the pastor would have been John Richard Bryant, who is credited with reviving the church and growing the congregation.
Dating back to 1785, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Bethel A.M.E.) Baltimore is the oldest independent continuously operating African American church in the state of Maryland.
According to Wikipedia: “Portuguese sweet bread is common in both Hawaiian cuisine and New England cuisine as it was brought to those regions by their large Portuguese immigrant populations.” This sweet bread recipe was traditionally baked around the Easter holiday.
Rankin’s recipe didn’t specify whether the butter should be melted, and the internet seems to go either way. I went with melted butter and this turned out fine. I was worried by how dark the crust became in the oven but after I let it sit and cut it open, it yielded a delicious sweet snack. I enjoyed it with lime curd, and later used it to make excellent french toast.
Mercedes Rankin passed away in September of 2011. According the the Baltimore Police Department website:
“Hundreds of women currently serve on the Baltimore Police Department. Female police officers serve as detectives, sergeants, lieutenants, and members of the command staff in a variety of assignments within the department. There are NO assignments that a female can’t do or isn’t open to, including police commissioner.”
Recipe:
2 package yeast
.25 Cup lukewarm water
1 Cup sugar
1 Teaspoon salt
6 Cup regular flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 Cup milk
1 stick butter, melted
Start yeast in small bowl in lukewarm water with a pinch of sugar, until mixture begins to bubble and rise. Combine remaining sugar, salt and 4 cups of the flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and drop in the eggs, yeast mixture and milk. Mix with spoon. Add butter and more flour and knead in with hands. Gradually add enough flour until dough can be shaped into a big soft ball and begins to pull away from sides of bowl when mixed. Knead until dough becomes smooth, shiny and rubbery. Cover with damp cloth and allow to rise until doubled in size (about one hour). Punch dough down and allow to “rest” 10 minutes. Shape into two loaves, place on baking sheet(s). Let loaves rise again about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°. Place loaves on top rack of oven. Bake about 45 minutes to one hour – until crusts are golden brown. If desired, brush top of loaves with egg yolk mixed with water after baking for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing. Makes 2 loaves.
Recipe adapted from Bethel Cookbook, contributed by parishioner Mercedes V. Rankin
