Pepperidge Farm White Bread Copycat from 1950
Copycat of the original hand kneaded Pepperidge Farm White Bread from 1950.
[i]In 1937, Margaret Rudkin founded the Pepperidge Farm bakery in Fairfield, Connecticut. Her family lived on property called Pepperidge Farm, named for an ancient Pepperidge tree that grew there. One of her young sons suffered from severe allergies and asthma. On the advice of their doctor, as a treatment, he was put on a diet of fruits and vegetables and minimally processed foods. Margaret decided to try baking him some all-natural whole wheat bread as part of the diet. She used only wholesome ingredients like stone-ground whole wheat, fresh butter, whole milk and honey in the bread.
Her recipe turned out to be so successful, friends and family kept asking for it. She sold some to a local grocer. Even though her bread cost three times as much as most breads, orders poured in and she started a local bakery. She hired local women to work in the bakery and the bread was kneaded and prepared only by hand. Later they added a premium white bread made with whole milk, honey and butter and oatmeal bread, raisin cinnamon bread and others. In 1950, when the Pepperidge Farm Bakery expanded into Pennsylvania, bread was still hand kneaded at the new bakery. The bakery business expanded across America through the 1940’s and 1950’s making her a millionaire. She sold the Pepperidge Farm Bakery to Campbell’s Company in 1961.[/i]
Makes Two 1-1/2 LB (0.75 kg) loaves.
1-1/2 cups (365 g) Whole Milk, divided use
4-1/2 tsp (14 g) Active Dry Yeast
2 tsp (12 g) Table Salt
4 Tbsp (55 g) Butter
2 Tbsp (25 g) Vegetable Shortening
3/4 cup (180 g) Warm Water
4 Tbsp (65 g) Honey
2 Tbsp (20 g) Cane Sugar Syrup (substitute White Granulated Sugar if you can’t find cane sugar syrup)
6 cups (820 g) Unbleached Bread Flour
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Heat 1/2 cup milk until lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in milk. Let stand 10 minutes.
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Scald remaining 1 cup of milk, pour over salt, butter and shortening in large mixing bowl. Add warm water and allow mixture to cool to lukewarm. Add honey, cane sugar syrup and
dissolved yeast. Add flour, beating vigorously with wooden spoon, until dough forms a ball.
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Turn out on a well-floured board. Knead vigorously until dough is elastic. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl.
Cover, set in a warm place until doubled in bulk.
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Place dough on floured board. Divide in two parts shaping loaves to fit 5-inch by 9-1/2-inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pans. Grease loaf pans well with unsalted shortening. Cover, let loaves rise in pans until almost doubled in bulk (about 1 hour) in a warm
place.
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Bake in preheated 400-degree F (205-C) oven about 30-40 minutes or until bread is well browned and done.
Pepperidge Farm White Bread Copycat from 1950 For Bread Machine
[i]This version is for a Bread Machine.
Copycat of the original hand kneaded Pepperidge Farm White Bread from 1950.[/i]
Makes one 1-1/2 LB (0.75 kg) loaf.
3/4 cup (180 g) Whole Milk
1/4 cup (60 g) Warm Water
1 tsp (6 g) Table Salt
2 Tbsp (30 g) Butter
1 Tbsp (15 g) Vegetable Shortening
2 Tbsp (30 g) Honey
1 Tbsp (10 g) Cane Sugar Syrup (substitute White Granulated Sugar if you can’t find cane sugar syrup)
3 1/4 cups (410 g) Unbleached Bread Flour
2-1/4 tsp (or 1 packet) (7 g) Bread Machine or Instant Yeast
Add all the Bread ingredients in order given or as recommended by your bread machine manual.
Select REGULAR or WHITE BREAD CYCLE, 1-1/2 LB LOAF, LIGHT CRUST and press START.
In the first few minutes of kneading, adjust the dough, if necessary, so it is smooth and non-sticky, and not dry or crumbly, by adding flour or water, a tablespoon at a time.
Remove from bread machine when done. Allow to cool before slicing.
Made this today by hand method for tonight’s dinner. Loaves look beautiful. Haven’t sliced one yet.
Everyone loved this bread. Definitely a keeper!
I looked in old newspapers on Google newspaper archive and found the ingredients listed in an old ad. I made up a recipe and tested it. The honey flavor comes through and because of the milk, this is a nice fluffy, soft bread. Really good.
I do have a question about the recipe. I made it just as posted and I wouldn’t change a thing, but why is butter and shortening used? Also, why honey and cane sugar syrup?
Those were the all ingredients listed on the original Pepperidge Farm White Bread wrapper. In baking, butter and shortening will do different things and be used in combination. Butter for flavor and shortening for adding a tender texture to the bread. Honey will also add flavor and the sugar syrup would add a different kind of sweetness.
Thanks. Had this bread toasted for breakfast today. It makes nice toast.
I have made this bread again, exactly as the first time, but this time the loaves fell in the center. It didn’t affect anything except the appearance. What could have caused this to happen? I am baffled.
I still don’t know why my bread fell.
I’ve found two main reasons loaves fall, in my experience.
One, if the dough is too wet, I found the top will collapse on baking. When I started weighing the ingredients, I got more consistent loaves. A cup can hold 4 oz to 5 oz of flour, depending on how it is filled. That can be a 20% difference in the amount of flour used.
I try to aim for a 66% hydration (liquids weigh 66% the weight of the flour). You should be okay in the 60% to 70% range. Count water, milk, juice and eggs (eggs are 35 to 55 gm each depending on size) in hydration. Don’t count oils or sugary syrups (like honey, molasses, etc).
Two, if the bread is over proofed (rises too long) the yeast will eat the internal structure of the bread and the top will collapse.
Thank you. Now I have an idea how to prevent future problems.
I was out of sandwich bread and made this, it’s my new go to sandwich bread recipe. Made it in my kitchen-aid with the dough hook and it was a breeze, I didn’t knead it by hand at all, only when I shaped the loaves. The only changes I made were a couple because I was too lazy to go get the butter and shortening, subbed margarine and white sugar because they were handy. Great slicing, sandwich and toasting bread. Keeper. I baked for 40 minutes and that was about 5-10 minutes too long in my oven, next time I’ll do 30.