Pepperidge Farm White Bread Copycat from 1950
Copycat of the original hand kneaded Pepperidge Farm White Bread from 1950.
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.
Makes Two 1-1/2 LB 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 - or White Granulated Sugar
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. -
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. -
Bake in preheated 400-degree F (205-C) oven about 30-40 minutes or until bread is well browned and done.