Dilly Bread

This recipe belonged to my great-grandmother Florence Robinson Beck (1905-1998), which she passed along to my grandmother Linda Beck Bullough. My grandmother said that she made it often for her own growing family during the 1970’s and 80’s. I’ve been wanting to try it for a while, and I happened to have some cottage cheese in the fridge today. Since we were having soup for dinner, I decided to give it a shot. Wow! I’m glad I did! It’s light and pillowy, more like a roll than a bread, and the flavor is fabulous. The cottage cheese melts and disappears into the bread, so other than the soft, creamy texture of the crumb, you’d never know it was there. My great-grandmother notes that this can be baked in either a loaf pan or a casserole dish; I think next time (and there will definitely be a lot of next times!), I’ll try it out in an 8″ or 9″ square pan instead of the loaf pan I did today, just because it’s so light it actually collapsed on itself a little when I tipped it out of the pan. This could also work well as rolls if you’re in the mood for shaping the dough.

I love that this recipe is in my great-grandmother’s handwriting, with notes on the side by my grandmother. It even has a few batter splatters and marks from lots of previous use, so it’s clear that it was well-loved.

This is a picture of Florence with her children in Provo, Utah during the 1940’s. My grandmother Linda is in the white shirt in front. Florence lived through the Great Depression and was known for being thrifty, principled, and self-sufficient. She hated seeing anything go to waste, and could take what others may have considered trash and repurpose it into something beautiful. My grandma always remembers one Christmas when she was young, her mother made stunning ornaments for their tree by cutting and shaping used aluminum can lids into beautiful shining roses. Those ornaments were later passed onto her children and grandchildren, and are still cherished today.

Here’s the recipe:

In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast with water. Add cottage cheese, onion, sugar, butter, dill, salt, baking soda and egg.  Add flour to form a moderately stiff dough.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until light and double in size, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Turn into a well buttered 8″ casserole dish or loaf pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until light and doubled, about 30-40 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, start checking for doneness after 25 to 30 minutes. Bake until light golden brown. Brush with soft butter and sprinkle with a little salt, if desired. Makes one loaf.

I did make two small adjustments to this recipe as I was going along. First, I didn’t have dried minced onion, so I substituted 2 tsp onion powder instead. Second, I did a mix of dill seed and dried dill weed, instead of just dill seed. Otherwise, I followed the recipe as closely as possible so it would taste like Grandma’s. Delicous!