Bran Muffins

Recipe No. 38 from the U.S. Army’s WWII cookbook — Breads. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Ingredients

• Milk, evaporated — 5 — 14½-ounce cans
• Water (for milk) — 3 quarts (3 No. 56 dippers)
• Bran, prepared — 3 pounds (6 No. 56 dippers)
• Sugar, granulated — 2 pounds (1 No. 56 dipper)
• Shortening — 1½ pounds (¾ No. 56 dipper)
• Eggs, beaten — 24 eggs (1¼ No. 56 dippers)
• Flour, sifted — 6 pounds (6 No. 56 dippers)
• Baking powder — 8 ounces (⅓ No. 56 dipper)
• Salt — 4 ounces (8 mess kit spoons)

Directions

Key ingredients

Baking Soda & Baking Powder · Evaporated Milk

1. Mix milk and water. Add bran; soak about 10 minutes.
2. Mix sugar and shortening; stir until smooth. Add beaten egg; mix well.
3. Add soaked bran; mix well.
4. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together; add to bran mixture, stirring only until dry and liquid ingredients are combined.
5. Spread in greased muffin pans. Bake in hot oven (425° F.) about 20 minutes.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Milk, evaporated — ½ can (14½ oz) Water (for milk) — 15⅓ tbsp Bran, prepared — 3¾ oz Sugar, granulated — 2½ oz Shortening — 2 oz Eggs, beaten — 2 eggs Flour, sifted — 7⅔ oz Baking powder — ⅔ oz Salt — about 2 tsp

Bran muffin mixture may be baked in sheet pans and cut into pieces. It will yield four pans, each 17 by 24 by 1 inches, 60 pieces per pan, each piece 2½ by 2¾ by 1 inches.

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 38, Breads. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.