Monkey Bread (1946, 1957); OUP Encyclopedia

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MONKEY BREAD--26,800 Google hits, 743 Google Groups hits (most are for the bread, not the baobab tree)
MONKEY BREAD + NANCY REAGAN--37 Google hits

   "Monkey bread" was cited here before, but here are the latest cites in ProQuest's LOS ANGELES TIMES.  Nancy Reagan baked "monkey bread," but did not invent it.
   OED has "monkey bread" from the "monkey bread tree" (baobab--I saw many of these in West Africa last month), but did not choose to have an entry for this bread...I dropped off some Guanabana marmalade and Panama cookbooks at the Bonny Slotnick used cookbook store nearest NYU.  She said that Andy Smith is working on "bread."  Hope this helps.  For anyone's information:


http://foodhistorynews.com/notebook.html
February 13, 2004

In this issue: Save OUP Encyclopedia launch date.

The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, to be published this fall by Oxford University Press in the US, will be launched with festivity in October. If you have been following the progress of this tome in these pages, you know that Andy Smith is the Editor-in-Chief, and that yours truly and many of our friends and associates are contributors. I don't have a lot of details yet, but there are several events planned and one is on October 16 at the National Museum of American History, (Smithsonian) in Washington, DC, with a symposium and some other events. Andy says, "We have a general outline of the program -- In addition to a few speakers, we will have two major panels: What is American Food? and What is American Drink?" Panelists have not yet been selected. But you can still put that date on your calendar. As soon as Andy sends more information, I will post it here.


(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
   1. Caller Ask for Recipes on Turkey, Bread, Grapes
Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Sep 26, 1957. p. A5 (1 page):
   Here are the three most-asked-for recipes: turkey Marco Polo, monkey bread and frosted grapes.
(...)
      _Rich, Buttery Dough_
   Monkey bread, so popular with the ladies at luncheon, is a rich, buttery bread.  Serve it with your favorite jam or preserve for a breakfast treat or at tea time, too.
(...)
   _MONKEY BREAD_
1 1/2 cakes, yeast
1 cup lukewarm milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups sifted enriched flour
Melted butter or margarine.
   METHOD:  Dissolve yeast in lukewarm milk.  Add sugar 1/2 cup melted butter, salt and flour.  Beat well.  Place in large greased bowl, cover with clean cloth and let rise until doubled in bulk.  Knock down and roll out on floured board very thin.  Cut dough in diamond-shaped pieces.
   Dip each piece in melted butter and arrange in a ring mold until mold is half filled.  Let rise until it reaches the top of the pan.  Bake at 400 deg. until golden brown.  Turn out on a round plate and let guests break off pieces.  This makes a rich bread.

   2. CONFIDENTIALLY
LUCILLE LEIMERT. Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Feb 1, 1946. p. A5 (1 page):
   _SURE CURE_--Helen Weigel Brown, New York career girl visiting in Los Angeles, is as cool as a cucumber and nothing seems to ruffle her.  But it wasn't always that way and Helen admits it.  SHe used to be a quaking mass of nerves till she cured herself, and you'd never guess how!  By making bread--raisin bread, monkey bread, rye bread, egg bread!