As many of you may know, I was a finalist in the 46th Pillsbury Bake-off last year. It was such a wonderful experience and I have become fascinated with the history of the contest. It started in 1949 and as of now, there have been exactly 52 grand prize winning recipes.
So I got a crazy idea! Why not make all 52 Grand Prize winning recipes this year and blog about the process. That's 1 recipe per week which I think is totally doable. So here goes...
The first grand prize winning recipe in the 1949 Pillsbury Bake-Off (then called Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest) was:
No-Knead Water-Rising Twists by Theodora Smafield on Pillsbury.com
Here are the first 4 ingredients which you add to a bowl and mix. See photo below.
Set flour aside. In small saucepan, place butter, milk and heat to about 130 degrees.
Add the milk/butter mixture along with eggs and vanilla to the flour mixture.
Blend on low until moistened, then on medium for 2 minutes.
Add the remaining flour and stir by hand. Then you let it rise. Above photo shows the dough after it has risen.
Then you take ¼ cup pieces of dough and roll in a mixture of sugar, cinnamon and nuts.
Pull and twist each piece of dough to about 8 inches long. Then you let them rise again for a bit. I didn't see a big difference in size after it had risen again. Then bake.
Freshly baked twists. Aren't they pretty! Let cool and enjoy.
No-Knead Water-Rising Twists
Ingredients
Instructions
- Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, ½ cup of the sugar, salt and yeast; blend well.
- In small saucepan, heat milk and margarine until very warm (120 to 130°F.). Add warm liquid, vanilla and eggs to flour mixture; blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in remaining 1 ½ to 2 ½ cups flour to form a soft dough. Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place (80 to 85°F.) until light and doubled in size, 30 to 40 minutes. (Dough will be sticky.)
- Grease 2 large cookie sheets. In small bowl, combine nuts, remaining ½ cup sugar and cinnamon; blend well. Drop about ¼ cup dough into nut mixture; thoroughly coat. Stretch dough to about 8 inches in length; twist into desired shape. Place on greased cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover, let rise in warm place, about 15 minutes.
- Heat oven to 375°F.. Uncover dough. Bake 8 to 16 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets; cool on wire racks. Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Carol Fair says
I just purchased the first cookbook from the first contest (I have a friend who collects them). Looking through the book I decided to make the winner - I remember it from making it maybe 50 years ago. However the recipe is different????? 1/2 cup shortening, 3TBl sugar,1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup scalded milk, 2 pkgs yeast, 3 eggs,3 cups flour, nuts Cinn sugar. Does the difference in eggs and yeast make that much difference?
Thanks
Mom Loves Baking says
Oh, that is so neat! Thanks so much for your comments. How wonderful that your mother was the first winner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off. That's so special! Do you know how much she won? Was it $25,000? I guess she got that new stove she wanted, right? Do you ever make this recipe? It was very good. How old was your mother when she won?
Barbara Ingraham says
I just ran across an article that said Mrs. Smafield received a check for $50,000 and it was presented by Eleanor Roosevelt!
Lise Ode says
Hi Barbara, Oh my goodness. That's so interesting. Thank you for letting me know this fun fact!
Mary Alice Smafield Green says
I am thrilled that you decided to do this. Theodora was my mother, and she never thought she would win. She and my father lived in Detroit at the time and I hadn't been born yet. She entered because she wanted a trip to New York and a new stove. She got the recipe from her mother. She almost missed the Award Ceremony because she was out shopping and when she got back she was seated right next to Eleanor Roosevelt. She thought they ran out of seats!!