• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Amish 365
  • About
  • Amish Recipes
  • Amish Culture
  • Amish Marketplace
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Amish Recipes
  • Amish Culture
  • About
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Amish Recipes
    • Amish Culture
    • About
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » The Amish Editor

    Grandma's Homemade Nut Bread

    Published: Dec 16, 2020 · Updated: Dec 4, 2022 by Kevin Williams | 11 Comments

    When I was growing up, a swirly nutty bread would show up on the table at family gatherings.  Unfortunately, I generally ignored the bread in favor of colorful Christmas cookies and frosting-slathered brownies.

    Jump to Recipe
    Grandma's Homemade Nut Bread
    A Christmas tradition

     It wasn't until the final year or so of my grandmother making this labor-intensive bread, and I was an adult, that I gave it a second look (or taste).  And, wow, I immediately loved Grandma's Homemade Nut Bread and regretted not gorging on it every year as a child.  

    About the time I really grew to love Grandma's Nut Bread, the annual making of the rolls became too difficult for her.  Grandma lived until age 91 and probably made it until she was in her mid-80s. Grandma passed away in 2016 the day after Christmas.. My mother made the bread once years ago and it hasn't reappeared since, it is a very labor-intensive bread. Our friend, Jay, did make a batch of it a couple of Christmases ago for us and that was a real treat.

    A little background, my hometown of Middletown was once a patchwork of ethnic enclaves:  Catholic Irish around the mid-town area, Italians on the south side, Eastern Europeans staked out some turf in between, and so on. The recent immigrants brought their own culinary traditions with them.  In many cases the recipes have long outlasted the ethnic enclaves as the lines began to blur in Middletown and the the city morphed into one relatively homogeneous melting pot.  This nut bread recipe came from an Italian woman who was a friend of my grandma, who is also of Italian descent.  The recipe came into our family in 1966 and my great-grandmother and grandmother made it every Christmas for almost 40 years

    Food traditions bind us like few others to past generations.  Mom swears she could hear her grandmother talking to her as she kneaded the dough.

    🔩 The Nuts & Bolts of Nut Bread

    Okay, a few thoughts on this recipe:

    • You can substitute pecans for walnuts if you like, but I wouldn't. I mean, my Grandma wouldn't, so why would I? But you can.
    • Works best on cookie sheets. I've not tried in a loaf pan, but you can try it that way if you want.
    • Some people compare this to a banana nut bread recipe or banana bread, but there are no bananas in this recipe! A fun experiment would be to add a couple cups of mashed bananas and see what happens. If I were adding bananas I'd add a splash of orange juice too.

    My grandmother never used an electric mixer with this recipe, but you could try it with the dough and the batter, that might speed up the process a bit.

    Give Grandma's Homemade Nut Bread is one of those delicious recipes that you can give a try if you are adventuresome and feel free to cut it in half unless you want 11-15 loaves of nut bread!  Meanwhile, are there any culinary traditions in your family that it just wouldn't be Christmas unless they were on your menu?

    By the way, if you have extra, just pop the loaves in a freezer bag and they'll store well for months. Freezing won't freeze away the calories, though, Although there is some nice protein and fiber in this bread. Grandma's nut bread is great warm, too, you can slice off some and stick in the toaster oven. Spread with cream cheese and enjoy!

    Grandma's Homemade Nut Bread
    A Christmas tradition

    🥜Grandma's Nut Bread

    • 12 cups all purpose flour
    • 1 quart milk
    • 6 eggs (2 whole eggs and four yolks)
    • 2 teaspoons salt
    • 1 /2 pound butter
    • 2 cups brown sugar
    • 3 packets of fast-rising powdered yeast; or 3 cakes of yeast
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla

    Nut Bread Filling

    • 6 pounds of English walnuts
    • 1 pound graham crackers
    • vegetable oil or melted shortening
    • About 3 cups milk
    • 3 1 /2 cups sugar
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 4 egg whites

    Instructions for the bread:

    1. Place flour in a large mixing bowl, add salt.
    2. Dissolve sugar in 1 cup warm milk, mix into flour and mix well.
    3.  Melt butter into a little milk and mix with flour mixture and blend thoroughly.
    4. Add powdered yeast to mixture (OR dissolve cake yeast in a little warm milk and add to mixture -DO NOT DO BOTH!).
    5. Add yeast and slightly beaten eggs and remaining milk and vanilla.  
    6. Knead well for about 15 minutes!
    7. Sprinkle flour around dough and place in a pan to raise until double in bulk.
    8. Divide into eight balls.

    Instructions for the filling:

    1. Grind nuts and graham crackers, until about the consistency of sand.  
    2. Add about 2 cups of warm milk, add sugar, beat egg-whites until stiff  
    3. Add to nut mixture and stir well. Add vanilla extract.
    4.  Add remaining milk and mix well.
    5. Roll out dough and brush oil lightly on rolled dough.
    6. Spread with nut mixture.  
    7. Roll like a jelly roll.  
    8. Bake on cookie sheets in a moderate oven (300-350 depending on the oven) until the outside of the loaves are golden brown.

    🥜Other Amish Nut Recipes

    Amish cooks find nuts to be a very versatile, fla vorful addition to recipes and they show up a lot during the holidays!

    Amish Nut Cake

    Delicious cake!

    Amish Nut Brownies

    Delicious browneis!

    Fudge Nut Bars

    Fudgy, and nutty, what could be better?

    Amish Toffee Nut Bars

    Amazing!

    Grandma's Nut Bread

    Grandma's Nut Bread

    A holiday tradition!
    5 from 2 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 2 hrs
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American

    Ingredients
      

    • 12 cups flour
    • 1 quart milk
    • 2 teaspoons salt
    • ½ pound butter
    • 2 cups brown sugar
    • 3 packets fast rising yeast
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    Nut Bread Filling

    • 6 pounds English walnuts
    • 1 pound graham crackers
    • vegetable oil or melted shortening
    • 3 cups milk
    • 3 ½ cups  sugar
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 4 egg whites

    Instructions
     

    Instructions for the bread

    • Place flour in a large mixing bowl, add salt.
    • Dissolve sugar in 1 cup warm milk, mix into flour and mix well.
    •  Melt butter into a little milk and mix with flour mixture and blend thoroughly.
    • Add powdered yeast to mixture (OR dissolve cake yeast in a little warm milk and add to mixture -DO NOT DO BOTH!).
    • Add yeast and slightly beaten eggs and remaining milk and vanilla.  
    • Knead well for about 15 minutes!
    •  Sprinkle flour around dough and place in a pan to raise until double in bulk. Divide into eight balls

    For the filling

    • Grind nuts and graham crackers, until about the consistency of sand.
    •  Add about 2 cups of warm milk, add sugar, beat egg-whites until stiff
    •  Add to nut mixture and stir well.
    • Add vanilla extract.  Add remaining milk and mix well.
    • Roll out dough and brush oil lightly on rolled dough.
    • Spread with nut mixture.   Roll like a jelly roll.
    •  Bake on cookie sheets in a moderate oven (300-350 depending on the oven) until the outside of the loaves are golden brown.
    • Slice into ½ inch rounds when the loaves are cool
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
    « Classic Amish Cinnamon Pudding
    Amish Butterscotch Pudding »

    About Kevin Williams

    Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kay

      December 20, 2013 at 9:52 pm

      This nut bread sounds good! A multi-generational tradition in my family is Oyster Salad. Sounds gross and the young ones don't like it, but I make it every year to honor my great-grandmother. It's an acquired taste. I have never seen this recipe anywhere else, though I've tried to trace it's background. Maybe it came from England?

      Reply
    2. kentuckylady717

      December 20, 2013 at 10:49 pm

      This looks delicious...they make one similar to this in Mich. I always bought a nut roll every Christmas and sometimes I'd buy a poppy seed one too...kinda expensive...I think they were $8.00 but well worth it....I think maybe they are called Hungarian Nut Roll & Hungarian Poppy Seed Roll.....you are lucky to have someone to bake them for you Kevin.....maybe your mom can teach Rachel how to make them and carry on the tradition 🙂 eh Rachel 🙂 You could include one or two of these in a contest Kevin....I bet you'd get some takers.....I'd sure love to have one.....

      Reply
    3. surgery4

      December 22, 2016 at 10:27 am

      This type of nut bread is usually known as "Potica" or "Povitica." My Slovenian-born grandmother made it.

      Reply
      • surgery4

        December 22, 2016 at 10:32 am

        Also, the Strawberry Hill Povitica Company (bakery) in Kansas City (Merriam, KS) makes several versions and sends out all over the world. They are the closest to my grandmother's in taste. They have a website and 800 number. Strawberry Hill is an area settled by several ethnic groups.

        Reply
        • Kevin

          December 22, 2016 at 9:27 pm

          Thank you for telling me about this, I'll have to check out that bakery!!

    4. Nana

      November 10, 2018 at 2:53 pm

      It looks delicious but I just looked at walnuts while at the grocery this morning and they were $8.99 for 16 ounces so I can't even imagine using 6 pounds in this recipe. I did not buy them today but may cave in for Christmas cookies.

      Reply
      • Kevin

        November 11, 2018 at 9:51 pm

        Holy cow, Nana, those are expensive, what grocery store was that?

        Reply
    5. Wanda Chennault

      December 16, 2020 at 10:00 pm

      5 stars
      What egg whites?

      Reply
      • Kevin Williams

        December 17, 2020 at 7:11 am

        Sorry, Wanda, I had omitted them accidentally, but I added them back in, thanks for letting me know. Should be four egg whites in the filling

        Reply
    6. Bernadette Laganella

      December 18, 2020 at 8:43 am

      5 stars
      I stubbed upon your site. I grew up in Levittown, PA in the 1950's and used to help a neighbor make these loaves. I have periodically tried to find a recipe but have never been successful until today. Can't wait to give it a try.

      Reply
      • Kevin Williams

        December 18, 2020 at 9:00 am

        Great, glad to hear, let me know how it turns out!

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Kevin Williams - The Amish Editor Amish Cook Column

    Hi There, I'm Kevin!

    Welcome to Amish365, where I share my knowledge of Amish cooking and culture! I’ve spent almost three decades exploring Amish settlements and kitchens from Maine to Montana and almost everywhere in between. I’ll occasionally throw in stories of my travels, journalism adventures (I’m a Pulitzer prize-nominated journalist), fascination with grocery stores and Kmarts, and much more!

    More about me →

    Latest Amish Recipes

    • 5 Amish Farmhouse Winter Favorites
    • Trending Amish Recipes, 1-28-2022: Beanless Bean Dip, Oven-Baked BBQ Chicken, Honey Cake Cookies, and More!
    • Can Brown Sugar Meatloaf Save A Marriage?
    • How Do The Amish Keep Warm During Winter?
    dutchcrafters

    Download The "Almost Amish" Ebook

    Footer

    Footer

    About

    • About The Amish Editor
    • Download "Almost Amish" Ebook
    • Amish Communities
    • Amish Marketplace

    Contact

    • Work With Us
    • Contact

    *As a member of various affiliate programs I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2000 - 2020 Amish 365 | Powered by Touch The Road