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    Home » Recipes » Plain Culture

    Old-Fashioned Missouri Tomato Bread

    Published: Aug 10, 2021 · Updated: Aug 10, 2021 by Kevin Williams | 7 Comments

    Jump to Recipe

    Tomatoes are a summer staple of Amish and Mennonite gardens. The plump ruby red orbs are probably the single most popular garden goodie to grow among the Plain people. They are easy to grow. And tomatoes can just be used in so, so many different ways. Tomatoes can be sliced into salads, beaten into salsa, pureed into jams, pounded into catchup, strained into sauce, sliced onto sandwiches and on and on...this Old-Fashioned Missouri Tomato Bread recipe is an example of how tomatoes can be made into a bread.

    This recipe comes from the Mennonite settlement of Rich Hill, Missouri. Here is how Arlene Kopp, who I had exchange letters with for a book project, described life in Rich Hill:

    Everyone in this community  raises produce. Our community started in November 1997 and at first we all lived in a large “hotel” as they called it until the houses were built. There were around 5 families living in it and of course the children had grand times but the parents were glad to have their own homes. Here in Missouri there are two districts (or communities). In Kentucky there are two, Ohio, 1, Indiana, 1 and in Belize, 2.  All raise produce.

    Rich Hill, Missouri Mennonites.

    I have actually not been to Rich Hill, Missouri, I would love to go someday. I have a whole list of Plain communities I’d love to visit someday, and probably will eventually. My parents took this photo of a horse and buggy in Rich Hill for me. They were traveling out that way, and I asked them if they would mind dropping into Rich Hill and trying to visit with Arlene Kopp.

    They successfully did and had a nice visit. This is a very, very conservative Mennonite community with open buggies, no plumbing, and some Swiss-Amish language characteristics. Rich Hill this time of year, like many Midwestern Plain communities, are just awash in tomatoes. So many red, plump tomatoes, what to do with them?

    Nothing like fresh tomatoes from an Amish roadside farmstand

    This tomato bread is more like a loaf of Italian bread, note the oregano and basil, it’s sort of like one of those Italian breads that you find in Amish bakeries.

    Old-Fashioned Missouri Tomato Bread

    Old-Fashioned Missouri Tomato Bread has a lot of great, simple ingredients. Italian breads are popular among the Amish because they’re a great way to use tomatoes. Now, you may be thinking: where are the tomatoes? Keep in mind, that most Amish and Mennonites making this recipe would use homemade ketchup, which uses a lot of tomatoes. You can certainly make your own ketchup but, I suspect most of you don't want to go through all that, so for the purposes of this recipe you can use store-bought.

    This isn’t to say some Amish don’t buy the bottled kind, but the vast majority, especially during tomato season, make their own ketchup. That’s true also for tomato sauce, which this recipe calls for, but you can use store-bought.

    stirring the spices

    This is the step of stirring the tomato sauce and spices.

    Old-Fashioned Missouri Tomato Bread

    You can make this bread in loaf pans or do what we did and just shape into round artesian style loaves. Slice up and serve with butter, cream cheese, dip into soup, or use it for a sandwich infused with a tomatoy-basil flavor. Very good, easy bread!

    Jump to:
    • 🍅 Old-Fashioned Missouri Tomato Bread Ingredients
    • 📋 Instructions
    • 🍅 More Amish Recipes With Tomatoes
    • 🖨️ Full Recipe

    🍅 Old-Fashioned Missouri Tomato Bread Ingredients

    • 4 1 /2 cups tomato juice
    • 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
    • 6 tablespoons sugar
    • 2 tablespoons salt
    • 1 tablespoon ground oregano
    • 1 tablespoon ground basil
    • 1 /2 cup ketchup
    • 3 tablespoons active dry yeast
    • 12 cups all-purpose flour, approximately

    📋 Instructions

    1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease 4 loaf pans and set aside.
    2. Heat the tomato juice to lukewarm in a large saucepan.
    3. Add the butter, sugar, salt, oregano, basil, ketchup, and yeast.
    4.  Let the mixture set a few minutes to dissolve the yeast.
    5. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough, kneading when necessary.
    6. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
    7. Punch down the dough.
    8. Divide the dough among the prepared pans.
    9.  Allow to rise for 20 minutes longer.
    10. Bake for 1 hour.

    🍅 More Amish Recipes With Tomatoes

    Summer Tomato Pie - Delicious!

    Simple Tomato Soup - Wow!

    Green Tomato Pie - Use up your greens with this!

    Tomato Soup Cake - This is like a spice cake, wow!

    🖨️ Full Recipe

    Old-Fashioned Missouri Tomato Bread

    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Course Side Dish
    Cuisine American, Amish, Italian

    Ingredients
      

    • 4 1 /2 cups tomato juice
    • 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
    • 6 tablespoons sugar
    • 2 tablespoons salt
    • 1 tablespoon ground oregano
    • 1 tablespoon ground basil
    • 1 /2 cup ketchup
    • 3 tablespoons active dry yeast
    • 12 cups all-purpose flour, approximately

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease 4 loaf pans and set aside.
    • Heat the tomato juice to lukewarm in a large saucepan.
    • Add the butter, sugar, salt, oregano, basil, ketchup, and yeast.
       
       
    •  Let the mixture set a few minutes todissolve the yeast.
    • Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough, kneading when necessary.
    • Let the dough rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
    • Punch down the dough.
    • Divide the dough among the prepared pans.
       
    • Allow to rise for 20 minutes longer.
    • Bake for 1 hour.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
    « The Amish Cook: Cheesy Oven-Baked Onion Pie
    Amish Brown Sugar and Garlic Chicken »

    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. Suzette Carlin

      August 22, 2017 at 12:30 am

      This sounds delicious, I'll have to try and half the recipe since it's just the two of us at home now. Have you ever heard of Amish tomato gravy and what they put it on? Is there such a thing? I saw it mentioned in a post from some friends.

      Reply
      • Kevin

        August 22, 2017 at 10:56 am

        Yep, Suzette, Amish Tomato Gravy is quite popular, ladeling over about anything: mashed potatoes, meats, veggies, I'll post the recipe soon!

        Reply
        • Suzette Carlin

          August 22, 2017 at 5:31 pm

          Thanks Kevin, can't wait to try some!!

    2. Mary Stepleton-Hitt

      August 22, 2017 at 12:56 pm

      Could I get a printable version of the bread recipe, please? I'd love the tomato gravy recipe too!

      Reply
      • Kevin

        August 22, 2017 at 3:55 pm

        I am working on the print function now!

        Reply
    3. Kristie Jones

      August 10, 2021 at 2:59 pm

      Could I substitute tomato sauce for ketchup?

      Reply
      • Kevin Williams

        August 10, 2021 at 3:21 pm

        Kristie, I think you could...I mean, the only real difference would be in thickness, sauce is runnier, but often Amish homemade catsups are pretty runny, so I think you are probably OK doing that...

        Reply

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    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 →

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