Grandma Bread

Fortunately for me, unlike ADHD some things aren’t hereditary. The talent for cooking, for instance, is one that can be sparked in anyone with the eagerness and will to learn. My Mother, along with many other women in my life, have kindled a love for cooking that burns in the very center of who I am today. My grandmother, however, was the master of the shoe leather roast beef and charcoal steak. This could be what drove my mother and several of my aunts to embrace a love of cooking that would inspire generations to come.

She could, nonetheless, make a mean loaf of bread. This fact about her has been ingrained in me since near infancy. There are pictures to prove it. She would have the giant metal bowls heaving with cloudy, puffy dough. then on the chipped faux-marble counters she divided, shaped, plopped into greased pans that were probably older than dirt, and leave them to rise one last time, then gently slid them into the piping hot oven to rise golden brown and flaky. She would cut of small portions of dough and let us mold them into tiny men and then fry in oil on the stove. We would butter the “dough boys” and nibble on them voraciously while she finished the batches and set them out to cool. That smell alone, of loaves in the oven, is one of the single most vivid memories I have of that woman.

Ingredients:

3 TBS yeast

3 tsp sugar

1 cup warm water

1/2 cup margarine

1/2 cup sugar

5 tsp salt

1 cup milk

4 cups warm water

12 cups flour

Method:

In a very large mixing bowl, combine yeast, sugar and 1 cup warm water. Let stand about 15 minutes or until 3 tsp sugar and yeast have dissolved. In a medium sauce pan combine margarine, 1/2 cup sugar, salt and milk. Heat until margarine has dissolved. DO NOT BOIL. Add 4 cups of warm water to milk mixture (mixture needs to be warm, not hot or cold). Add to yeast mixture. Gradually mix in flour until elastic and continue kneading for 5 minutes.

Grease the bowl with margarine or oil and let dough rise for 45 minutes. Punch dough down and let rise again. Cut dough into 6 pieces and shape into loaves. Put into greased pans* and bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown in a 350 F degrees (180 C)

*I leave my pans on the stove for one last small rise but you don't have to