Momma’s Bread

I am so lucky because my mother taught me to make bread at a very young age.  In fact, I have so many fond memories of homemade bread with my mom that I am having a hard time choosing which one to put down for the sake of this blog collection.  Is it the countless times that I walked through the door after school to the comforting smell of homemade bread?  Is it the feel of the dough in my hands or watching her hands knead and shape the loaves?  Is it watching her slice off a piece and then listening to my brothers tease her about how she just couldn’t cut the loaf straight?  

Ultimately what I would love to remember my whole life and what I would love for my own children to know is that for years she never used a recipe and she didn’t have a machine to do the kneading.  She had a small sauce pot that, I would imagine, held about 2 cups of flour and she used her silverware to measure with.  She didn’t measure the temperature of the water she was proofing yeast in and she didn’t measure anything.  I can see her in my mind working over the dough adding cups, dashes and sprinkles.  I see her swirl the bowl with warm water after sprinkling the yeast and a dash of sugar so that the water would contact the yeast without necessarily stirring it.  And I see her pinch at the dough and feel it to see if it feels just right after adding the last bit of flour.  “Come here Shanon,” she would say, “feel the dough… this is how is should feel.”  To this day I love the feel of a good dough and my hands tell me long before my taste buds do if the dough was done right.

Then she was asked to teach a class at church about bread making.  I could not for the life of me figure out why she seemed so concerned about this.  She was, after all, the master at this! She worried and fretted and made batch after batch.  She was working out the measurements so that she could send the ladies home with a recipe.  I wonder how many neighbors received a loaf of her bread during the weeks that led up to that class?  The recipe that follows is the culmination of her efforts.  Later in life my dad bought her a Braun mixing machine.  I am happy that, before she taught me to make bread in that machine, she taught me to make it by hand.  For the sake of this post, I made the recipe by hand and my biceps and abs (for some reason) are feeling it today!  You can easily use your machine to do this, but I have to say it was pretty fun to do all by myself.  The thing I think everyone should understand about making bread is that even ugly bread smells and tastes good.  Practice makes perfect (until you need a great photo or somewhere special you needed to take it 🙂

To start your bread making, scald 2 cups of milk in a saucepan.  To me this means that the milk starts to form bubbles around the edges or forms a thin film on the top layer.  Remove the pan from the stove top and add 2/3 cup shortening 2 1/2 Tablespoons salt and 6 Tablespoons sugar.  Stir until the shortening is melted and the sugar and salt are dissolved.  Add one cup cold water and set this aside to cool a bit.

Yup!  That’s a Mickey Mouse scraper, he’s my bud.

While the milk mixture is cooling a bit, let’s proof the yeast.   In a glass bowl measure 1 cup of warm water.  I like to put water in the bowl and warm it up a bit before I actually put in the warm water I will be using to proof the yeast.  It’s a quirk.  Anyway, if you want to take the temperature of the water you are using you will want to keep it around 100 degrees.  If you feel adventurous and don’t want to take the water’s temperature, hold your wrist under the running water until it feels nice and warm but not hot.  Hot will kill the yeast.  Put one cup of warm water in your glass bowl and then sprinkle 3 Tablespoons of active dry yeast over the water.  Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to the yeast mixture to feed the yeast.  Swirl the bowl or give it a quick stir.  Just one.  Then set it aside to get it all nice and foamy.  It takes about 8 minutes or so.  Put it in a nice warm place.  It is the king of this process!

Working with a bowl that can easily hold 10 cups of flour, pour the warm (but not hot) milk mixture into the bottom.  Add the yeast mixture and 7 cups of flour.  Stir to incorporate the flour.   Add 2 of the 3 remaining cups of flour and begin working the dough with your hands.

 Now it’s your choice whether to keep working in the bowl or live dangerously and work it on the counter.  You have about 10 minutes to spend with this guy, so get comfortable.  If the dough sticks to your hands, sprinkle the last remaining cup of flour, a little at a time, onto your dough and work it in.  Most likely you will need the whole cup.

 I like working the dough on the counter after I have gained control of the dough in a large bowl.  Folding the dough like a package, bring the edges in to the center over and over again.  Pull and stretch the dough.  This is where you form the necessary gluten that makes the dough light. Work the dough in this manner for about 10 minutes until bubbles of air form and pop.

Form the dough into a ball, brush with oil, cover it with a clean dish cloth, and leave it to rest and raise for about 45 minutes, or until it doubles in size.

While the dough is rising grease 3 large bread pans both on the bottom and sides.  I like using wax paper or parchment. Momma always kept a piece inside her shortening container for such uses.

Punch down the dough.  This is my kids’ favorite part; punching down the dough for me.  Divide the raised dough into 3 equal parts and shape them into loaves.  There is really no magic to this.  Some people shape it into a rectangle and roll it up.  I fold the dough in on itself just like when I am kneading it.  Grabbing the top in my fingers I roll it back and forth on the counter to smooth the top and shape it into a nice roll that matches the size of pan I am using.

Place the shaped loaves in the prepared bread pans and brush with oil.  Cover with a towel and once again place in a warm spot to raise until double or reaches the top of the loaf pans.  This takes about 45 minutes. After about 30 minutes, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Now it’s time to bake the bread/masterpiece.  Place the loaves of bread on the center rack of the oven at 350 degree  for about 35-40 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown.  Remove from the oven and  place on a cooling rack.  I like to brush the top of the loaves with butter.

Now it’s time to call the family and get out the butter and jam.  Actually I never have to call the family… the smell of fresh baked bread summons them all on its own.  This is a baking project well worth the time!  Enjoy one loaf right away and take another to a neighbor.  No worries there is still one left for supper.

Momma’s Bread Recipe  by Alta Chamberlain for Sweet Suppertime

Scald two cups of milk.  Remove from heat and add 2/3 cup shortening, 6 Tablespoons of sugar and 2 1/2 Tablespoons of salt.  Stir until shortening, sugar, and salt are dissolved.  Add 1 cup cold water, stir.
Dissolve 3 Tablespoons yeast in one cup warm water with 1 teaspoon sugar, and let rise to a foamy sponge
(about 8-10 minutes).
When the milk mixture is lukewarm, add yeast and seven cups of flour  (momma used all purpose flour, feel free to use bread flour). Stir briskly until blended (about 1 minute).  Add remaining 3 cups of flour and knead until the dough is smooth and air bubbles form and pop. This should take about 10 minutes.  You may need to add additional flour if the dough is too sticky, but don’t add too much as the dough will become stiff. Moisten the top of the dough with oil.  Cover and let rise until double in bulk.
Shape into loaves and place in greased bread pans.  Cover and let rise until the center of each formed loaf has raised to the top of the bread pans.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Bake on center rack for approximately 35 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove and brush with butter if desired.
Makes 3 loaves.

Note:  Momma used all purpose flour and sometimes used half wheat flour and half white flour.  I use bread flour and love making the half and half as well.