Thanks, Grandma

My Grandma Sorenson was amazing.  She gave up a business school scholarship to marry a farmer right after high school, and started a life of cooking for the farmhands....and she became a wonderful cook and baker.  She was also a beautiful seamstress.  She became famous (at least in the family) for her fabulous bread and pies.  When my mother was in high school, Grandpa was involved in a farming accident and wasn't expected to be able to walk again.  So they had to move to the city so Grandpa could get medical care, and Grandma went back to school and went to work to support the family.  (Grandpa was pretty amazing himself, and DID walk again with the help of a cane.)  In 1995 Grandma gave me one of her favorite bread cookbooks and sort of passed the torch to me.  This was a great vote of confidence, so I've tried to make bread every so often since then (it was the same year I graduated from college and I've worked full-time since then so time to make bread has been a bit hard to find at times).  I had a relaxing Sunday this week, so I pulled out Grandma's cookbook and made a couple of loaves from my favorite bread recipe.  I appreciate the legacy my grandma left of taking pride in homemaking, and her example that women can be skilled homemakers as well as smart and successful in the workplace.

This bread has great flavor and I love it's soft texture.  I used quick rise yeast (which cut rising times in half) and baked it in my favorite ceramic bread pans.

Whole Wheat Bread from The Book of Bread  by Judith & Evan Jones

Makes 2 8-inch loaves

1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup honey, molasses, brown sugar, or combination
1 tablespoon course salt or 2 teaspoons table salt
2-3 cups white flour, preferably unbleached
3 cups stone-ground whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in warm water.  Warm half the milk and stir in the butter, sweetener, and salt.  Add remaining milk and when cool to the touch combine with the dissolved yeast.  Add 2 cups of the white flour, the whole wheat flour, and the wheat germ; blend thoroughly.

Turn out on a floured surface; let rest while you clean and grease the bowl.  Knead the dough about 10 minutes, adding as much white four as necessary to keep dough from sticking.  When it is smooth and elastic, return the dough to the greased bowl.  Let rise in a draft-free place, covered with plastic wrap, until doubled in bulk - about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch the dough down, knead 1 minute, then shape into 2 loaves and put in greased 8-inch bread pans.  Cover with a towel and let rise about 45 minutes, until dough just swells over top of pans.

Bake in preheated 425 degree oven 10 minutes, turn heat to 350 degrees, and bake 25 minutes longer, until loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.  Cool on racks.

Bread day - plus a bonus

Today was a lovely spring day - which somehow put me in the mood to make bread.  I had intentions of making bread regularly during the winter, when it's actually nice to use my oven more, but somehow the weekends kept getting away from me and it never happened.  So today I got out the whole wheat flour and made a couple of loaves.  I really liked the flavor of the this bread, and it cuts like a dream without falling apart.  I can't wait to have a piece of whole wheat toast before work on  Monday (if I can keep the second loaf from disappearing tomorrow!)  This recipe came from my friend Lisa's son-in-law, John.  He does a lot of baking and came up with this as his "ideal" whole wheat bread recipe.  We like it!

John's Whole Wheat Bread
2 1/4 cup hot water
2 teaspoons sugar
2 Tablespoons yeast
5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup canola oil

• Combine 1/2 cup hot water and 2 teaspoons sugar.  Mix until the sugar is dissolved.  Add yeast and stir until wet.  Let stand for 10 minutes in a dark place.
• Add 2 cups of flour and 1 1/2 cups warm water to the yeast mixture.  Stir vigorously for several minutes.  Cover and let stand in a warm place for 2 hours or more.
• Add the salt, honey, lemon juice, oil and remaining 1/4 cup water.  Stir in 2 more cups of flour before deciding how much more flour to add Add just enough flour to make the dough firm but somewhat sticky (It won't stick to your hands when tossing dough from hand to hand, but it will if it's in one hand too long).
• Knead the dough at least 10 minutes, until smooth.
• Let rise in greased bowl until doubled. Cover with a damp towel to prevent the dough from drying out.
• Punch the dough down to remove air bubbles.
• Divide dough in half and place in two greased bread pans.  Let rise until double.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until done.  Remove from pans and place on cooling rack.

While I was cleaning up the kitchen and waiting for my loaves to rise, I noticed that I had a couple of sorry looking bananas that needed to be made into banana bread.  But once I mushed them up to put into the banana bread batter there really wasn't enough.  Fearing that too little banana would result in dry bread I scoured the pantry for something else to add, and settled on a can of crushed pineapple.  I added some drained pineapple to the banana in the bread - and the results were great.  I would do this again ON PURPOSE.  

Finally, I realized that Easter is only a week away and I didn't have my Easter dish towel made so I sewed up the cute little guy you see in the picture by the banana/pineapple bread mini-loaf.  Forgive the "hoop" marks on there, I took the picture as soon as I got the bunny's face embroidered on.  Have a fantastic Easter!