Where the White Things Are: Bready

When I was little, my mom made bread a lot. My siblings and I took it for granted and always begged for airy store-bought Wonder bread for our sandwiches instead of the wholesome slabs of homemade wheat Mom made us. One year I even got a loaf of Wonder bread for my birthday since it was so special to me! My, how time has turned my taste buds. These days I practically live off of homemade bread. I do make my kids sandwiches on store bought bread, though, mostly because it's too much work to make enough bread for all of our needs.

Ever since my Amber-pregnancy-of-agony, I have not liked anything for breakfast but TOAST. And not just any ole charred bread, HOMEMADE bread, toasted to perfection and topped with either apricot jam, apple butter, or strawberry freezer jam. All homemade. Sensitive/picky/traumatized all meld together when we're talking about the Shaina-stomach before noon. Mornings are tricky, and my system is so joyfully sensitive that if I don't have my homemade toast with homemade toppings and a mug of juice, my whole day is thrown off. One morning I had a few bites of a cinnamon roll along with my toast, and I felt horrible all the way till lunch!

Speaking of feeling horrible, today I was/am sick with a medium-strength digestive thing that made me nauseous. This morning I felt awful. I made my usual breakfast, half-size, then sat there, staring at my toast and juice, trying to fend off horrible pregnancy PTSD. I've been sick a few times since my awful Amber pregnancy, but the fear/agony/hopelessness/terrible memories still haunt me every time I get queasy. I never ate the toast this morning. I ended up waiting till noon before braving solid foods. But all of this is a rumbling, rambling preamble for recipe-sharing time.

Back to the topic of BREAD: bread is the life of my kitchen. Most foods are better with bread. Before Jay was born, I asked my mom for a bread making lesson. I wanted to be able to make her good homey aromatic bread for myself! So she taught me, step by step, from her mom's classic recipe. I'm not sure where Grama got the recipe for this bread, but it is The Best. No question. Over the past 8 years, I have gotten pretty good at making it. I love making fresh hot bread and giving it to family and friends. For one thing, it's something that most people don't usually make very often, so it's special. I also happen to be very bad at non-bread baking, so bread is just about all I've got to offer. And nothing says love and friendship like a fresh hot loaf of bread! I even wrapped a hot loaf in tissue paper and put a bow on it for a friend's birthday gift a few years ago.

Friends have asked for this bread recipe over and over, so I wrote it up for our ward cookbook a while back. When people ask me for the recipe, I usually text them a picture of the recipe as it appears in the ward cookbook. But the format of the cookbook was not very user-friendly and it bugged me that the recipe was limited by space and page size. The most recent request for the bread recipe came from the sister missionaries, who feasted on fresh bread and soup at our house one night last week. So today I finally typed up the recipe with hopefully helpful details into a convenient, share-able Google Doc. (click the recipe title below to go to the Google Doc page)

Recycled bread photo from years past: check

I briefly considered doing a bread making post with step-by-step pictures, but this is so not a cooking blog, so the text with a few helpful tips is all I've got. I make a double batch of this bread at least once each week and freeze the extra loaves.

Everyday Bread

A beloved recipe from my mom and grandma. We live off of it!

2 cups warm water

⅓ cup sugar

2.5 teaspoons yeast

1.5 teaspoons salt

⅓ cup shortening or unflavored coconut oil

5 cups flour

Put all ingredients into the bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer.
*for wheat bread, I use half wheat flour and half white--the more wheat you use, the drier and denser the bread will be and the longer it will take to rise. If you do use all wheat, use a full tablespoon of yeast.
Attach the dough hook and mix on medium speed till the dough comes together. Add flour one tablespoon at a time if the dough is too sticky.
**if you don’t have a standing mixer, just mix the ingredients together by hand with a spoon till the dough comes together.
Once the dough comes together, mix/knead with the dough hook for 2-3 more minutes till it’s a nice soft ball. It shouldn’t be sticky enough to coat your hands, but you don’t want it too dry either--think a little moister than playdough.
**if you don’t have that magical mixer, dump the dough out and knead it by hand for 3-5 minutes till it’s a soft springy ball. That’s how my grandma made this exact recipe, so it is totally possible!
Cover with a cloth and let rise till doubled, about 45 minutes
Punch the dough down, cover, and let rise for another 45 minutes till it doubles again.
Divide the dough into two halves.
Flatten each ball of dough into a small rectangle (this pops air bubbles) and roll it into a log starting with the long side of the rectangle.
Pinch the seams so they stay closed.
Place the two loaves into greased/sprayed loaf pans and let rise till doubled, about 45 minutes. *I usually preheat the oven at this point so it’s hot when the loaves are ready.
Uncover the puffy loaves and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Remove loaves from pans immediately and cool.
It’s usually is best to wait at least 10 minutes before cutting the fresh hot bread, but sometimes you just can’t wait :)

NEXT UP: ROLLS

Since it's November, I have to share my other favorite bread-y recipe: rolls. We have had these every single Thanksgiving as far back as I can remember, and they are another simple, awesome recipe from my mom via her mom. So many memories with these beauties!

Our Favorite Thanksgiving Rolls

A yummy basic from my classy clever mother, who got it from her mother--Shaina White

In a bowl, mix together:

2 cups water
⅓ cup sugar
4.5 tsp yeast (equals 1 T plus 1.5 tsp, or two pouches of yeast)
2 tsp salt
3 cups flour
2 eggs
⅓ cup shortening or unflavored coconut oil

Beat it for 3 minutes with a whisk attachment in the standing mixer or beat by hand.
Then, add:

3 more cups flour

Use the dough hook to knead the dough till a soft ball forms. Or knead it with your hands. The dough should be sticky but not unmanageable--add flour if it’s too sticky.
Cover and let it sit/rise for 20-30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 4-6 pieces, or take about ¼ to ⅙ of it at a time.
Sprinkle flour onto the counter, roll the piece of dough into a circle,
and cut it like a pizza into triangles using a pizza cutter or a butter knife. -------->
Roll each triangle from the base to the pointy tip to make a crescent --------------> and place on a greased/sprayed pan. You can make these as small or as big as you want--mine are always very unevenly sized, haha.
Repeat with remaining dough, then cover the rolls on the pan and let them rise for at least 30 minutes (an hour is best), till they’re puffy. (preheat oven to 350 while rolls rise)
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Notes:

A half batch of this dough makes a nice 9x13 inch pan of cinnamon rolls.
For cinnamon rolls: roll half of this recipe dough into a rectangle, pour half a stick of melted butter on it, and sprinkle 1.5 cups of brown sugar on top. Shake cinnamon all over the top of the sugar, and carefully roll the rectangle up along the long side to make a long log. If it’s uneven, gently stretch the log till it’s all the same size. Cut into 12-ish pieces and place in a glass 9x13 pan. Cover and let rise for 45-ish minutes till puffy. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
Cinnamon rolls can be tricky--the ratio of sugar to butter and the thickness of the rolls when you cut them AND how puffy they get (how close they are together in the pan after rising) all affect the baking time. If the cinnamon rolls are really crowded in the pan, they may need a few more minutes of baking time. If they are not even touching each other, beware--the sugar and butter may all leak out to the bottom of the pan.
I am NO EXPERT at cinnamon rolls--I’m about 50/50 with successes and failures. This is just the basic recipe. {last time I made these, the cinnamon rolls were so packed in the pan after rising that the center of one of the rolls actually popped OUT of the pan and landed in the bottom of the oven, creating a juicy smoky puddle of burnt sugar to surprise me the next four times I turned on the oven before I finally cleaned it out.}