GRANDMA MAKES BREAD ----- by Connie Aldrich
Grandma loves to make bread. She said it gave her "pleasure"!
When going into Grandma's house, the smell of homemade bread would
linger in the air. On the kitchen counter would be small loaves and
large loaves of buttery crusted bread.
How would Grandma make her bread? First she would take out her mixing
bowl and big spoon, and her measuring cup. Then she would remember her
recipe that called for yeast, warm water, sugar, salt and shortening.
Also there would be the kettle that she used to warm milk. Next she
would measure the flour into the sifter and the rest into the bowl.
Then she would mix the ingredients into a dough in a mixing bowl. To
blend everything just right, she would pour out the mixture onto the
counter and start kneading it and add more flour if she thought it was
needed.
One day, some of her grandchildren were there. She told them that she
knew of one thing that liked to be spanked... of course they didn't know
'who' that would be! Grandma told them that the bread dough liked to be
spanked and right away they all wanted to spank the bread! First
though, they had to wash their hands real good. The children did so
right away, and then they took turns spanking the dough and thought that
that was a lot of fun!
Grandma readied the bread for the oven by shaping the dough into loaves
or buns or coffee cake and then placing the dough into greased pans.
Then she covered them with a clean towel near a warm place to allow the
yeast to raise the dough up high until the bread felt light. Then into
the warm oven the loaves would go and bake and make the kitchen smell so
good! When the buzzer rang, Grandma would test the bread with her
finger and touch it with her hand. When the bread was done 'just
right', it would have to come out of the oven and be turned out of the
baking pans onto wire racks to cool.
How we always liked good real butter and honey or homemade jam on the
fresh warm bread! Some bread was made into cinnamon rolls, some into
buns, some into tea rings with frosting dribbled over, and some had
raisins or nuts in them and some were topped with peanut butter
frosting!
Grandma always looked happy when the bread was done. Grandma liked to
whistle and remember the many songs she knew when she was younger when
working inside of the house. She liked to talk to the bread and whistle
and sing Bible choruses. Grandma always made the best bread out of
'good stuff' and lots of love and care!