I started making homemade bread in 1982 while working in the fire department. I found a recipe in Bon Appetite magazine that I made slight adjustments to such as going from all water to half water and half whole milk, and I reduced the sugar by about half to 2/3 the amount called for. Don't like bread to be too sweet unless I make cinnamon rolls! I also, when scalding the milk, would bring the milk to a boil and immediately lower the heat and continued to simmer the milk, stirring with a flat small egg turner to prevent the milk from sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pan, for as least three to five minutes longer. This, with the yeast being added dry to the flour, seemed to give the bread a sort of nutty taste. The firemen and others I worked with, and my family and friends, couldn't get enough of it! I mostly baked the bread in nice round loaves with lots of crust, which everyone was crazy for.

If you want a super pastry, when your dough rises the second time, save some of the dough to make what our family always called "dough gobs" because you started with a big of dough about 1 1/2 inch in diameter in size, smooth it out into a round ball pinching seams together, flatten it to about a half inch thick, and try it in about an inch or so of crisco oil until nicely browned. Excellent with a good pot of beans, or any meal! For a special treat, make a thick paste with powdered sugar and milk, and a few drops of maple extract. You can also mix some peanut butter to the glaze if you want. Or shake the dough gobs in granulated sugar while still warm. I never had a bad batch of bread, and I made 20-22 loaves of 1 1/2 pound each. Sometimes 10-12 firefighters would eat every bit of it fried!
I always enjoyed watching my mother, and my grandmother, make homemade bread. They never measured anything. They knew just how much was needed. They had a large pan about 2 1/2 feet in diameter and 10-12 inch's deep filled with flour. They would make a pit in the center of the flour and start adding everything to the pit, mixed up just what they needed without messing up the rest of the flour. That pan always had flour in it.

• Reply