Just Baking

Is there nothing more fun than being able to replicate a recipe that your Mom made when you were growing up? Given that I now make bread on a weekly basis I wanted to get my Mom’s recipe for bread that she made for us when we were young. To date, all the bread I have made has been super tastay, but it hasn’t had the same consistency that I think of when I think “Homemade” bread Needless to say, I was super happy when my Mom brought over the recipe which consisted of:

1 cup milk
1 packet yeast
3 TBS butter
1 1/2 TBS salt
3 TBS sugar
3 Cups AP flour

There were two surprises…#1. that this recipe is very much in line with a “Traditional” bread recipe and #2. This was a ‘found’ recipe…not one passed down. I guess I was expecting a handmedown from ancestors past…but you know what…I LOVE this recipe and am super glad we now have it Kicking things off I melted the butter. I’ve had some issues in the past when melting butter then adding it to milk to fast…seems to coagulate *shrug* so I let it cool a bit then added it the milk. Into the microwave it all went for an annoying process of trying to get it to the proper temperature for the yeast. While that was in the ‘wave, I put the dry ingredients into the mixer and gave it a whirl! Then it was your standard “Wet into Dry” as I added the yeast to the milk/butter combo.

This was a little different from the way I usually do things. Normally, I let the yeast ‘melt’ in with the liquids, but this recipe said to put it in right away with the flour. Hey…gotta walk on the bread wild side every now and again!! Once everything was mixed…into a slightly oiled (in this case…a quicky spray of PAM) bowl it went to rise.

What came out was a BEAUTIFUL rise. I was so excited as I wasn’t sure how this whole dealio was gonna work without ‘proofing’ the yeast. Needless to say…it worked pretty damn well.

Into a couple loaf pans for the second rise which went just as well as the first then into a 375 degree oven for about 35-45 minutes.

What came out was spot on for the bread that I had when I was a youngster. The milk and butter (substituted for my usual water/oil) seemed to add some toothiness to the bread…almost like a chewy crunch on the inside and a bit more of a depth of flavor than my ‘usual’ white bread. This bread can be used to make all sorts of bread like cinnamon/raisin and cheddar. These loaves didn’t last long (I doubled the recipe for two loaves) in our house…my fav was making a PB+J sandwich and for a couple moments…I was 7 again

FINISHED!!!