Sunday, March 17, 2013

IHSW Interruption

We interrupt IHSW to bring you this blog post.  I made bread!!!  I searched & searched & searched online for "the perfect old fashioned white bread recipe."  I found a bunch of them but one sort of called out to me.  I know someone is going to ask me what the recipe is so I will tell you ... it's Traditional White Bread Recipe (it has a 5 star rating) & you can find it here on Allrecipes.com.  It's a simple recipe I suppose. I did know that making bread takes a bit of muscle.  For whatever reason, my upper body strength has always been weak so mixing the dough was quite a feat as was the 8 minutes of kneading it ... but I survived, albeit with some soreness lingering today.  I substituted butter for lard (it was noted you could do that if you'd like) & likewise greased my bowl with butter rather than with oil during the rising process.

It rose beautifully!  And yes, that's more Peeps aging on the top of the counter back there   : )

I punched it down & put it in loaf pans for the second rising.  Once again I achieved success   : )
I was a bit hesitant about using these loaf pans but they're all I've got.  They are nonstick & things usually burn on the bottoms/sides when you cook them at the temperature suggested in a recipe.  I carefully put them into the oven & hoped for the best.  The smell of bread baking has got to be one of the best smells in the world   : ) When the baking time was up, I removed the loaves from the oven & turned them out on a wire rack to cool.  I brushed the tops with melted butter because I didn't want a crispy top crust.  
As you can see, they turned out rather nicely!  The bread tastes rather nice as well, but it's not the same as the bread my father used to bake   : (   I've mentioned before that he was a cook & baker while in the Merchant Marine during WWII.  He really enjoyed cooking & baking, & on Sundays he would make homemade bread, breadsticks, & rolls.  The taste, the smell, the texture ... everything about it was wonderful!  How sad that no one in the family ever got the recipe from him   : (   The entire time I was mixing & kneading & baking, I thought about how surprised & pleased dad would've been to see me doing that.  It's kind of a link to him.  I miss him so much.  

I won't make this bread recipe again.  Like I said, it's good, but it's not dad's.  If anyone has a really good old fashioned white bread recipe, please do share it with me.  I'd love to try it.

And now we resume IHSW   : )

17 comments:

cucki said...

I miss my dad too..
Yummy bread xx

Anne said...

Oooh! I love bread and yours looks amazing! Well done Shirlee!!

CalamityJr said...

I don't have her recipe, but my great grandmother was an awesome baker and the hint I've always remembered (and it even makes brown n serve taste nearly homemade!) is to sprinkle some salt on top of that melted butter after baking. Don't know why, but it's oh so delicious!

Pam in IL said...

Your bread looks scrumptious, but I know what you mean about the taste. I'm still looking for that great old fashioned recipe too. Maybe there is a recipe on King Arthur Flour's site.

Just curious -- does the melted butter really keep the crust soft?

Mii Stitch said...

Fresh bread is the nicest food in the world! Yours look so yummy! You've been actually baking it, which is more than I do: I stick all the ingredients in the bread maker & here it goes :D x

Claire said...

Mmmmmm yum!

Judy said...

Your bread looks soooooo good! I think it is hard to duplicate old reciepes because of the way our ingredients are made today. Hopefully someone will be able to help with a great reciepe for you.

Judy heartland stitcher

Trace4J said...

Afternoon friend
You were blessed to have a good dad.
Especially one who baked.
Your bread looks wonderful.
I make a very good apple pie but it will never be as good as my Grams was.
Woolie love and Sunday hugs
Trace

Vickie said...

Good job and good luck!

Carol said...

Oh, gorgeous loaves, Shirlee! Did I ever mention that homemade breakfast is my biggest weakness--even more so than chocolate?!

Dawn said...

Looks yummy, well be over say, 6:30 ish if that is ok with you? I'll bring the tea...:)

my daughter is making hone-wheat bread at the moment, she has to do it by hand, my bread machine died last week :( I wish I could help her buy my hand doesn't have the strength back yet.

Catherine said...

Oh my! That bread looks yummy! Wish I could smell it!!

Myra said...

I am not much of a bread baker but yours looks fabulous. I can almost smell it it looks so good. :o)

Crafts4others said...

I love fresh bread, and found a recipe for no knead bread that came out great. I want to expand to making herb bread.

marly said...

I agree. King Arthur flour is the best and their site has many good recipes. Why do they taste different when the ingredients are always the same? I've never figured that out. I always make honey oatmeal so I can't help you!

Chris said...

Wow! It looks amazing. So sorry it wasn't "the One." What great memories of your Dad.

dixiesamplar said...

Ooooh, that looks so yummy! I used to make bread all the time when we lived in Spain; not so much anymore...but, maybe I'll give it a go.