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A Handful of Salt: Baking Bread With Mom

A Recipe Forged in Family, History, and Love

By A. GracePublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Photo credit: Aly Pictured It

This post is part of the Vocal Cooks Collaborate series. Click Here for an index of all the amazing recipes!

The latest recipes are Mariann Carroll's Egg Roll Shanghai Robot and Maria Calderoni's Where Pacifism and Terrorism Collide-- Find the Tastiest Soup In all the Land!

“It's just bread!” - Mom

She always says the same thing when I ask her for directions, but how could it be just bread? It's buttery, wholesome, and traditional. I’ve never had another quite like this dense, white loaf from a recipe passed down through three generations of women over the course of a hundred years.

It isn’t just bread to me. Not just yeast and flour and sugar. It’s so much more than the ingredients it's made from. It’s me and my mother. It's eating milk toast with her and my aunt while watching ER on cable. It's the look on my friend’s faces when I explain to them what milk toast is (hint: the name is pretty on the nose).

My grandpa liked to put his bread in a glass of milk, with onions, radishes, or grapes. I've never tried this particular iteration, preferring it the way my aunt taught me: lightly toasted bread dipped in a bowl of warm milk and butter. A comfort food I crave all winter long when the lights are sparkling and the sky is dreary.

Photo credit: Aly Pictured It

With every bite, I think of working beside my mom in my grandmother’s kitchen, with the low, winter sun filtering through the old window. She’s teaching me to knead the dough, rolling it over itself, pressing it against the counter, and digging into it with the heel of my hand. My sunflower dress is covered in flour.

My mom recently walked me through the steps again on speakerphone. I'm not an expert, and I wanted it to be just right. It's wasn't the same as baking shoulder to shoulder, but it was warmly nostalgic, nonetheless.

Photo credit: Aly Pictured It

I ask her how much salt to add to the yeast mixture and she says, “about a handful!”

A handful? What on Earth is a handful? Do I fill up my palm? Does it need to flow over my fingers? Eventually, after much wheedling, she relented and told me to use about an eighth of a cup. It works! And with that mystery solved, let's dive in!

Is my hand full? (photo credit: Aly Pictured It)

How to Make Three Large Loaves

Traditional recipes passed down through families are often about practice and "feel". That makes the process far less precise and prone to error, but it will also give you some leeway. The more you work the recipe, the more unique it will be to you. It's an opportunity to make something special.

Materials:

  • One or two medium, or large bowls
  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Hands if you're feeling adventurous
  • Patience or a small child who will get a sensory thrill out of squeezing punching dough.
Photo credit: Aly Pictured It

Ingredients:

  • Around six cups of lukewarm water
  • 3 Packs of Fleischman’s Original Yeast
  • Two handfuls of sugar, or two-eighths of a cup. (She has tiny hands, FYI!)
  • 5 pounds of flour, give or take
  • One handful of salt, or an eighth of a cup

Directions:

1.) Add the lukewarm water and sugar to three packages of yeast.

Remember, yeast is alive and you’ll want to use a kitchen thermometer to ensure your water is not too hot, or you can kill it. Keep your liquids between 100-110-degrees Fahrenheit.

2.) Let the yeast do its thing and it will foam vigorously.

3.) Mix in about four cups of flour and all of the salt.

Photo credit: Aly Pictured It

4.) Alternate between adding small amounts of flour and water until you run out of your five pounds of flour and your concoction “feels right”.

5.) When it starts feeling sticky, add flour to your counter and knead it until it's not sticky anymore. The kneading process should take between 10 and 15 minutes.

Pro Tip: Tape some parchment paper to the counter for easier cleanup! Make sure you sprinkle it thoroughly with flour so your dough doesn’t stick!

Photo credit: Aly Pictured It

6.) Put the dough in a bowl, cover it with a cloth, and let it rise until it doubles in size.

Pro tip: you can also use greased cellophane to cover the dough!

7.) Poke your figure into the dough, if it holds its shape or springs back slowly, it's ready to knead again for another 10 to 15 minutes.

8.) Let it rise until it doubles in size again.

Something I love about homemade recipes is how long it takes. This recipe will take about three hours, but for most of that time, you’ll be waiting. If that sounds boring to you, let me make my case:

While the bread rose the first time, I washed the dishes. When it rose for the second time, I caught up on a project at work.

When I was younger, my mom and I would spend that time doing something fun, like making candy or going for a walk. It feels good to be productive while you’re being productive, if you know what I mean!

9.) Butter your bread pans and fill three-quarters of each pan with dough. Be careful not to overload your pans; bread rises as it bakes.

10.) Let it rise in the pans until it doubles in size one last time.

11.) Bake for an hour at 350 degrees or until golden brown. To check thump or flick the loaf with a finger; it should sound hollow.

12.) Eat while warm with butter or jam!

Photo credit: Aly Pictured It

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About the Creator

A. Grace

I'm a writer, native to the Western U.S. I enjoy writing fiction and articles on a variety of topics. I'm also a photographer, dog mom, and nature enthusiast.

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