Bread Making 101

In going with my promise of limiting prepackaged foods in our house, I decided to channel my Italian grandmother, roll up my sleeves and start "kneading".  Much like brownies last week, our house has been lousy with batches of bread the last number of days... And I mean that in the best way possible (except for one failed attempt at sourdough, created from my week-long experiment at culturing sourdough starter.  It tasted like a cross between malty-beer and chewy pumpernickel.  Total bust). 

My grandmother came to America when she was a teen, speaking no English, and knowing only a couple of relatives.  She eventually married my grandfather, a Navy seaman, and raised four children on a shoestring, all by herself, for nine months out of every year.  While she spent the vast majority of her life on American soil, she never lost her Italian accent or her passion from homemade, organic and delicious foods.  Grandma cooked "organic" before "organic" was trendy.  While grandma passed on a few years ago, she left me with memories of punching dough, cranking the handle of her pasta maker and picking grandiose zucchini squash from her gigantic backyard garden.  She and my brother picked a small branch from a fig tree near our house and with a whole lot of love, she grew it until it produced more figs than she knew what to do with. 

I distinctly remember her tuna boat (that's what we called her beast of a truck.  It was big, old, green, and actually sounded like a boat), coming to pick us up from school a couple of times a week.  She always brought fresh rolls of bread (this all began when she realized my hungry little brother stopped eating his lunch at school because he was so grossed out by other kids eating with their mouths open.  His hunger strike was met with such gratifying rewards :).  Her bread delivery was so fresh that we'd rip open the rolls and both steam and melted butter oozed out.  I wish she were still alive so that I could steal all her secrets... And so she could deliver her bread to me again.

I may not have all of her tricks of the trade, but I do share my grandma's passion for food.  In today's bustling society, we hardly have time to sit down to eat, much less make something from scratch, or smell the...bread.   Thanks to Clairey, I'm a born again foodie. 

Hello, Lover.

Claire's first lesson in bread making

In case you'd like to give bread making a shot, here is the recipe that I've been working with for Classic White Bread .  We also approve of the Cinnamon Raisin variation :)