By the handful......Grandma Wolf's homemade bread

I have written earlier on this blog about my Grandmother Wolf, the one that in her life time by feeding a family of 7 children and the hired hands that always helped with harvest, fed an entire army.

As she got older and she didn’t feel as good as she wanted and she would get an occasional vitamin B12 shot. That is when Dr’s did that sort of thing. It would help, and she would feel better…..for awhile.

Discussing it with Mother, and I’m sure the other Aunts and Uncles she decided she needed to start making her own bread again. “Bakers bread” just didn’t have what she needed as the quintessential source of the Vitamin B she obviously needed.

Grandma had made homemade bread all of my mother’s life, but she didn’t have a recipe. Something as common and everyday as bread was something you just……did. When asked about a recipe, Grandma would smile, and shrug her shoulders, she just made it. But when pressed, “HOW do you know Grandma?” She measured the flour and other dry ingredients by handfuls, liquids with a coffee cup, poured the salt into her hand………there was no written evidence of Grandma Wolfs homemade bread.

She began, once again, making her bread. Living by herself, she began giving that “extra loaf” away. Mother and I received a loaf every week. Warm and buttered it was…….beyond description……..and not even close to anything you could buy anywhere. This was back before the “artisan bread” craze and bread machines etc.

We relished it. Mother would freeze it, and get it out for company dinners and people would rave about the taste, the texture……..the memories it would conjure up for each and every one, of days when bread was the staff of life……….literally.

It was becoming obvious that a day of bread making, and “writing it down” was in someone’s future. I don’t remember exactly when it happened but I do know that Mother made a day when she went up to Grandma’s and as they made the bread, they took what was in the hand and the coffee cups, put it in measuring cups, writing it down and a recipe was born.

Mother then tried it, over and over; always saying “It isn’t as good as Mama’s”. I never saw or tasted any differences. It was good, always good. Full of texture, rich in flavor and melt in your mouth delicious.

My niece ask if I had the recipe the other day, and of all the things that SHOULD appear on this blog, this is one of them. Thank you DeLynne for reminding me of this, a staple of our family heritage.

Grandma Wolf’s Homemade Bread

1 pkg. of dry yeast
1/3 c. warm water
1 tsp. sugar
2 1/2 c. warm water
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/3 stick margarine
5 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour (for white bread use 6 c. white flour only)
1 c. wheat germ
Melted shorting for top

Mix water and sugar. Add yeast. Let stand 10 minutes. Add 2 ½ c. water, 1/3 c. sugar, salt and margarine. Mix well. Add white flour, wheat flour, and what germ. Mix and knead until springy, about 5 minutes. Brush top with shortening and let rise until double: work down and let rise again. Make into loaves, and let rise. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Makes 2 regular or 3 small loaves.