Missing Grandma and Bread!

So, I will admit something. I love bread. I love everything about it. My favorite thing about going to my Grandma's house was that she always had homemade bread. Not just one slice. As many as you could eat. I always intended to keep up the tradition of making homemade bread. It just didn't happen. I have a baby who is fussy regularly and a little boy who is fully entrenched in the terrible two's. This means that I mostly buy bread. But earlier this week, I made bread. And cinnamon rolls. Hallelujah for carbs! But what I found was that it was the most relaxing couple of hours I have spent in a long time.

I don't have a stand mixer and my hand mixer just wasn't sturdy enough. So this was all done in a big bowl with the best mixer in the world; my hands. It was fun. My little boy was super excited because "Mom was getting messy!" The best part about it was that I felt like I was with my Grandma again. I have to admit that I have a minor case of hero worship when it comes to her. She was my paternal grandmother and most of the time I was growing up, they lived on a farm. It was the best thing in the world to go and visit. That woman could cook! She was the hardest working woman I know.

Back to the bread. The recipe makes four loaves of regular sized bread. Poor me, I only have two bread pans! So I made cinnamon rolls with the rest of the dough. I didn't really have a recipe, so I had to call my mom on how to make the frosting. I still didn't measure, but it was super yummy, so I will take it. But here is the best recipe in the world for bread from the best woman in the world.

Grandma's Bread

4 cups warm water
8 Tbsp sugar or honey
8 cups flour
4 tsp. slat
4 Tbsp. shortening/butter, cut into cubes
4 heaping Tbsp. yeast

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup of warm water (in addition to the 4 cups the recipe calls for). Mix all ingredients and knead to form a soft dough. You will probably need more than the 8 cups flour. I did! Keep adding flour a little at a time until it is no longer totally sticky, but still very very soft. Let the dough rise two times. Mold into loaves and place in bread pans. let rise about 30 minutes and bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown.

I hope you enjoy Grandma's bread as much as I do. I'm making more tomorrow and can't wait for a couple more hours of memories!

Grandma and my cute baby boy!