Bread making day

She was a wonderful cook. This particular bread recipe she made by feel. Since we loved it so much, she agreed to come over and let me record what she did. She would pour some salt in her hand then I would measure it before she sprinkled it in. She stirred and I measured what she added. It was quite fun, and we are so glad that we permanently recorded this wonderful recipe full of memories and love. She was also a fantastic piano player, kept an apparently endless supply of M&Ms that she distributed freely, and had a great swing on her porch that the Valine children regularly visited. The house she and her husband lived in was the house where she was born. What wonderful people! Here is the recipe:

Mrs. Wilson’s Cracked Wheat Bread

In a large mixing bowl, stir together:
1 stick of margarine or butter
2 tbsp. molasses
2 tbsp. salt
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 cups of boiling water
2 cups of cracked wheat flour.

Let the mixture soak for about ten minutes.
Meanwhile, mix three packages of yeast with a small amount of lukewarm water. Let set.

Add two cups of cool water to the top mixture.
Add the yeast.
Mix in enough white flour to make a dough. (My original notes say eighteen cups, but it has been years since I measured. Just add a cup at a time until it makes a nice dough. I like to use bread flour.)
Knead for about ten minutes. Cover and let rise until doubled.

Punch down and shape into one pound loaves. (I measure the dough with a cooking scale, 16 – 18 ozs. for an 8x4 bread pan. Use one and a half pounds of dough for a 9x5 pan. If you have no scale, just divide the dough into six loaves for the small size pans.)

Let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown and the loaf appears done. I often tip the loaf out of the pan into my hand to see that it has browned on the bottom. This recipe does not get a real hard crust so tapping it to see if it sounds hollow doesn’t really work. With our oven it usually doesn’t take the whole cooking time, but be careful not to undercook. It cooks much faster in dark pans than glass ones. Don’t let that scare you. Just keep checking. You will be able to tell when it is done.

Yield: 6-7 loaves. We often double this recipe and make 14 loaves. We slice them all after they have cooled, put them in freezer bags, and use them as needed. Makes excellent toast. People offer to pay us if we will just keep them supplied with this bread. We prefer to share it without cost.

—Posted by Tammy