She was going off to college. In those days we had to send her off at night because the airfare was much cheaper at night. A parent wants their child to have all possible opportunities. We wanted her to have a good education at a good college. She had her suitcase packed and all details pointed to a far place, a different environment, lonesomeness, new friends, new food, even different kinds of accents–between the South and the North. She carried a loaf of my homemade cracked wheat bread under her arm to give her a feeling of security. Pieces of it came off during the flight. “Oh it tasted good!” It was part of home and family and a loving envelopment. All through the night flight she pinched off pieces and enjoyed eating them.
That was many years ago. Now her two sons are going to college and I shall send them off with a loaf of cracked wheat bread. This bread is different: dark, heavy, and nutritious–cooked cracked wheat–and to the children, delicious. They ate it like cake.
When the boys were very young I read in their “Big Bird Book” about how to make cookies. So I made some–one stick of margarine, 1 cup of sugar, 2 eggs, 2 1⁄2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. There was not much difference in this recipe and almost any cookie recipe.
I added a teaspoon of lemon extract and formed them into a ball. Then I dipped a fork into ice water and pressed down on the ball. This gave an interesting design and texture. To top them off, I shook sprinkles on them. This routine became a constant way to make them without which they were not quite right. I loved making them. I watched them browning carefully so that when the ridges made by the fork were lightly brown, they were done and I removed them from the oven and laid them out on a cup towel to cool.
Then later I began to make sweet rolls. The boys were growing very big and tall and were hard to fill up. The recipe called for this: Put 3 cups of flour in the mixer. Add 1⁄2 cup sugar and 2 packages of yeast. Put 2 cups of milk in a pan, add 1 stick of margarine and heat. Insert a candy thermometer in milk and heat to 125-130i and remove from heat and stir into flour. Turn on mixer and beat for 5 – 10 minutes. This develops the gluten. Add 2 eggs while machine is running moderately, and about 4 cups of flour which had about 1 Tablespoon of salt. Sprinkle about 1 cup of flour on the pastry cloth and empty out the dough. Knead with floured hands for a while until it is easily handled. Then put in a greased tall pan and turn the dough over to grease it. Cover with a cloth and put up on the warm water heater to rise for 45minutes or until it doubles in bulk. Then punch it down and empty it out onto pastry cloth and cut it into 3 pieces. Put 2 pieces back into pan and cover and put the 3rd piece out on the pastry cloth and roll out to a rectangle. Smooth margarine over it, sprinkle brown sugar over it and sift cinnamon on top. Smooth with knife. Roll up and wet the last end with water by dipping your fingers in water and pasting it down and closing it up. With this roll, cutslices about 1″ wide and lay these on a greased cookie sheet; cover with cup towel, let rise 30 minutes. Put timer on for 20 minutes. When it rings, turn the oven to 400i to preheat for 10 minutes. Put rolls in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Watch carefully. It might take longer or shorter, according to your oven. Remove pan from oven and remove rolls from pan to a cooling rack or to cup towels laid out.
This brown bread, these cookies and these sweet rolls were good and different and had a warm glow to them. This glow is the love shining through.
Love,
Mooney