Homemade Bread

I can smell it now the warm comforting smell of Moms homemade bread wafting through the house. Still to this day it brings back many warm memories. We were lucky enough to have a Mom that knew how to make bread; even though there may have been times when it didn’t turn out just right. Oh I remember rushing through the door after school, sometimes you could smell it even before you hit the house. All of us girls (there were 5 of us) rushing to get the first slice, The heal we used to call it many Newfoundlanders have another term for it. Momma be fighting with us saying it had to cool before you cut it. But she always gave in and gave us just a taste before supper. Oh the butter and Molasses dripping down our chins. You didn’t even care if every now and then you got a little dry piece of flour or a little lump. Oh the good memories! I’ll Cherish them for sure.

Here’s a recipe for traditional Newfoundland white bread

Ingredients:

• 2 packages yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 cups scalded milk
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 12 cups sifted flour

Directions:

Add the yeast to 1 cup of lukewarm water in which 2 teaspoons sugar have been dissolved. Let stand covered with plastic in a warm place for 10 minutes,

Scald milk; (see note) add water, salt, sugar and butter to it; cool to lukewarm. Stir dissolved yeast and add it to the lukewarm milk mixture. Then add half of the flour and beat until smooth. Gradually add remaining flour, blending in last of it with your hand.

Knead dough for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl; grease top of the dough; cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 1/2 hours).

Punch down the dough, form in 4 balls and let rest for 15 minutes. Then shape into loaves; place in greased pans and let rise until doubled (about 1 hour). Bake at 400 F. for 35 to 40 minutes.

Enjoy

Notes:

Scalded milk helps make breads, cakes, and other baked goods both light and fluffy. The process of scalding kills off the protein that’s in milk, which helps the gluten to remain unbroken, and it aids the dissolving process of sugar and yeast, which in turn makes fluffier breads and sweets.

Method:

Pour milk into a saucepan on the stove. Measuring your milk beforehand helps ensure you don’t waste milk by using too much, or end up with too little for your recipe. As a bonus, it makes it easier to just pour the milk in with your other ingredients without having to use another measuring cup after it has been scalded.

A heavy-bottom pan is best for scalding milk because it will help it heat more evenly.

Whole, skim, or powdered milk works best for scalding.

Turn the heat to medium-low. This temperature will keep your milk from heating too quickly, which in turn prevents it from burning. You want the milk heated through but you don’t want it to actually boil or stick to the bottom of the pan. Watch your milk during the entire heating and scalding process. It should only take 4-5 minutes to scald.

Stir frequently until you see bubbles appearing at the edge. Stirring helps prevent a protein film from developing on the surface of the milk, which would be unusable in a baking recipe. It also helps to disperse the heat evenly. You can use either a wooden or silicone spoon to stir the milk. Don’t use anything with metal in it as that can react with the milk proteins.

Remove from heat as soon as you see it bubble. You will see small bubbles appear across the entire body of milk, but you don’t want to let those little bubbles progress to a roiling boil.

Make sure to place the pan onto a heat resistant surface. You can move it to another part of the stove, or put it onto a hot pad or trivet on the counter.

Let the temperature cool down to about 105 °F (41 °C). Putting freshly scalded milk in with your other ingredients could kill off yeast or actually cook eggs, which would drastically change the outcome of your baked good. It will take 5-10 minutes for the milk to cool down sufficiently.

Use that time to continue prepping the rest of the ingredients in your recipe. Use your candy thermometer to check the temperature of the milk. Just put it in the milk, making sure it doesn’t touch the bottom or the sides, and wait about 15 seconds, or until the gauge stops moving.

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