Laowai

I’ve been making bread lately. A while back I made this big rustic loaf that you don’t need to knead. It took a long time but it turns out to be a really professional looking and tasting loaf. It’s quite crusty so it’s not great for kids. Then I had my Swiss bread making experience – Zopf. That was good bread too. The other day I ran across my Grandma Dice’s recipe for white bread and gave it a try. I think it turned out better than it ever did when I made it ages ago. I suspect I wasn’t kneading it enough before. So I tried it again this morning. I thought of Grandma Dice – her original recipe makes four loaves. She must have made so much bread for her big family. While I was kneading the bread Claire was sitting next to me in her high chair. She was happy for a while eating a baby biscuit but then she got whiney, so I started to sing How Much is That Doggy in Window just like Grandma would have.

Now my dough is rising on the window sil above the radiator. When the bread comes out of the oven I’ll rub the top with butter just like grandma does. Mmmm – then I’ll just have to resist eating a bunch of warm bread with butter and marmalade. 

Here’s a picture of Grandma’s kitchen with some rolls that have just come out of her oven. Jennifer took the picture.