Kai Thomas Brinkley
Dennis and I are charmed by our wonderful new little first grandson, Kai Thomas Brinkley, born December 22, 2009 and weighing in at birth at 11 pounds. Here, he's modelling his Baby Gap Cowboy clothes. Since he's going to dress western for Easter, I will too. Everyone thinks they got a cute grandbaby, but Kai is already absorbing so much about the world every moment. He loves the paintings made by Dennis which hang on our walls, and he is fascinated by light fixtures, fans, ceiling glitter, shadows, reflections and the like. Based on that I'm wondering if he'd like to be an architect some day. For now, he's a cowboy.
This year I said I would make the rolls for Easter. Its a tough job, because my mother always made these tender delicious wheat cloverleaf rolls for Easter, but she passed away. I made a batch of bread today for the first time using her recipe. I'm coping well despite her death--- or was until today. All my life I could call her anytime. She had an instant answer to my questions.... Is hydrogen peroxide OK for gargling? Can you use a zipper foot for machine quilting? If you don't have baking powder can you use soda? How deep are jonquils planted? When giving myself a perm, when do I know that its done?
This time, she wasn't there for me. Her recipe is in a cookbook, and she has sold hundreds of copies of our family recipes, always donating the proceeds to Relay for Life. She raised and donated hundreds of dollars, one cookbook at a time. I melt when I see her post-it notes. Her handwriting is like a message to me from heaven. Dennis says she must have been playing a little joke on the world, because there in her cookbook... our only clue to continuing the Easter bread tradition, in the list of ingredients was "1 egg." No place in the recipe was any instruction for what to do with it. My first thought was that it should say to brown the rolls, then brush the egg whites on and burnish them so they'd be glossy. Without checking, on a whim, I just decided to add the egg to the dough. I don't know if that is right but the bread was good. It wasn't as good as her bread though. I followed up, by using one egg, whites only, to gloss the bread when it came out of the oven.
I suppose holidays are hard for anyone who lost a loved one. She's not at the table. Her bread isn't there. She's not seeing this darling boy in his cute outfit. And she'll never be there again. Never. We're left to make our own traditions to fill in the empty spots that she leaves behind. And we have to do that, else we'll feel sorry for ourselves and miss out on the joys we are blessed to have around us. Joys such as darlin' lil cowboys-- Grandma Fluffy has to love him twice as much now.
Nana's Basic Wheat Bread
As Adapted by Kathy
1/2 c. Water at 110 degrees farenheit
1 Packet of Activated Super Fast Acting Dry Yeast
1/2 c. of hot water (hotter)
1/2 stick butter
2 T molasses
1 T. salt
1 lg. egg
2 c. Bread Flour (Nana used enriched)
1/2 c. wheat flour (I use stone ground Oklahoma Organic)
Tablespoon or so of Wheat Gluten (my add, not hers)
Dissolve yeast in the warm water and set it aside. Combine hot water, butter, molasses and salt. You can microwave this if the the butter doesn't melt well. To this add 1 c. of white flour, and the wheat flour, stirring after each. Add the yeast mix, then remaining flour. Mix in. Let it rest. Nana would knead for ten minutes, but I did this step with the mixter and didn't even have a dough hook. Just watch and you're finished when it becomes smoothe and shiny. Nana says to let this rise until it doubles in bulk and then form a loave or rolls and let it rise again until it doubles in bulk. However, as soon as it turned viscous and smooth, I cut off plum-sized balls and dropped them onto a cornmeal-sprinkled cookie sheet to rise till double in bulk. Nana says to bake at 350 degrees farenheit for about a half hour. I'll add this tip: I like to preheat my oven with a roasting pan full of water in there, so it is very humid when I add the bread. You must watch to prevent steam burns every time you open the door if using this much humidity. The humidity in the room also helps the bread to rise higher because the protein cloak on the outside of bread is elastic and stretchy as the air allows it to be.
Also, I do crack an egg into a ramekin, taking care not to break the yolk. With a pastry brush, coat the top of each browned roll or loaf with a thin brush of egg white. Too little, and there won't be a nice shiny glow. Too much, and the whites will soak in making the crust somewhat tough. If you do this just as you take it out of the oven before cooling, there isn't any particular need to stick it back in the oven because the heat will absorb and cook the egg whites.
Let these rolls cool before taking them up, if you plan to freeze them or serve them later. (It never hurts to eat them hot right off of the pan though. ; )
