I didn’t make cornbread yesterday or garlic bread but I did make my grandmothers Sandwich Bread. I make a lot of homemade bread and there is a big difference between a french loaf and a sandwich loaf, trust me, Ed didn’t think that was the case. When i was growing up my grandmother lived about 15 minutes from us down a windy dirt road and when we got to the final turn and went up the hill there was her house at the top. It was always a thrill for me to see that “hill”, because we were so close. She gave birth to 13 children, so add 13 children their spouses and their children and imagine the number there. We all gathered at her house on Christmas EVE. It was and still kind of is my most favorite day of the year. Christmas eve was loud, hot, and messy. I remember the kitchen always being like a war zone; a yummy one. There was a woodstove in the kitchen and it was always cranking out so much heat; add that to the 50 people packed in this smallish home you were boiling. There were christmas presents EVERYWHERE and after opening time there was a sea of wrapping paper scattered around. But my biggest memory was her chest freezer. We all piled our coats on this giant chest freezer in the back room, that freezer is my most favorite christmas eve memory. It was FILLED food she would give away at chrismas but mostly it was filled with bread. I remember well her banana bread but everyone else remembers her sandwich bread I didn’t know this until this year or maybe i just didn’t remember it but she would give each of her children a loaf of sandwich bread for christmas. We now gather at my dads for xmas and while it’s not as loud, hot or messy as christmas eve used to be it’s christmas eve and i love it. Last year I made some sandwich bread and brought it over. I only had a few loaves and last minute decided to send some home with some folks but I had to cut the loaves in half. This past christmas 2023 I made around 9 loaves so everyone got their own loaf and then some. It was then my cousin told me or reminded me that my grandmother used to give a loaf of bread to everyone for christmas and I about cried. I love hearing form people when I do things like my relatives. My cousin asked if it was my grandmothers recipe? To be honest; it wasn’t. HOWEVER I went home that night looked up my grandmothers recipe and turns out that the recipe I was using was the exact same one so YES it was my grandmothers recipe. I will be carrying on that tradition from now on.. anyway making bread seams daunting but it truly truly is quite easy you just need some time to give to it and maybe a mixer if you don’t want to knead for 10 minutes. So if your home all day give it a try
Grandmas sandwich bread
she called it “The Best Sandwich Bread”
- 5-6 cups of flour
- 3 TBSP sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 yeast package or 2/1/4 tsp
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup butter melted
Here’s how I did it yesterday
I put 2 cups of very very warm water in a measuring cup and poured in the sugar and mixed. then added the yeast mixed and let it sit for 3-5 minutes to foam up. I then turned on the bread proofing in my oven NEXT
I put 5 cups of flour in my stand mixer with the paddle attachment I added the melted butter and salt and turned the mixer on low for a minute making sure all flour was turning about. I took paddle of and ran it down the sides and bottom.
I then poured the water mixture into the flour and let it mix up with the paddle until it came together a sticky blob. I then switched to the dough hook and let it go for about 5 minutes or until… to quote my grandmothers recipe “it’s as smooth as a babies ass”
I just leave it in the mixing bowl as it should all be together and the bowl “clean”, cover with saran wrap and let rise to double in size about 1.5 hrs if in warm spot maybe 2 if room temp. after it has doubled take the dough out cut in half, I do use a scale to measure but you can eyeball it. then knead a couple times pull the edges to the bottom to make the dough a taught ball and put in a bread pan. cover both pans and let rise again for another 30-40 mintues. it doesnt have to double in size this time just until it looks like a cute little puff ball. while it rises heat oven to 375 and bake for 30 minutes. when its a beautiful golden brown take it out and put it on a cooling rack.
Chicken quesadilla
Quesadillas are quick, easy and sooo soo good. you can cook some chicken breast and break it up with a fork or…what I do most times is buy a rotisserie chicken at the store and use that it’s genius and very good chicken.
- pkg of tortilla wraps
- shredded cheese ( i shred my own from a big block it’s so much better) but you can use bagged
- can of black beans
- can of green chiles
- salt and pepper
- cumin
- salsa
- sour cream
- butter
- shredded chicken
- some type of skillet to crips the wraps
open the black beans and rinse them well and put in sauce pan with 1/2 cup water or chicken stock and the green chiles. 2 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp garlic powder, salt and pepper bring to boil and simmer for about 15 minutes. stir occasionaly i like to mash my beans a bit but you cna use them as is if you wish. have ready the beans , the shredded chicken, and the cheese
throw a pat of butter in skillet and put in a wrap. add cheese then chicken then beans then a little more cheese then another wrap after first side of wrap is browned flip and brown the other side you can add more butter if before you flip if you wish but it will toast a little without.
i cut them in 4’s and serve with salsa and sour cream. you could do avocado too. yum.
