A Lesson in Breadmaking

I’ve always liked potato bread. For some reason it’s a “guilty pleasure” for me. Probably because it’s not a coarse whole wheat or multi grain, which even sounds healthy, but more like eating Wonder bread…white, soft, and made from beached flour with very little nutritional value. When our friend Otti offered to teach us her recipe for potato bread, we wasted no time setting a date. 

We started the process yesterday morning with her story behind the recipe.  Years ago, shortly after the end of World War II, Otti (16-years old at the time) met an American soldier in Germany and came to the United States to be his wife.  They initially lived in his home state of Washington where he hoped to make a career of farming. One of his neighbors, known as “the Best Cook in the Grange,” made potato bread each week from an old family recipe. Whenever he was lucky enough to be at her home on baking day, he’d enjoy the bread and ask her to teach his new bride how to make it.  She was not known for sharing her recipes. However, one early morning around 6 a.m. Otti and her husband woke to the old woman’s knocking on their door. She said “Get up. We’re going to make potato bread.” Cute story, even more so to hear it from Otti with her thick German accent.

We didn’t begin making the bread until 8 a.m. and thanks to Otti, she’d already boiled and mashed the potatoes and prepared all of her bread-making paraphernalia. Step by step she took us through the process, showing us several of her home gadgets that she’d been using for the past 50+ years…a two-pan scale used to weigh her flour in metrics; an old Tupperware lid from a cake carrier that she uses to mix the ingredients; a bread slicer made in Germany; an old offset spatula for cake decorating that she uses to scrape her counter; and baking sheets she ordered from Chef’s Catalog. She loves Chef’s Catalog almost as much as she loves German-made products.

Otti proofed the yeast and then added it to a few cups of the flour, the warm potato mixture, and a small amount of shortening (original recipe called for lard). She let it rest just a bit until large bubbles began to form and then gradually added the balance of the 5 pound bag of unbleached flour.  Once it was mostly mixed together and too difficult to stir, she turned it out onto her floured countertop and began to knead. 

About ten minutes of kneading and it was ready to be oiled and placed back in the Tupperware lid and placed in her Electrolux oven, which has a warming temperature of 100 degrees. About 1-1/2 hours later the bread dough was ready to shape and bake. 

She took about half of it and made two bread loaves. The balance was made into hamburger buns and dinner rolls. In each case, about five minutes before the baking time was complete (which she didn’t actually “time”, but relied on her experienced eye), Otti removed the baking trays, brushed the bread and buns with an egg wash, and returned them to the oven for the final few minutes.

We’d come prepared with a pound of our grass-fed beef, which Verne grilled while the buns cooled a bit, and we sat down to the best hamburgers I’ve ever eaten.  From now on it’s homemade hamburger buns for us!

A Day with the Grandkids

The Rausch family came for their quarterly visit this past weekend. As typical, Verne and I spent an inordinate amount of time talking and planning their visit. Food always tops our list followed by entertainment. In this case, I left the entertainment to Verne as he’s masterful at planning a fun day for grandkids. Possibly, that's because he's never lost his inner child and he can still think like a five year old. It's a good quality and one that I love about him.

We started our day with scones and fresh fruit. The scones were the perfect delivery system for the berry jam we made last fall and the fruit was topped with Verne’s lemon curd. Logan and Matthew could hardly contain themselves, as they wanted to take a walk to “the Farm” and see the chickens. After breakfast, we all put on our hiking boots and did just that. The boys fed the chickens and collected the eggs, fed the barn cats, and threw alfalfa to the donkeys. Grandpa then enlisted the boys’ help in walking the creek to make sure it was flowing through the right culverts when it crosses our neighbor’s road. This involved crossing the creek a couple of times...lots of fun for little boys! From there, we continued our walk to one of the girls’ favorite spots on the property, Big Foot. Sadly, the big foot impressions have disappeared over the years. Where have they gone? Between the garden area and Big Foot we found an oak tree that is hollow on one side and took pictures of the boys inside the tree.  

From there we walked to the fence by the old homestead and pet our neighbors horses and back through the pasture, which was full of Canadian geese. What little boy can resist chasing geese and making them fly? We circled back to the barn. Grandpa backed out his 52 Chevy truck, the boys piled in next to him, and they took a little drive up to the road and back. 

A little more time was spent lecturing the chickens about the consequences of low egg production... No Eggs, No Food!...and back to the house. That’s what we call entertainment at the Farm. 

While the boys (and parents) napped, we began preparations for dinner. Lara requested one of our favorites, Memphis Meatloaf, which requires about three hours in the kitchen. We’ve been making Memphis Meatloaf about 15 years now. Verne found the recipe in the Southwest Magazine on one of his weekly flights to Southern California. According to the article on Dick Clark and his famous restaurant, the American Bandstand Diner, it was their all-time most requested recipe.

I took a lot of pictures this past weekend, but failed to photograph the Memphis Meatloaf. However, you know the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Guess I’ll just have to use the next thousand words to describe our dinner. Memphis Meatloaf is a stacked meal. It begins with a large scoop of mashed potatoes. I love potatoes with special effects (bits of carrots, caramelized onions, chives), but for this dish I keep it simple and add only butter and heavy cream and/or sour cream to the potatoes. The next layer is the true star of this recipe, meatloaf. The basic recipe is not significantly different from other meatloaf recipes except for the addition of barbeque sauce. Once the meatloaf is formed it’s topped with a few slices of bacon and baked. About five minutes before baking is complete the meatloaf is topped with a Southern glaze and returned to the oven for the glaze to set. The third layer is a generous ladle of brown gravy flavored with fresh rosemary and garlic. Next comes a medley of finely diced carrots, celery, and onions sautéed until fork-tender and slightly browned. The final layer is a nest of onion shavings, which have been battered and fried to a deep golden perfection. This colorful dish is a sight to behold. It’s rustic, yet elegant. It’s comfort food, while at the same time sufficiently complex to serve to your most sophisticated eaters. We finished the meal with Verne's rustic apple tarts topped with caramel sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was a perfect day and a perfect meal!