Monthly Archives: November 2020

Because you asked . . .

Smaller Size Bread Recipe

¾ cup dry milk powder

2 ½ cups hot water (1 lb., 4 oz.) 

½ cup sugar

4 teaspoons salt

¾ cup warm water (6 oz.)

2 teaspoons sugar

2 heaping tablespoons dry instant yeast

½ cup Crisco®

Scant 7 cups King Arthurs Bread Flour® (2 lbs.  6 oz.)

Mix hot water, dry milk powder, salt and sugar together in Kitchen Aid mixing bowl using wire whisk attachment.

Dissolve yeast in warm water, sprinkle 2 teaspoons sugar over mixture and let rise.

Melt Crisco® in microwave just until melted (it shouldn’t be HOT).

Add about half of the bread flour to the first mixture and mix well.

Add yeast mixture and mix well.

Add melted Crisco® and mix well.

Change wire whisk attachment to dough hook.  Add the rest of the flour.  Turn speed to either 1 or 2 and allow the dough hook to do its work.  The dough will become smooth and elastic.  This can take several (maybe 5 or more) minutes.  Take the dough hook out, smooth the top of the dough and grease with Crisco®.  Cover and put into a warm place. Allow to rise until it looks double in size.  Punch down and divide into three loaves (1 lb. 7 oz. to 1 lb. 9 oz. each).  Punch, smack on the counter, and slap each loaf until you do not hear any more “whistles” of air coming out.  Shape into loaf, grease top with Crisco® and put into pan (8”X4”).  (Then I take a fork and jab the dough at about one-inch intervals all up and down the loaves to get rid of air bubbles.  People say it isn’t necessary, but I’ve been doing it for 40 years and I think it is!!!)

(This is a good time to start your oven preheating to 450°.)  Cover the loaves and let rise again in a warm place until about double in size.  (A good way to check is to gently touch the edge of the dough and if your finger leaves an imprint that does not spring out, it is very ready to go into the oven.)  Put the three loaves into the oven, allowing space between them for even heating and immediately turn the oven back to 400°.  Bake for 9 minutes.  Without opening oven door, turn the temperature down to 350° for 15 more minutes.  Take out of oven, remove from pan, put onto a cooling rack.  Butter tops to have a softer, shinier crust. Allow to cool.  Put into a heavy-weight plastic bag that is a good fit.  Can be frozen.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me @ 302-422-5952 (home) or 302-382-0418 (Cell).
~Mary Ann Yutzy

They came pouring into the kitchen, hungry for home cooked food, and I looked at this motley group of young, sophisticated, and brainy young people and wondered what made them tick.

Mostly strangers to me, I listened intently to the spirited exchanges and thought about their life stories. What made them tick? What was in their hearts? I was standing at the counter by the fridge, working on cinnamon rolls when I became aware that there was a handsome young man standing at my right elbow, watching me.

“So,” he said said suddenly. “What would you say is your favorite hymn?” He caught me flatfooted, off guard. H-m-m-m-m. Why would this worldly wise, cynical millennium want to know a thing like that??? Trick question? Honest seeker? I would have been much more prepared for a cooking question. I looked into his face for a clue. It was emotionless. Calm.

My favorite hymn. For me it was a no brainer. I have a lot of hymns that I love, many that speak to me in the depths of my heart in times of grief, times of despair, times of rejoicing, times of praise. But there is one . . .

I turned my eyes away, and gave him the scoop. “My favorite song,” I almost whisper, “is a very common song. It’s old and it may seem common place. The song is ‘Tell Me The Old, Old Story,’ but the thing that captivates me most about that song is the last verse.”

“Tell me the old, old Story when you have cause to fear
That this world’s empty glory is costing me too dear.
Yes! And when That World’s Glory
Is dawning on my soul
Tell me the old, old Story-
“Christ Jesus makes thee whole.”

He turned abruptly and walked away without comment, without acknowledgement. I went back to my morning tasks but my heart was pondering so many things. Then this morning, in our Monday Morning Family Zoom Meet, we were talking about favorite songs, and this story came back to me with the words of that last verse impacting me somewhere significant and deep.

“This world’s empty glory.”

What is that? How does it cost me? How would it show, if it were “costing me too dear?” Would I know? Would you know? And if you did, would you tell me? And if you told me, would I hear you?

“Oh, Lord Jesus, let your eyes look me through. May there be a clarity to my thinking, a trust in your ability to hold me steady, and whatever else may happen, let your Glory dawn on my soul with peace. Any other glory will not carry me through. The gaudiness and the glitter may distract me now, but I know from experience will turn to sawdust around me, and I can almost taste the emptiness in my mouth. It isn’t worth it.”

It just isn’t worth it!

https://youtu.be/XqSIMQaeAds