A letter my Grandma Alice gave to me on my wedding day. She was a character, and I miss her:
September, 1996
Dear Gretchen: I know you will want this recipe some day SOON when all the families come to visit, and we all enjoy a snack or two.
Of course you will have in your kitchen, a floor model of a Kitchen Aid Mixer and also a Proofing Oven. Now: Into the large bowl, you place about 10-14 T. of dry yeast, a few more or less does not matter much! Pour over yeast about 4-5 cups of warm water, or fairly hot, and half cup of sugar. This becomes bubbly and its called PROOFING. I do not know why. Meanwhile, mix together about 8 cups flour, half cup salt. Beat 10 eggs or you might as well use the entire dozen which came in a plastic container. Easy, huh? You did not need to go and find eggs in a hen house. Whip these eggs slightly. Melt about 2 cups of good margarine, the stick kind, or if you need to raise your cholesterol level considerably, use butter. This should be softened. Now that the liquid is PROOFED, with mixer at medium speed, add the eggs, butter, and dry ingredients. Start the darn thing going from medium to high. Now, your experience in baking will dictate how much more flour you add, maybe another 5 lbs., maybe 8, I am guessing, but keep adding flour till dough is sort of soft, yet firm enough to handle. When this white blob feels about right, place bowl in the PROOFING OVEN, which stands about 6 ft. tall in your efficient kitchen. You place a container of warm water in this monster, and again I do not know why! Eventually this dough will rise and rise and rise: mountains of it! Now comes the really fun part. Remove this dough with floured hands and place it on a very large kitchen counter. A table the size of a picnic table would be OK also. Flour your rolling pin, your hands, break off portions of dough, roll into a circle, and proceed to cut out rolls. Simple. You will have about 8 cookie sheets greased and ready to hold the delicate rolls. Then let stand someplace warm until rolls double in size, triple, or whatever you want. Heat the oven to about 400 degrees and pop the pans into said oven. Bake till the mess looks good to you.
The amount. Oh yes. It makes 12 dozen of 24 rolls. I think so, or maybe you should have used more milk, or water or something. I know, you should have added about 6 cups of boiled, then cooled, milk. Then it would have absorbed those 8 or 10 or 14 more cups of flour which you had standing around. Another HINT: Sometimes I’ve thought of adding a few spoons of vanilla. However, my problem is this. Vanilla is brown, and tho I certainly am not a racist, I do not want to have brown substance mixing with my white dough. That’s reasonable, isn’t it? Find some other white flavoring maybe. I have not baked these super rolls, but I have a friend who bakes in a busy Retreat or Seminar Center where guests PAY to dine. They claim to have enjoyed these, tho the Retreat is of a religious background, telling a lie is probably frowned upon. Maybe they are served with bowls of warm milk and one could use this to enhance (or soften) the rolls, sort of like MILK SOUP???
Isn’t this great? I know you will post this on your kitchen bulletin board to have ready for any special event. If you need any more recipes just call me; glad to help a struggling cook.
Much love,
Grandma
Grandma Alice holding her second-of-seven children, aka my dad. Check out the Kate Hepburn vibe. Loving the 1940s pantsuit.
That was priceless. You should frame it and hang it in a very prominent place in said kitchen. ;o)
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Oh, I agree with Dorci. Mind if I send a copy to my sister?
I LOVE that. And totally dig the pantsuit. She was spunky to dare to wear that during the 40’s, huh?
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She is beautiful and I can sense a family wit . . . what an extremely cool heirloom.
I love this. And I love that photo. Priceless.
Heth’s last blog post..Overdue
“Start the darn thing going from medium to high.” I love it! Love her humor~that’s one letter you won’t ever want to lose.
ann’s last blog post..Pblpblpbl…
That is fun.
So, have you ever made the darn things?!
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Clever. I love the photo, the clothes and the shoes. Looks a lot like your dad, and I see you there too.
Absolutely precious! I have a post card from my Grandmother that I hold as one of my most dearest possessions.
Steph
Awesome. She was a character all right! 😉
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Elizabeth nailed it. She is obviously what my Nannie would call “a character.”
So that recipe makes (12 dozen of 24 rolls) … almost 300 rolls, conservatively?
Kelly @ Love Well’s last blog post..7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 6)
Fantastic! I never knew it was called proofing, but I make that all the time for my gluten-free bread recipe. Who knew?
Did Alice bake at all? I love old photographs. We have one of my husband’s grandmother sitting on the bonnet of her then-boyfriend’s car in kind of a similar pose (no baby though).
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What fun! She indeed sounds like a character! I love this and that 40s photo.
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She is SO beautiful! Definitely digging the familial resemblance. And the comedic resemblance, for that matter.
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Oh my, that was fun! And that picture. I love old pictures. There is something magical about them.
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What a keeper!
You know, if reading a recipe was more like having a conversation with someone you know and love, her personality shining through the way your grandmother’s does in her letter-recipe to you, cooking would always be a pleasure; never a drudgery.
I LOVE this! “Bake till the mess looks good to you.” There’s some good wisdom there.
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Wonderful – definitely needs framed for your kitchen wall.
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Just wondering if you attempted to make the recipe. :0)
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This is so precious! It reminds me of a recipe my husbands grandmother wrote to me before we got married. It had her recipe for making lye soap. It had general ingredients much like the ones in your letter. I am going to dig that up and frame it. I hope you have your framed, or of course. You will have yours posted on your kitchen bulletin board. Lisa~
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