Grandma's Light Bread Recipe

In the previous post, I mentioned my grandmother's cookbook. But the following bread recipe isn't from it.

One of the delights of my childhood was going to Grandma’s house on Sunday and smelling her bread baking. She always called it "light bread." Eating it hot from the oven was even more delightful. She had both a wood cookstove and a gas stove in her kitchen. She used the wood stove for baking the bread and for most of her cooking. I rarely saw her use the gas stove.

She probably got her light bread recipe from her mother. And she probably made it many, many times for her three children, pictured below.

Grandma Ruble’s Light Bread

1 cake or package of yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon shortening (Crisco works well; original probably called for lard)

6 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1 pint lukewarm water

Dissolve 1 cake yeast and 1 Tbs. sugar in one pint lukewarm water. Add 1 Tbs. shortening (Crisco) and 3 cups plain flour. Beat until smooth. Then add 1 tsp. salt and 3 more cups of flour—or enough to make a dough that is easily handled.

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic–about 10 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl, cover, and set in a moderately warm place, free from drafts, until light (about 50 minutes).

Punch down dough and form into rolls. Place rolls in greased bread pans, cover, and let rise one hour. Bake 30 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven.

I liked the rolls from the corner of the pan—crust on two sides so it held up well for buttering.

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