Grandma C’s Farm Bread
Submitted by: Mary (Crawford) Duck / Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
Who passed this recipe down to you? My Mom - aka Grandma C - Jean Crawford, who got it from her mom, Ola Brumwell
Recipe origin: Canada
How old is this recipe? More than 105 years old - first made by my Grandmother, Ola Brumwell in 1918, but was made by her new husband long before that.
The story behind the recipe:
Farm Bread Recipe passed down from Alexander MacKenzie Brumwell to his wife, Ola Muriel (Mulligan) Brumwell, circa 1918, then to their daughter Jean (Brumwell) Crawford circa 1931, then to the Crawford Children – Gordon, Mary, Cathy, John – circa 1970, and finally to the Crawford grandchildren – Jason, Jennifer, Geoff, Stephen, Michael, Justin, Katherine, and Claire circa 2000.
This recipe dates back to my maternal grandfather, Alexander Mackenzie Brumwell. He homesteaded originally in Loverna, Saskatchewan as a dry land farmer. On December 27, 1917, he married my twenty-three year old grandmother, Ola Muriel Mulligan; she was born in Omemee, and grew up in Peterborough, Ontario. She arrived at his Loverna homestead shack not knowing how to cook or even what to do as a farmer's wife. He and a neighbour woman taught her many things about surviving on a fairly isolated homestead, including how to make this bread. Alex and Ola struggled through several drought-induced crop failures on their dry land farm and then in 1920 took advantage of the federal Canada Land Project and moved to irrigated land in Vauxhall, Alberta. This farm became very successful and employed many workers. Ola used to make this bread recipe every morning to feed the family and the hired help. They lived there and farmed until moving to Victoria in 1944.
The recipe was passed from Alex, to Ola, to my mom, Jean (Brumwell) Crawford, to her children (I am one of four Crawford children) and her grandchildren. Fresh bread and especially cinnamon buns were always waiting whenever the adult Crawford kids came home from summer jobs or university or travels. At one point we cornered our mom, Jean, in the kitchen, as she made the bread - recipe in her head - and we insisted she write it down. So, the attached recipe is hers, with her sense of humour in there. The original recipe used all white flour, but as whole wheat flour became more popular, and in the interest of better health, our mom, Jean, used half whole wheat flour and half white flour. However, you will note, her recipe just calls for ‘flour’ so the possibilities are endless.
Ingredients:
Part 1:
2 Tbsp. fast rising yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp. sugar
A sprinkle of flour – about ½ cup
Part 2: (See instructions below before moving to this step)
4 – 6 lbs of flour (about 7 – 10 cups flour – start with about 6 cups and work up to the right amount – you know what I mean!)
4 cups warm water
1 Tbsp. salt
3 Tbsp. oil
Part 3: (For the cinnamon bun variation - see instructions below)
Butter
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
You can also add nuts, raisins, craisins, or even candied fruit at Christmas time.
How to make it:
Grandma C’s Bread Recipe …as sent to each of her four adult children as they left home, which should explain the very ‘specific’ directions and the humour sprinkled throughout:
Into a large cold pan – aren’t all pans cold? – put 1 cup very hot water from the tap. This warms the pan to about the right temperature – (1 cup hot water plus 1 cold pan = 1 cup warm water in 1 warm pan!) You stir in the sugar and flour, and sprinkle the yeast on top, then your stir it all around and find it is all just warm! (see note above about hot + cold = warm – from Crawford’s (Grandma C’s) laws proven by experience). Yeast is happy to do its thing when everything is cozy warm, - not cool – not hot – get it?
When yeast, salt, water and flour become all bubbly, add: 4 – 6 lbs of flour (I don’t know, I think it is about 7 – 10 cups flour – start with about 6 cups and work up to the right amount – you know what I mean!!) Then add: 4 cups warm water, 1 Tbsp. salt, 3 Tbsp. oil. Stir all this together, adding flour until you can’t stir any more – then dump the whole thing out on a floured surface and knead, knead, knead, adding flour as kneaded (needed) (half a joke). Then, when it feels smooth and velvety and doesn’t stick to you or anyone or anything, roll into a ball and grease with oil and put in a greased container that is more tall than wide – a 1 gallon ice cream pail is perfect.
Let rise in warm place ‘til double in size – then shape into loaves and put in greased pans or make cinnamon buns (see below). Let rise again. The size of loaves I make take about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
When done I lightly grease the crust with butter and turn them out – right side up on a rack – otherwise they steam and get soggy. When cool – cold, bag and freeze, or eat with jam and butter or give away to a friend. Have fun!
To make cinnamon buns, take some of the dough and roll out into a large rectangle (about cookie sheet size) not too thin, though! Spread with softened butter, then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon – more is better than less. Roll up, jelly roll fashion, pinching edges together. Cut into about 1-inch-wide slices with a string – remember??, and place in a pan, cut side down, (either side will do) just barely touching each other, …allowing room to rise, and then they will be touching – get it? Let rise, bake as above, although the time might be less, and enjoy!!
With love from Grandma C.
