The "Granite" Bread Pan
As told by Vernetta Reed on April 14, 2013,
to her daughter, Susie,
who now is the proud owner of the bread pan and stand
and doesn't know what the heck she's going to do with it.
My earliest recollection of the "granite" bread pan was as a child standing on a chair beside my mother and watching her kneading bread. Momma made about 6 loaves of bread, because that's what her coal stove/oven would hold. She always complained about how hard it was to get the temperature right with that old oven. I remember coming home from school on bread making day and asking what there was to eat. Momma would offer me a slice of fresh baked bread. I'd say, "Isn't there something else?" Sometimes Momma would give me a carrot or even a piece of the garden potatoes that she might have been peeling. I liked the homegrown potatoes.
For $15, we bought an ancient high oven gas range that we hooked up in the basement. This is where I had to do my baking. Grandpa Reed lived with us there for about a year. We lived in that house for about 2 years. The lord really did bless us for my sacrifice because we were able to move into our next home with all the comforts I ever wished for.
When we moved to 2548 Morley Trail I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. I loved the stove there! It had TWO ovens, 4 burners, AND a grid in the middle. I loved that stove so much that when we moved to Willowbrook Drive in 1968, I took it with me and stored it in the basement for the 25 years that we lived there. In Morley Trail, I had, in addition to the fridge, an upright freezer in my kitchen. I also had my washer and dryer, and eventually, a dishwasher in that kitchen too.
When we moved to 2548 Morley Trail I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. I loved the stove there! It had TWO ovens, 4 burners, AND a grid in the middle. I loved that stove so much that when we moved to Willowbrook Drive in 1968, I took it with me and stored it in the basement for the 25 years that we lived there. In Morley Trail, I had, in addition to the fridge, an upright freezer in my kitchen. I also had my washer and dryer, and eventually, a dishwasher in that kitchen too.
Our little family was growing and it was here that I bought the long freezer, mostly for storing the homemade loaves of bread.
Grandpa Reed had been running a gas station in Saskatoon, then came back to live with us at Morley Trail until his death in 1966. He saw that I was kneading dough on a table that was too high for that purpose, so he and our neighbour, Mr. Lienweber built a little 18" square stand just the right height for kneading bread. The granite pan fit on it beautifully.
In 1968, we moved to our dream home at 623 Willowbrook Dr. The five children ranged in ages from 2 - 9. My breadmaking day had now evolved to a full day event. At the end of it, I would have produced about 90 loaves, countless scones, cinnamon buns, biscuits, breadsticks. If it could be made with bread dough, I made it! Here is the schedule of how a typical bread baking day went down:
The night before, I would empty all of the dry ingredients into the big bowl, including a 20 pound bag of white flour, 8 cups of wheat flour, 2 handfuls of salt, 1 cup of powdered milk, 1/3 cup of gluten, 3 Tbsp of dry yeast, a cup of oat bran, 2 cups of red river cereal, a cup of brown sugar, a half a cup of white sugar. On the bread baking day, I would rise at 4 a.m. I made a hole in the middle of the ingredients and pour a scant half pan of water, a pound of Crisco or oil, a cup of honey, and 3 Tbsp of molasses. I would beat this with my hand mixer in the center. Then I would mix it with a wooden spoon. Finally, I would finish it off by kneading with my hands and adding more water if needed.
I would go back to bed to let it rise, and when I got up to get the children off to school, we'd have scones for breakfast. Once they were gone, I would roll the dough into about 24 loaves of bread plus other baking treats, and set them on the counter to rise. In the same granite bread pan, I dumped another 20 pound bag of flour and began the process all over again. I did this THREE times on bread making day and was usually finished about 7 in the evening. I gave away loaves to our neighbours and friends. Going through our old letters and cards recently, my daughter came across one thank you note where a family appreciated the four loaves of bread I had dropped off. We pretty much filled the long freezer at the end of the day. I didn't wrap the bread before I put it in the freezer, but it seemed to disappear so fast, that it wasn't long until another bread baking day had to be scheduled.
As the children grew up and left home, the granite bowl went back into the food storage room while I made a mere 6-loaf batch of bread in my new Bosch mixer. This was eventually replaced over the years by several 1-2 loaf bread making machines.
I have periodically done demonstrations for stake and ward relief societies. I even did a fun demonstration a few months ago for our Willow Park Relief Society sisters using the old granite pan, the Bosch mixer, and my bread making machine. It was a huge hit and we all had lots of laughs. Everyone says my bread is wonderful, but to me it never seemed as delicious as the bread Momma used to make. I wish I had her recipe. I do know that she used potato water and that her yeast was from an "everlasting" batch that sat on the reservoir of our old coal stove.
In 1968, we moved to our dream home at 623 Willowbrook Dr. The five children ranged in ages from 2 - 9. My breadmaking day had now evolved to a full day event. At the end of it, I would have produced about 90 loaves, countless scones, cinnamon buns, biscuits, breadsticks. If it could be made with bread dough, I made it! Here is the schedule of how a typical bread baking day went down:
The night before, I would empty all of the dry ingredients into the big bowl, including a 20 pound bag of white flour, 8 cups of wheat flour, 2 handfuls of salt, 1 cup of powdered milk, 1/3 cup of gluten, 3 Tbsp of dry yeast, a cup of oat bran, 2 cups of red river cereal, a cup of brown sugar, a half a cup of white sugar. On the bread baking day, I would rise at 4 a.m. I made a hole in the middle of the ingredients and pour a scant half pan of water, a pound of Crisco or oil, a cup of honey, and 3 Tbsp of molasses. I would beat this with my hand mixer in the center. Then I would mix it with a wooden spoon. Finally, I would finish it off by kneading with my hands and adding more water if needed.
I would go back to bed to let it rise, and when I got up to get the children off to school, we'd have scones for breakfast. Once they were gone, I would roll the dough into about 24 loaves of bread plus other baking treats, and set them on the counter to rise. In the same granite bread pan, I dumped another 20 pound bag of flour and began the process all over again. I did this THREE times on bread making day and was usually finished about 7 in the evening. I gave away loaves to our neighbours and friends. Going through our old letters and cards recently, my daughter came across one thank you note where a family appreciated the four loaves of bread I had dropped off. We pretty much filled the long freezer at the end of the day. I didn't wrap the bread before I put it in the freezer, but it seemed to disappear so fast, that it wasn't long until another bread baking day had to be scheduled.
As the children grew up and left home, the granite bowl went back into the food storage room while I made a mere 6-loaf batch of bread in my new Bosch mixer. This was eventually replaced over the years by several 1-2 loaf bread making machines.
I have periodically done demonstrations for stake and ward relief societies. I even did a fun demonstration a few months ago for our Willow Park Relief Society sisters using the old granite pan, the Bosch mixer, and my bread making machine. It was a huge hit and we all had lots of laughs. Everyone says my bread is wonderful, but to me it never seemed as delicious as the bread Momma used to make. I wish I had her recipe. I do know that she used potato water and that her yeast was from an "everlasting" batch that sat on the reservoir of our old coal stove.
ah.... sweet history. what a story.
ReplyDeleteI love it that Vernetta attached all of that history to that bread pan. Wyona and I were wondering where the bread pan is that belonged to Wyora that looked the same. I will tell you my favourite line in her story. She she says that 1/4 of their net salary went to the church, and then they helped to support both sets of grandparents, and Audrey on a mission -- that is what has been on my mind as evidence of devotion backed up by cash: money to her parents, his parent, her sister and then their religious community. She was willing to do all of that and cook on a borrowed 2 burner hot plate until she could save up enough money for a stove. No wonder all of us looked at that woman with absolute awe.
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