What is better than good bread? Homemade, soft and yummy or toasted perfectly; slathered with honey cinnamon butter or your favorite jam. I was raised in an Italian household. My mom was 100% Italian. Her mom and dad came to the United States from a small village in southern Italy. I remember my grandmother, Nana (Americanized for Nonna, which is Grandma in Italian) making this incredible Easter bread. She would twist the dough to create a woven loaf, then tuck a raw, colored egg into the weave. After it baked to perfection and cooled, along came a drizzle of confectioner sugar glaze. It was both beautiful and delicious. And the aroma that wafted through the house. Yum! So why am I talking about Easter bread six days before Christmas? Because her Easter bread recipe is so delicious, that I use it to make delectable loaves all year long and especially at Christmas. This dough is also a great base for cinnamon rolls or cinnamon raisin bread or cinnamon pastries. I like cinnamon. Did I mention the honey cinnamon butter? Toast a slice, and watch the honey cinnamon butter melt into the crunchy slice and enjoy with a cup of piping hot cinnamon coffee that’s been topped with just enough cream that it will warm the cockles of your heart. Cinnamon coffee is very easy to make. Just add half of a cinnamon stick to the coffee pot prior to brewing and voila, cinnamon coffee. Like I said, I like cinnamon.
But back to the bread. The Bible is full of references to bread. In a search engine, type “bread in the Bible” and you’ll get countless results. Some new testament, some old. One of my favorites is found in the New Testament in Matthew, The Lord’s Prayer. This is the best! I have read this prayer; I have memorized this prayer; I have even sung this prayer:
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen
Matthew 6:9-13
It starts with “Our Father”. And who could ask for a better Father? One who knows me and loves me unconditionally! This prayer shows me how to honor and revere the Father; how to live on earth as I will someday live in Heaven. He gives me my daily bread, food and coffee! And He supplies all of my needs, according to His riches in Glory. He forgives me and asks me to forgive others. He helps me avoid temptations and protects me from the evil one, Satan. Because it is His kingdom, His power and His glory forever! Can I hear an AMEN!
Nana’s Christmas Bread
½ cup lukewarm water (110ᵒ)
2 packages dry yeast
½ cup raw sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup oil
½ cup lukewarm milk (110ᵒ)
4 ½ to 5 cups unbleached flour
Makes two loaves
Sprinkle the yeast over the water and gently stir. Let this rest for 3 or 4 minutes. Tan foam will form on the top of the liquid. This is perfect. In the meantime, add the sugar, salt, the beaten eggs, the oil and the milk to the mixing bowl. Begin to blend at a low speed. Add the yeast liquid and continue to mix, picking up a little speed. Once this is happily married, lower the speed and add the flour, one cup at a time. If the speed is too high, the flour will be on you instead of in the dough! Continue adding flour until the mixture looks like a sticky dough. Now you need to knead!
If you are using a mixer to knead, switch to the dough hook now. Turn the mixer on a lower to medium speed and let mixer knead until the dough is smooth and stretchy. Add a little flour, a quarter cup at a time, if the dough is still too sticky.
If you are kneading by hand, turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead, adding more flour as necessary, until the dough is smooth and stretchy.
Now the dough has to proof or rise. Take an oversized bowl or pot with a lid and cover the inside surface, including the lid, with oil or cooking spray. Plop the dough into the bowl, cover it and place it in a warm spot. Nana used to wrap the large dough pot in blankets to keep it warm. In 30 minutes to an hour, the dough will double in size. Oil your hands, as this can be a sticky situation, and punch the dough down back to its original size. Repeat in another 30 minutes to an hour.
Rolling the dough:
First prepare the loaf pans or if you don’t have loaf pans, use a cookie sheet. Oil or use cooking spray to well grease the loaf pans or cookie sheet. Or if you are using the cookie sheet, parchment paper is a good choice to avoid heavy clean up.
Using the loaf pans:
On a floured surface, divide the dough in half. Either form the halves into two smooth balls or using a rolling pin; turn each half into a thick, flat circle. Take the circle and roll it, jellyroll style. Place the smooth ball or the jellyroll and place it into a prepared loaf pan.
Using a cookie sheet:
On a floured surface, divide the dough in half. Either form the halves into two smooth balls. Place each smooth dough ball onto the prepared cookie sheet, not too close together and not too close to the edge.
Cover the two loaf pans or cookie sheet loosely with a smooth towel (one without fuzzies). Preheat the oven to 350ᵒ. In 15 to 30 minutes, the dough will double in size. Place the loaves into the oven, not too close together, but on the same shelf. Or place the cookie sheet into the oven. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. The top of the bread will be nicely browned. My oven likes 30 minutes, but keep a close eye as ovens vary.
Remove the bread from the loaf pans immediately onto a cooling rack or heat resistant surface. Place each loaf on its side to cool. This keeps the breads from sinking.
Or, carefully slide the round loaves onto a cooling rack or heat resistant surface.
Once the bread cools slightly, slice it, slather on the butter or honey cinnamon butter and YUM!
Priscilla
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