Last evening, we had Dan and his sweetheart over for supper. We had B-B-Q pork ribs and mashed potatoes and corn.
Then, I made this bread ... it was so old-timey and Southern. I made it like a white bread, but added 2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes and a cup of brown sugar and cinnamon. It was a yeast bread and not a quick bread, and I put raisins in it, too.
It made 2 large loaves of bread, and I made round loaves and put them in 2 round cast iron skillets to bake. One skillet was very big and high on the sides. This made a large loaf of bread. I cut this in half and sent a half loaf home with Dan. The halves would have been a whole loaf of bread.
I had to bake this bread for a long time, as it was so moist with all the sweet potatoes and raisins I put in, so I baked it until it was almost black. So it is moist on the inside and the crust is chewy.
I used the liquid off the canned sweet potatoes for my liquid in the bread. I started out with 2 cups of liquid and about 2 packages of yeast.
If you are making up your own recipe, then just remember that a cup of liquid will make one loaf of bread. So, if you have 2 cups of juice or milk you want to use, and you want to make bread, just start out with 2 cups of liquid if you want to end up with 2 loaves of bread. And I use about a tablespoon of yeast for each loaf. Then it takes about 3 or 4 cups of flour for each loaf.
Then, if you aren't adding fruit to your bread, then add more shortening or oil. But, if you are adding a lot of fruits or vegetables, then add less oil. Usually, you can figure that you wouldn't add more than a cup of fruit or potatoes to a loaf of bread. Now, I added 2 cups of sweet potatoes and a cup of raisins. But mine made about 3 loaves of bread, give or take.
And, usually, to a plain loaf of bread, I will add a couple eggs. But my bread I made last night had so much in it that it didn't need eggs, and (I think) I only added about 2 tablespoons of shortening. You need shortening to hold the bread together. But if you put in a lot of fruit and potatoes, then this is like a shortening, too.
But if ya put too much stuff in your bread, it won't ever get done in the middle. I had almost gone over this line with my bread last night. But, like I said, I baked it until it was almost black. Mine looks like an Old World bread, straight out of a brick oven.
But, ya know, the old time mothers never used a recipe. And they had what they had to bake and cook with. In the winter, like now, they would have been using their sweet potatoes to make bread and pies and cakes. They stored a lot of pumpkin and would be using this for baking. Sweet potatoes are easily stored in a cool place.
Last evening, Jim had to work until 7, and so we all had supper at 7:30. I made sure I had the coffee on and the burner lit. I made my table look like a little table in the woods. I took out the leaves in the table and made it small for just the 4 of us. I had my pumpkin candle lit.
I sliced the smaller loaf of bread and put it on a pioneer plate Papa got me. It is blue and white, and has a log cabin on it with a Mother coming out the back door, and the rest of the family in the front. It's one of my most treasured plates and straight out of Papa's heart. Oh, what a dear Papa he is. So rambuctious and carefree at 64 yrs old!
After supper, we all went into the living room to sit by the burner, and Papa had coffee. Papa and me entertained the kids with stories of long ago when doctors told both Jim and me, at different times, that we were gonna die. And we always just laughed. And these are old stories, and the kids remember them well. Story after story of God's interventions.
