By Agnes York – Saskatoon, Sask.
Can you remember when bread baking day took place on a regular basis? For us, it was usually twice weekly in order to have reasonably fresh bread. There were no freezers back then. It seemed bread would dry out or even mold in a few days, no matter how it was stored.
Bread baking day meant more than just baking bread. Many extras were made with dough to add variety to the menu. One such extra was taking a small ball of bread dough and stretching it fairly flat, then frying it in about a quarter-inch of melted lard.
We sprinkled sugar on it, or had it with honey or whatever spread was desired. It often became a large part of the noon lunch, especially if there were other chores being done on the same day.
Another noon meal my mother made on bread baking day was bread dumplings.
Bacon and Dumplings
After the dough had risen once, the dumplings were made by taking a piece of dough about the size of a bun and rolling it between your hands into a rope, then shaping it into a knot. It was set aside to rise for about an hour.
Thick sliced bacon was placed in the bottom of a deep frying pan. It was covered with water and brought to a boil. The risen dumplings were then placed on top of the bacon. They were covered tightly and allowed to steam for 20 to 30 minutes without removing the lid, so the dumplings wouldn’t fall.
When we heard the sizzle of bacon browning, the lid was removed. At this point the bottom of the dumplings would also be browning. If desired, they could be flipped to brown the other side. These were eaten as is with the bacon, or with syrup. It was a very tasty dish.
Bread dough was also used for garlic buns. A mixture was made by finely chopping a quarter cup of garlic and combining with a quarter cup boiling water and a quarter cup melted butter and a dash of salt.
Garlic bread supreme!
Fresh baked buns were split and put in a bowl, and the mixture was drizzled over the buns. The buns were stirred or tossed until saturated. They were covered to let stand for a few minutes. These were served as a supper dish with soup or some pasta dish. This was garlic bread supreme!
What we kids enjoyed the most was zucker kuchen which is German for ‘sugar cake’. For this, bread dough was rolled to about a quarter-inch thick.
It was fitted into cake or pie pans of any size, with the dough slightly up the sides of the pan and set to rise a bit. This was then topped with thick cream, either sour or sweet, and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and baked until the edges were brown and the cream mixture bubbly.
The dough didn’t always rise evenly and there would be parts of the kuchen with dips where there was more filling. We always hoped for a piece from those spots, but in general it was all very good, especially when fresh from the oven!
