Nancy posted this recipe of a sweet white bread on her blog.
It was a recipe that had belonged to her grandmother. I love using recipes that have been passed down through the years. You know it has to be good if the next generation wants to make it.
After all this praise for old-time recipes, you might think that I would follow the recipe to a T. You would be wrong. I am firm believer that a recipe is merely a recommendation of how to cook something.
Thus, I took the liberty of swapping butter for the shortening because butter tastes better. I agree with Julie Powell of Julie & Julia when she says the following: “Is there anything better than butter? Think it over, any time you taste something that’s delicious beyond imagining and you say ‘what’s in this?’ the answer is always going to be butter. The day there is a meteorite rushing toward Earth and we have thirty days to live, I am going to spend it eating butter. Here is my final word on the subject, you can never have too much butter.”
The baking temperature listed didn’t seem right. Nancy even commented that the bread didn’t need to cook as long as instructed. I checked my favorite cookbook, Home made, and opted to go with its recommendation: 30 minutes at 375. It was right on the money.
Though the recipe stated that it yielded 4 loaves, both Nancy and I only made 3 loaves. Perhaps if you made mini loaves, then 4 could be yielded.
As anticipated, the bread was quite tasty. It was especially good toasted with jam smeared on top. Thanks Nancy!
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