The most enchanting of all aromas has to be that of yeast bread baking in the oven. Some experts say that food fragrances linger in memory more strongly than tastes. Think of when your nose gets a whiff of something and you think – ooohhhh… that smells like my grandma’s cooking. It’s happened to me a million times. I can still hear my girls’ footsteps when they were young, rushing down the stairs quickly because they smelled something baking. I can see their bright-eyed little faces asking me what I am making for them. My girls have lots and lots of food fragrance memories!
If you love old-fashioned cooking and baking, you will never be disappointed in a Farm Journal cookbook. There are many, but this one from 1969 is one of my all time favorites. You will find the familiar fluffy white dinner rolls, rye breads, biscuits, whole wheat, coffee cakes, and quick breads. There are also recipes for ethnic breads such as Austrian Gugelhupf, Norwegian Jule Kage, Glazed Danish Twist, German Stollen, and Russian Kulich.
Breadmaking started about 10,000 years ago, probably being unleavened bread baked by the sun. There was an excavation in an ancient city near the Persian Gulf where archaeologists discovered and even were able to light ovens used for bread baking that had been idle for almost 4,000 years. Bread was frequently used for money. Egyptians paid slaves who built the historic pyramids with three loaves of bread and two jugs of beer a day for each worker. Bread has been the staff of life for a long time.
Bake some bread when there’s a chill in the air and make some fragrance memories for your family!
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