Perfect White Bread and etc.

I had a request for a tutorial on making my bread. Since I don't own a bread machine, I make bread like Grandma used to make hers.... The old fashioned way.
So here it is:

Perfect White Bread

1 package active dry yeast or
1 cake compressed yeast
1/4 cup water
2 cups milk, scalded
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon shortening
6 to 6 1/4 cups sifted
all purpose flour

Oven 400 degrees

Soften active dry yeast in warm water (110 degrees) or compressed yeast in lukewarm water (85 degrees). Combine hot milk, the sugar, salt and shortening. Cool to lukewarm.


Stir in 2 cups of the flour; beat well. Add the softened yeast; mix. Add enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough.



Turn out on lightly floured surface; knead till smooth and satiny (8 to 10 minutes).

Shape in a ball; place in lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover; let rise in warm place till double (about 1 1/2 hours).



Punch down. Let rise again till double (about 45 minutes).

Cut dough in 2 portions. Shape each in smooth ball; cover and let rest 10 minutes. Shape in loaves. place in 2 greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 - inch loaf pans. Cover and let rise till double ( about 1 hour). Bake in hot oven (400 degrees) 35 minutes or till done. If tops brown too fast, cover loaves with foil last 20 minutes.

Makes 2 loaves. While still warm brush top of loaves with butter.

I am getting ready to head out into the yard and get some more done on my front flower garden and lay out an area for a vegetable garden. Before I do though, I wanted to share with you what transpired at Diabetic Boot Camp Friday. I inquired about the Januvia. Dr. Lee explained that it is pretty much the same as the Byetta only in pill form. In other words it is a fast acting short term fix to control your numbers. It is to be used for those that are on pills only. That leaves me out because my diabetic best friend is the insulin syringe. My blood work was mixed with good and bad. My Cholesterol results were all within a few numbers high or low from what it should be. So Dr. Lee increased the dosage of the Lovastatin that I take from 20 mg to 40. Hopefully that will put all my numbers where they should be. My A1C results left a lot to be desired. It came back as 8.1 when it should be between 4.4 - 6.3. At this point we are going to try working on those between meal snacks. I am one that loves fruit, but long ago found that oranges and other citrus fruits are off limits to me. To get my fruit fix, I then turned to apples. I love them any way I can get them. Well it seems as if my body can no longer tolerate them either. As an example, I checked my blood sugar after dinner a few nights ago and I got 120 reading. That wasn't bad at all. About 9:00 I cut up an apple to snack on and then a couple of hours later I checked my blood sugar before my bedtime Lantus injection. My wonderfully delicious apple had driven my blood sugar level up to 224. So it is with deep sorrow that I have to say good bye to all fruit. Perhaps I should consider taking some sort of vitamins to avoid getting scurvy. If cutting out the fruit doesn't work then we are going to have to completely do away with all snacks between meals or go to insulin shots when I feel the need for a snack. Being diabetic sucks, to be plain and simply blunt about it. So goes the adventures at Diabetic Boot Camp. I am scheduled to go back in 3 months, we will just have to wait and see how it goes between now and then.

J.D. took the camera for a walk while I was seeing the Doctor and got some good pictures of the park with everything in bloom. The Feast of the Flowering Moon is going on this weekend and he got some good photos of that too. I am going to put a slide show together this afternoon or tomorrow for him and he will be posting it on his blog.... So be sure to check them out at J.D.'s Soapbox in the next day or two.

~Jo