English Muffin Loaf

 My aunt was an amazing woman. She was one of that rare breed of women that you don’t see to often anymore…An American Farmer’s Wife.

  Going to her house every summer was not just a vacation it was an EVENT. Her house was old, classic white with a green roof and wavy glass and barns and even a stone milk house. Best of all she had acres and acres of woods, fields and trees for me to explore and a raspberry patch with both the biggest raspberries and biggest mosquitoes that God ever created.  She kept a pot of coffee on the back of the stove on warm and left the kitchen door unlocked even when she ran errands in case the postman or the delivery man needed a pit stop and a hot cup of coffee.  And she was an amazing cook by anyone’s standard.

  This is a recipe she narrated to me one summer…written just as she narrated it. My memories of it are warm, toasted, with butter melting over it, and a spoon of homemade raspberry jam right in the center. It is wonderful stuff and you don’t have to go to the trouble of shaping the muffins.

5 3/4 c flour, give or take

2 pkgs dry yeast

1 tbs sugar, prit-near overflowing

2 tsp salt, maybe some less

1/4 tsp soda

2 c room temp milk

1/2 c water-bath temperature

Cornmeal

Mix 3 c flour and the rest of the dry ingredients. Add the milk and water and beat for a bit..maybe 2 minutes. Stir in enough flour to make a stiff batter. Spoon into 2 loaf pans that are greased and dusted with cornmeal. Sprinkle cornmeal on the top. Let rise 45 minutes

Bake at 400 for 25 minutes and cool. 2 loaves english muffin bread