My mother was into homemade whole wheat bread with wheat germ added. She’d scald milk, boil water, crumble a cake of yeast. Knead and knead, place it in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel, let rise, punch it down, rest – then shape the loaves.
Let them rise again. this time in battered aluminum bread pans covered lightly with waxed paper.
The aroma filled the house and after it was baked we’d eat a slice with butter and honey when it was still warm.
What I would give to have my mother make a couple of loaves again, turn them out of the greased bread pans. Saw off a slice with a serrated edge.
But when I was a kid, I saw a big white truck with red and yellow and bright blue balloons all over it. WONDER BREAD. I wanted my mother to buy WONDER BREAD. I’d eaten it somewhere and was fascinated you could roll it into a ball! Hard to believe but true. I begged my mother to buy WONDER BREAD. Oh how I longed for the colorful balloons on the wrapper.
Embarrassing to admit, but true.
She never did.
I saw this sign by the abandoned Wonder Bread Bakery in Columbus OH. ( click to read about construction of Wonder Bread LOFTS that started four days ago)
They had quite the marketing campaign, didn’t they? My mother didn’t fall for that one either, although we had some pretty sugary cereal at times, so she was a bit of a softy;)
My mother was also a big fan of the wheat-germ. We had carrot juice (with apples, oranges and anything else hanging around) every morning at breakfast and all I wanted was pineapple juice from a tin! Your mother’s bread sounds wonderful!
I could smell it now. Your vivid word description has me longing for hot bread and butter right now.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
We begged for it as well. My Father called it “pastey white bread”‘ wouldn’t allow it in the house. Now I wouldn’t dream of eating it!
The power of advertising!
My mom would also make something called “Dutch Cakes” along with the wonderful bread. After baking, she filled the slight depressions she had made in the round bread with a wonderful cream pudding….I can taste them now.
We weren’t a Wonder Bread family either, though we sure did feel we were missing out. Truth is, Dad took SIs and I with him errand hopping on Sunday mornings. Sometimes it included a stop at an Italian bakery. While Dad and his friend, the baker, talked, we were given a hunk of bread, still warm, with a little butter. And still, once we got to the grocery, we wanted Wonder Bread!
It’s so weird. A lot of smaller mom and pops and BBQ joints serve that down here. I don’t get it. But it’s a great photo.
When I was really little, they actually put balloons in the bread for a promotion. I remember it vividly. I always wanted the bread with the balloons in it!
When I was a kid my parents were fond of making hamburgers at home: real beef, awesome seasonings, fresh toppers of lettuce and tomatoes, any kind of cheese meltedd on top we wanted, soft whole wheat buns…. yet what I wanted was McDonalds. I totally bought in to the commercialism, to the hype.
Ugh. I’ll take home made food any day.