Serving Our Families (No Guilt Allowed!)

Today I attended our Stake Enrichment. It was really great. "Chef Brad" http://chefbrad.com/ showed us how to do bread dough, each table making a bowl. As it rose we went into the chapel and he spoke to us on his love of cooking and how he feels it is diminishing in our homes (with so many "fast food" options). He made a really great point, why is it when we take a meal into someone who is needy or clean their home or provide service we are so happy and yet when we do these things for our families it becomes "work" and sometimes a drudgery? His point was, our families are the ones we love and hope to spend eternity with, shouldn't we change our attitudes and try to enjoy the service we give them? I think the key word is attitude. He challenged us to never be so busy that we don't have time to serve our family. To make the time to teach our children and grandchildren to make bread and to enjoy the process. His love of bread is legendary and here is the recipe he shared with us:

2 1/2 cups hot water
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, oil, lard or Crisco
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast, Saf instant (can buy at Smart n Final)
5 + cups of flour

In a bowl add water, sugar, oil, salt, 2 cups flour. Mix well with a spoon then add yeast and 3 cups of flour. Mix well and dump out onto a floured surface. Start kneading by folding the closest edge to you away from you towards the opposite edge. With the ball of the hand, press the folded edge into the dough turning the dough around as you complete the fold. Keep repeating this process adding flour as needed, being careful not to add too much flour. After the dough is well kneaded, about 6 to 8 minutes, place in an oiled bowl then cover and let rise until double in size. Punch down and form into 2 loaves, place into bread pans, and let rise again until double. bake in a 350 degree over until done, about 20 minutes.
For Whole Grain Bread, substitute 3 cups of white flour with fresh ground whole wheat flour and let rise until double, twice, before forming into loaves.
For Cinnamon Bread, before placing in bread pan to bake, roll out one half of dough into a rectangle, then spread with cinnamon and sugar. Roll up into a loaf and place in oiled pan and let rise until double.
For Fry Bread, divide the dough into small golf ball pieces and roll out flat on an oiled surface and fry in hot oil, flipping over once and cooking both sides until golden brown.