Anadama bread

Uncle Phil was a great cook and the house was always filled with baked goods...Christmas would see pans of alcohol soaked cakes all over his counters and he would climb to the eaves of the house to get the baby pidgeons to cook in sauce. He and my mother were very competative and always argued in fun about the proper size of a meatball or how many meatballs could be made from a pound of hamburger in soup.

Preheat oven to 375F for rolls 450F for bread

combine:

2 cups hot water

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup molasses

2 T shortening

2 t salt

Bring to a boil and cook for several minutes.

cool

dissolve one cake or packet of yeast in:

1/4 cup warm water.

allow the yeast to prove.

mix the yeast into the cornmeal mixture.

Add up to 6 cups of all purpose flour a cup at a time.

add only enough flour to make a slightly sticky dough. Allow to rest a few minutes then knead on a counter in a bit of flour till the dough is very smooth and elastic for up to 20 minutes.

put into greased bowl, covered, in a warm place to rise till doubled in bulk.(a better bread will result if you raise it over night in a cold place using less than half the yeast)

Punch down and shape into the desired shapes, coating them with butter or shortening as you go.

If making loaves: put into greased loaf pans. If making rolls: coat each roll with butter or shortening and arrange evenly in a 9x13 in. greased pan.

Allow to rise covered till again doubled in bulk in a warm place.

bake rolls at 375F till brown and the tapped bottom of the rolls sound hollow.

Loaves are baked for 10 minutes at 450F then at 325F for an additional 20 min.

again this bread browns well and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.