Magic Bread

Several years ago, I served as Relief Society President. As a presidency, we determined that we wanted to visit every sister in her home. We would go on visits one night each week. We liked to take treats. I often made small loaves of bread. I could make four small loaves with my recipe (recipe follows.) We had some interesting experiences with those visits: One night, about 7ish, we rang the doorbell of a sister who I had never met- totally inactive and, shall we say, antagonistic. Ken was bishop years before that when she moved in and when they went to visit, she all but threw them off her property. So, we were a little nervous. She answered the door, and we presented her with the bread and she explained she had guests and they were just sitting down to dinner, so we just told her to enjoy her dinner, and we left. An hour or so later, she called me( I was surprised she'd even remembered my name.) She just went on and on about how good that bread was and how much she and her guests had enjoyed it. It was kind of a break-through. I wish I could say she started coming to church, but that didn't happen. But she did allow visiting teachers into her home, and, later, the bishopric went to see her. Not long after, she contracted liver cancer and grew very ill with the chemotherapy. She got very weak, and was determined to eat, well drink, an all raw food diet- fruits, vegetables and nuts, as she felt this would help her. This required lots of juicing, and she just plain didn't have the energy to do it. A dear sister in our ward, well some of you know Winona, had recently been widowed. Her husband died of liver cancer and I knew she had been doing some of the same things that this sister was wanting to do. So I called Winona and asked if she would have time to befriend her and help her with her diet and juicing. If you know Winona, you know how that turned out. There's not a sweeter lady in the world, and she wormed her way into this lady's heart. She died a few months later, but she died at least a "friend" to the church. Okay, so it all started with this "Magic Bread." Now another story: A few weeks after we visited this lady, we went to another less active sister. Well, let's call a spade a spade, a very inactive, antagonistic sister. Again, I had heard many stories and we were nervous. I had my first counselor with me. We approached the door with our warm loaf of bread. We rang. She came and opened the door, but not the screen. We told her who we were and that we had brought her some bread. She told us she didn't want our bread. Okay. We wished her a good evening and retreated to our car, bread still in hand. We got back in the car, looked at each other, and nearly cried through our smiles. On Sunday, I told the bishop what had happened. He just laughed and told me he had heard a rumor that Mormon bread was "Magic" and that people were being warned not to accept it because "they put something in it" that makes you want to go to church! So I'm sure you want the recipe for Magic Bread: Put in breadmaker: 1 T. yeast 4 cups bread flour 2 tsp. salt 2 T. butter 4 T. honey 1/2 tsp. baking soda 2 cups buttermilk, warmed (or 2 cups warm water with 6 T. dry buttermilk powder) . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mix on manual in the breadmaker, or knead by hand until smooth. Let rise. Mix Down. Remove from breadmaker and form into two large or four small loaves. Put into well sprayed pans, turning to oil top as well. Let rise in pans. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. If you want to bake it in the breadmaker, just make half this recipe and set the machine to bake. You've been warned . .. it will make you want to go to church.