Traditions bond us together as families and when those traditions involve deliciously, good food, everyone is well fed and happy.
Traditions
Years ago, I was reading in a parenting book and I came across some intriguing information about traditions that I never forgot.
The idea in the book was positive, lesson teaching traditions, thought about, planned and carried out year after year, bond together a family. They create unity and belonging in a very fun way.
I loved that concept and still do. We have tried to be intentional about family traditions since the beginning.
The Last Straw
Christmas is a fun time to include traditions. We have several Christmas traditions that must take place or my children would hold a mutiny. Sleeping around the Christmas tree on the night before Christmas Eve is one of them. They love making beds by the tree and falling asleep to the glow of the twinkle lights.
Some traditions are passed down. When I was a little girl my parents started reading a story called The Last Straw by Paula Palangi each year. The story tells of a family that is trying to create more Christmas spirit in their home.
To do this, they rotate names and do kind deeds for each other in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Each kind deed is represented by a piece of straw placed in a manger for Baby Jesus. The more straw, the softer the bed will be for the Christ Child.
We did the same thing in our home year after year. I remember one year we couldn’t find the bag of straw, but were still determined to fill our manger and so one of us kids cut up drinking straws as a replacement. I can’t imagine that would have been an especially soft bed for Baby Jesus but it was the thought that counted that year.
My husband and I continue this tradition with our own children. It’s fun to see the services they do for each other year after year.
Christmas Stories
Another one of my favorite traditions involves Christmas stories. Over the years, I have collected Christmas stories and each year we put them under the tree and every night in December we pick a story to read together.
Some years I have wrapped the books and the kids pick a surprise story but most years they aren’t wrapped and they just get to pick their favorites. I have a few favorites that I look forward to every year.
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey – my personal favorite
The Christmas Oranges
Mistletoe
Holly and Ivy
A Very Hairy Christmas – because we live in the desert
The Christmas Rose
Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree
Merry Christmas With Love
Traditions With Food
This wouldn’t be complete without including a tradition involving food. Some of my most memorable traditions growing up revolved around food. Ha!
Every Easter we ate ableskivers for breakfast. Every Christmas Eve we left seven-layer bean dip out for Santa instead of cookies. New Years Eve we had root beer floats. And for Christmas morning my mom always made fried bread.
And that tradition brings us to our recipe today. Over the years, I have had to make some adjustments to our traditions as our food needs have changed. We still love to maintain certain traditions; we just have to tweak them a bit.
Tweaking Your Traditions
Now a days, for our yearly fried bread, I use sourdough. I mix up the dough Christmas Eve and leave it on the counter over that magical night and then in the morning before gifts are opened, I roll out the dough and cut it into squares. After gifts are opened, the dough is ready to fry up.
I use my white sourdough recipe and it turns out perfect for fried bread. It makes three loaves so I typically make two loaves of bread and use the last loaf amount to roll out into the fried bread. I’ll give you the bread directions first and then the fried bread directions afterward.
Growing up we always shook our fried bread in powdered sugar but now we use lots of different options. You can use honey, honey butter, cinnamon sugar, maple sugar (my personal favorite, it is so light and delicious) or even a maple sugar glaze. All work great.
White Sourdough Bread
3 cups warm water
1 1/3 cup active sourdough starter
½ cup honey
1 egg (optional)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups whole grain flour
5-7 cups all – purpose flour
Add water, starter, honey, egg (optional), oil, salt and whole grain flour to a mixer (I use a Bosch) or a bowl. Mix until combined. Add 5 cups all-purpose flour. Mix again. Add more all purpose flour, if needed, mixing between each addition until the mixture comes together into a smooth dough and clears the sides of the bowl. When you lightly press the dough with your finger it should not stick much to your finger.
Let the bread knead in the bosch for 3-5 minutes or pull it out of the bowl and knead it on the counter, pushing it over on itself and then flipping it and doing that same thing from another angle, again and again. This process helps to activate the gluten which gives the bread strength to rise big and puffy. Once it has been kneaded to your satisfaction, transfer the dough to a large bowl or tupperware. Cover lightly with a lid or plastic wrap. You do not want the lid to be on tightly. The sourdough needs room to breath.
Let the dough sit on your counter until it has doubled in size. This dough takes 8-10 hours to double at my house. Once the dough has doubled, remove from container and form the dough into desired shape. My loaves are about 800 grams each. It makes three loaves. Butter is the best for greasing your loaf pans, oil does not work as well.
When I do round loaves, I form them and let them rise on parchment paper so they can easily be transferred into the dutch oven. Once all your loaves are shaped, cover them with saran wrap and let them double again. Once they are doubled slash the top of your bread with desired shape.
If I bake this dough in a dutch oven, I put the dutch oven on a pizza stone so the bottom doesn’t get too dark. I bake it covered at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes, I remove the lid and insert an instant read thermometer into the partially cooked bread. Let it continue to cook until the internal temperature gets to 190-200 degrees.
If I bake it in loaf pans, I put my loaf pans on top of a pizza stone so the bottom doesn’t get too dark and I cover the tops with foil after about 20 minutes of baking so the tops don’t get too dark either. After the loaves have baked for 20 minutes, I insert the instant read thermometer into the center of a loaf. The loaves I bake to 180 degrees. Once the thermometer reads 180 degrees I remove the pans from the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes. The five minute resting time gives the loaves time to sweat in the pan and allows the bread to be removed easily. If it is not coming out of your loaf pan easily, run a butter knife around the edge of the loaf to loosen it up.
Fried Bread
Make the dough just as above. Allow the dough to double. Depending on how much fried bread you want you can make some of the dough into loaves. I typically make 2 loaves of bread and use the last 800 grams or so of dough for the fried bread. That makes enough for our family of 9. We usually have some fruit, a smoothie or eggs with it.
Take the dough you will be using and on a greased surface pat it into a rectangular shape and then roll it to a 1/2-3/4 inch thickness. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into small squares, rectangles or triangles – however you prefer. Cover with saran wrap. Let it rise.
I can typically fry it after about an hour but you can let it rise longer. It really depends on the warmth of your kitchen. When it is done rising, fill a deep saucepan with oil – I like to use refined coconut oil or avocado oil. Heat at a medium temperature. Test the oil for readiness with a small piece of dough – drop the piece into the oil carefully, if it pops up to the top of the oil quickly, the oil is ready. If the oil is too hot, and the dough browns too quickly, reduce the temperature.
Carefully place your pre-cut dough pieces into the oil. When dough has browned, flip it over and allow it to cook on the other side. Remove from oil onto a paper towel. Continue with all the pieces.
Coat in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze (powdered sugar and enough water to thin it) honey, honey butter, or maple sugar. Stuff it in your mouth – of course being aware that it is piping hot and you may burn your tongue!
