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Home > Archive > Mar 27, 2008

Rising to the Occasion
By Southern Utah Focus
Bev Rankin gave the first loaf of bread she ever baked to her brother and his friends. They used it for a football.
“It was that bad,” Rankin, a La Verkin resident, said of her early effort. “But, I kept working at it.”
Today, Rankin has developed a fail-proof recipe that makes over 50 varieties of bread using the same recipe. She will be teaching this recipe at her bread-making workshop, April 19, at La Verkin Elementary School.
“I always thought there was more to bread than whole wheat,” Rankin said. “Each year, I try to add one new bread to my list. It has been getting more difficult because I have added everything from vegetables in the Earth bread, to fruits in the Cherry Cobbler bread, and a variety of seeds in the Mix & Match Seed bread.”
Rankin will be the first to say she likes variety. One great thing about her recipe is that it can be used to make bagels, English muffins, steamed bao, pull-a-parts, twists, sticks and much, much more, she said.
Rankin said when she was raising her children and was a stay-at-home mom, she had lots of time to make bread, which, back then, was an all-day project. However, due to family health problems, Rankin had to start working. This left little time for baking.
“That’s when I decided that there had to be a better way to make nutritious bread in a couple of hours,” Rankin said. “So, I started experimenting.”
Her efforts were successful, and she was able to transform that long ago “football” into a moist, aromatic loaf of bread. The outcome of her experimenting is a recipe that produces a host of beautiful bakery goods using her fast-rising dough, Rankin said.
“I think bread making is an art,” she said. “I hate to see it lost.”
Modern households are busy, and many commercial bakers have come up with healthy packaged bread. Rankin said the store-bought version can look like the answer to a mother’s prayer, but she insists that it will never compete with homemade for nutrition and taste.
Rankin said she knows time is an issue, but by using her recipe, nobody has to slave for hours to make the real thing. The rising price of wheat, fuel and equipment combine to drive up the price of commercially produced breads, she said, making home-baked bread a savings everyone can benefit from. Even so, she said, taste, nutrition and savings may not be enough to nudge people closer to the oven.
“First of all, it takes the desire,” she said. “Then, you have to fit it into your schedule. It has to be a priority.”
But, she insists, after her students make their first batch, they will be hooked.
During her workshop, Rankin will demonstrate her basic recipe together with all its variations. She will also help her students learn how to troubleshoot problems that might arise, she said.
“I try to teach what causes failure,” Rankin said. “If their bread didn’t rise, they may have used too much salt, the yeast was too old, or the temperature of the liquid was not correct. Too much salt kills the yeast, but on the other hand, salt is what gives the bread flavor.”
Rankin said she will discuss other problems, such as soggy middles, crumbly bread and dough too sticky to knead. She said she wants her students to let their hands do some learning.
“Once they can feel what the texture should feel like, play with the dough a little bit, they seem to be not as intimidated and nervous about making bread,” Rankin said.
Rankin said if you come to her workshop, be sure to come hungry, because there will be tons of samples for tasting. She added that there will be lots of door prizes at the workshop, and Farmer’s Market in La Verkin has special ordered the type of yeast Rankin uses.
In the last 20 years, Rankin has taught over 4,000 folks to make bread, she said. Many of her students were men. In Oregon and Washington, she said she is fondly known as the “bread lady.”
“People don’t remember my name, but they remember the bread,” Rankin said.
“The Art of Bread-making Workshop” will be held on Saturday, April 19, from 10 a.m. to noon at La Verkin Elementary School in La Verkin. To help defray costs, there is a fee of $7, payable at the door. Pre-registration is requested to make sure adequate supplies are on hand. To register, call (435) 635-3366 or e-mail Bev Rankin at Bevsbread@yahoo.com.

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