Gramma's Nut Bread

Traditional in the Walsh family.

• 3 cups of flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 4 tablespoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of chopped walnuts
• 1 egg
• 1½ cups of milk
• ¼ cup of shortening, melted

1. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 
2. Add the milk, egg and shortening. 
3. Pour into a greased 9 inch loaf pan. 
4. Drop on the floor a few times to let out bubbles. 
5. Let stand for 20 minutes. 
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for one hour or until done. 

Commentary

Gramma was obviously in a hurry when she passed down this recipe.  You should be using a bowl of some sort to mix the ingredients.  When you add the egg, it would be best to stir it around a bit rather that just let it sit there.  As nut bread is supposed to have nuts in, Gramma probably meant you to add the chopped walnuts before pouring the mixture into the loaf pan.  The instruction to drop on the floor needs careful interpretation.  Gramma did not have a cat called "bubbles", so she must have been talking about bubbles in the nut bread mixture.  So, it's that, not you, that should be dropping on the floor.  Stand up again!  The mixture needs to stay in the loaf pan.  Maybe dropping the loaf pan onto the counter from a height of, say, six inches, would be in the spirit of the recipe without so much risk of having to start again.