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Show WASATCH August 31, 1999 COUNTY COURIER Midway’s Making Lots of Dough for Swiss Days Phyllis Kohler (l) and Bonnie Bezzant are old pros at the Swiss bread making game. The task of teaching new bakers each year doesn’t bother them, though. They merely laugh and turn the other way if someone doesn’t | catch on. Ask Sandy By day, she’s a realtor and ‘an EMT. But come the end of August each year, Hansen turns into bread-baker extraordinaire. Sort of. Okay, so Hansen’s not giving up her day jobs just yet. -In fact, according to Hansen, baking break is about as far away from something she’d ever do at her own home. However, for the past two years, Hansen, as well ‘as a flock of other women from Midway, have dedicated their time and tons of effort, to. don Swiss chefs’ hats-they bake the bread that has become infamous at Midway’s annual Swiss Days. Hansen’s not alone. For most of the women participating in the breadproject, creating Phyllis Kohler remembers. She’s been baking bread for Swiss Days since the Labor Day event started. Back then, says Kohler, they baked the bread in their homes and stored it in their own freezers. Kohler, herself, started making Swiss bread to sell with sauerkraut. tival grew, But as the fes- the demand for Swiss Sandy Hansen, Shellie Miller, Colleen Hewlett and Linda Wh itaker roll out the dough for the bread at Swiss Days. bread increased exponentially.’ Soon the LDS church wards began baking the bread to meet Swiss Day’s needs. For a short while, the bread was baked at the school by the lunch- “This is my second year,” says Hansen of her involvement with Midway’s First Ward’s baking project. “I thought I’d learn how to do it again this year.” baking storing the finished product in an commercial freezer. But it’s not always been this way. eRe ace It’s all about the dough. Hansen. Hee ML i SULIT | Jean Croasmun, Courier staff the Swiss bread is a once-a-year job. The women work in four-hour shifts, forming the traditional bread made of yeast, flour, eggs, sugar, shorten- ing, milk, salt and water into braided loaves. Each ward will bake around 300 loaves in the ovens at Midway’s cannery. And the 1500+ loaves will sell out quickly; so fast that they will have to hold some of the bread back for Saturday, the second day of the event. “Tf all I had to do was this. . .” said Colleen Hewlett. “If someone came in to my house and made the dough,” said Linda Whitaker, both women would make the dense but airy bread regularly. And it’s true,. these novice bread makers do make the task of making Swiss bread look fun and easy, preparing the dough in groups'in an industrial environment, working on large prep tables and room workers. Then it was moved to Days Market. Finally, four or five years ago, the break-making process was moved to the Midway Cannery. “We had to bake in pizza ovens at first, if you can imagine,” says Kohler. Some of the women arrive at 7:00 a.m. on their ward’s baking day to start the process. Others get the cushy 11:00- 3:00 shift. waffle-like cookie, is also Batzlie, a made by -some of the wards for Swiss Days. Braiding the bread is an art. Barbara Wilson forms the braids by crossing the two strips of dough and braiding the four strands together. a aaa ck. Nin ko, Serie3 SAR a a aE ae ali aL a LL Tai Each loaf of the Swiss bread is handformed and braided, then baked and brushed with egg to achieve a glossy appearance. cooled and the. freezer. The loaves are then wrapped and stored in While it seems like a lot of work now, during Swiss Days it won't seem like enough. It’s a once-a-year opportunity to get good, homemade Swiss bread, and even though some of the women working on the bread say they’d make the bread at home if they thought it would turn out like the Swiss Days bread, they’re realistic. They'll buy a couple loaves at Swiss Days instead. ver 1500 loaves of bread, now frozen, weeks in preparation for Swiss Days. have been made in the past two |