The Recipe for Morning Biscuits

In a Welsh community like Malad, there are certain names that seem to dominate the pages of the phonebook, or at least when the majority of the town had that ethnic background it was the case. There are still a lot of traditional names in Malad, but since the last 10 years, many people have enjoyed the rural atmosphere there and decided to move to Malad. They enjoy the hunting. They enjoy having a horse pasture. They enjoy the quiet of a small town. The fishing and the hunting are great, and trails for either bikes or snowmobiles are not used like they once were.

As late as the 70's and 80's, the old names were still quite dominant. One thing for certain, all my children are going to begin having panic attacks, since I had a part of my family with a last name of Thomas. There were four different lines in Malad, and none of them were relatives. This is a Christmas post card showing a picture of my Great Grandma Thomas. I knew her only when she was older. At one time, she offered to teach me a little Welsh. I wish I had done that. She was very quiet, and I never remember her saying anything. But I do remember what a good cook she was. It was a recipe from Great Grandma Thomas where we eventually learned how to make the breakfast biscuits we always had at home. My grandmother cooked them in an old wooden stove, and I occasionally hear my mother talk about what an incredible cook she was, especially her bread.

It is sad that most of my memories of my grandma pictured here are when she began to lose her memory. Once while she stayed briefly in a nursing home in Pocatello, our family stopped by to visit her after a trip to Yellowstone. I bought this green sweatshirt with the rear view of a horse, its head turned and looking backwards with a teasing smile. In large letters at the bottom was the word "Horseshirt." A similar form or the word with one letter omitted was something you heard often in Malad, particularly when someone said something that another person questioned vehemently. When grandma saw my shirt, she smiled immediately. She kept spelling the word repeatedly, and she would laugh each time she said it. It was fun. It was a part of my Great Grandma Thomas I had really never seen before. I knew her as very serious, like the picture on the Christmas card.

Breakfast Biscuits

The night before:

1) 2 cups flour
2) 1 cup warm water
3) ½ teaspoon salt
4) ½ teaspoon yeast

Put lid on and let rise on cabinet overnight.

The next morning:

Just run knife around edges and don’t work dough. Melt butter in Pyrex pan. Pinch off pieces. Put dough in butter and allow to rise ½ to 1 hour. Bake in greased tin at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

Our family always ate them with melted cheese and jam or jelly.