By Christopher Matthews
The maternal side of my family, the Smiths, are from West Tennessee farming stock (east of Memphis, around Jackson). And the Smith women, many of whom taught in the county schools during the school year, and cooked for their farmer husbands in the planting/growing season, were quite adept in the kitchen, none more so than my grandmother, Mary Webb Smith, a.k.a. “Mom”. Her scratch baking skills in particular—delectable rolls, breads, cakes and pies—
remain legendary; fortunately, we had the good sense to record and transcribe her assortment of recipes and favorite dishes while she was still with us, now a treasured family legacy.
Actually, my spanking new 
Do you remember where you were on Monday, May 9th, 2011?
I was surprised when I finally held a copy of Simply Great Breads by Hudson Valley baker Daniel Leader (with Lauren Chattman) in my hands. I figured it would be a hefty coffee table-type paean to artisanal bread baking. Instead, I found myself thumbing through a slim volume the size and weight of an 
Upstate-Downtown 