Our new project. Complete Digital Cookbook available soon.

In 1912, a home economist named Christine Terhune Herrick published a cookbook called Like Mother Used to Make. It was written for families trying to stretch ingredients, keep everyone fed, and still put something comforting on the table. Swap the coal stove for an air fryer, and that sounds a lot like today.

We recently dug up this book in a digital archive and had a simple thought:
instead of rolling our eyes at “hog and hominy” and mystery cuts of pork, what if we treated this book like a time capsule—and a starting point?

What if we took the best recipes our great-grandparents used, and quietly upgraded them for 2025 families who care about blood sugar, gut health, and weeknight sanity?

That’s the idea behind our new Sneakz project: “Like Mother Used to Make…But a Little Better for You.”

---

Don’t cancel grandma’s recipes—debug them

The original book has 21 chapters with titles like “Breads of Various Sorts,” “Hog and Hominy,” “Old-Time Thanksgiving Fare,” and “The Stag Repast Without Service.” Some of those sections translate well to modern life. Others… not so much.

Instead of copying the structure exactly, we’re doing this:

• Taking one standout recipe from each chapter - we'll eventually get to all to them.

• Re-writing it with modern ingredients and methods

• Explaining what we changed and why

Our rules for every “Sneakz Remix”:

• Keep the spirit. If it’s meant to be a soft Sunday bread, it stays soft Sunday bread.

• Improve the inputs. Swap some white flour for whole grains, add fiber and plants, reduce added sugar, use better fats.

• Upgrade the instructions. Clear amounts, clear timings, realistic equipment (no need for a “moderate oven” and sheer guesswork).

• Think like a parent in 2025. Can this work for breakfast, lunchboxes, or leftovers? Can kids help with a step or two?

And we’re not doing this alone. Our Sneakz intern, Eden, dove into the book first, translating early bread and roast recipes into something closer to how real people cook now. She tests the recipe for ease of use, ingredient availability, and taste. Plus, she gets a little boosts on her college food science degree.

Intern’s Note (Eden): “Some of these 1912 directions feel like, ‘Step 1: Already know how to bake bread.’ I’m here for the people who… do not.”

To see how this works in practice, let’s start with the most basic comfort food of all: bread.

---

Mother’s Bread: a 1912 staple

One of the first recipes in the book is “Mother’s Bread or Classic Potato Loaf.” It’s the kind of recipe that assumes you already know what you’re doing:

• “Boil three potatoes and mash them while hot.”

• “Work in a tablespoon of butter and sugar.”

• “Flour your hands lightly… but refrain from doing this often.”

• “Let rise until three times its bulk.”

There’s a lot to love here. The mashed potatoes keep the crumb soft and moist. The method is built around weekend batch-cooking so you have bread all week. There’s a sense that this is everyday food, not a special-occasion project.

There are also some issues for modern families:

• All the flour is refined white flour.

• The sugar and fat amounts are vague.

• Rising times are long and imprecise.

• There’s no sense of how this fits into a balanced day of eating.

Eden’s first pass was to translate the vibes into real instructions—boiling and mashing the potatoes, specifying oven temps, and putting proofing times into a range families can actually work with. Then we asked: what would it look like to keep the comfort of Mother’s Bread, but give it a Sneakz-style health upgrade?

---

The Sneakz Remix: potato sandwich bread that loves your blood sugar

Here’s where we landed.

We keep the potatoes. We keep the soft, sliceable loaf. But we:

• Use half whole-wheat flour, half unbleached all-purpose for better fiber and minerals.

• Use olive oil instead of shortening or generic “fat.”

• Trim the sugar to just enough to wake up the yeast.

• Give exact amounts, clear yields, and a flexible rise schedule (including a fridge rise option).

If you imagine this as a sketch, the “Sneakz Mother’s Bread” looks like:

A soft, slightly nutty loaf made with mashed potatoes, half whole-wheat flour, a little olive oil, and just enough sweetness. One batch makes two loaves you can slice for toast, sandwiches, and snacks all week.

You mix a simple dough on Saturday afternoon, let it rise once on the counter, then tuck it into the fridge overnight. On Sunday, you shape loaves, let them rise again while everyone wakes up, and bake. By late morning you’ve got two loaves that feel like they came out of a 1912 oven—only this time, they’re teaming up with your kid’s gut bacteria instead of working against it.

Intern’s Note (Eden): “The original recipe wants you kneading for 20 minutes straight. I love bread, but I also love my wrists. The modern method gets you great texture without pretending you’re a Victorian stand mixer.”

In everyday life, that one upgraded bread recipe suddenly becomes a quiet anchor for the week:

• Breakfast: toast with nut butter and sliced fruit instead of sugary cereal.

• Lunch: turkey, lettuce, and avocado sandwiches on slices of your potato bread.

• Snacks: cubes of bread with hummus or bean dip instead of crackers that vanish in two bites.

Same kitchen warmth. Better macros.

---

Beyond bread: roasts, veggies, and holidays get a glow-up

Bread is just Chapter One.

The original book moves into chapters on pork roasts, dried and smoked meats, “hot weather recipes,” and holiday spreads. Eden’s first instinct was exactly what a lot of modern parents feel flipping through these sections: pork, pork, and more pork.

So part of the upgrade is choosing better anchors:

• Heavy pork dishes turned into leaner Sunday roasts with half the meat and double the vegetables.

• “Hot weather” suggestions rewired into no-cook, high-fiber bowls families can actually make after swim practice.

• Thanksgiving and Christmas sections re-imagined as “holiday without the sugar hangover.”

Intern’s Note (Eden): “The chapter called ‘Hog and Hominy’ sent me down a rabbit hole. I’m determined to make ‘all things pork’ into ‘all things roast or turkey or chicken and maybe, just maybe, we'll do a lean cut of pork' that don’t tank your cholesterol.’ Challenge accepted.”

For each recipe, we’ll show you:

• A short quote or snippet from the 1912 original

• The Sneakz Remix recipe

• A little health note: “Here’s what we changed, and how it helps your family.”

Think of it as recipe time travel with a nutritionist and a curious college cook riding shotgun.

---

What this will appear inside Sneakz Family Circle

This article is the first peek at the project. Behind the scenes, we’re building:

• A digital mini-book inside Sneakz Connect where you can browse by meal (“Breakfast,” “Sunday Dinner,” “Holiday”) instead of old-fashioned chapter titles.

• Side-by-side “Then & Now” recipe cards you can download or print.

• Tags for kid-helper steps, allergy-friendly swaps, and prep-ahead options so you can sort by what works in your house.

The goal isn’t to make you feel guilty about what your grandma cooked.
It’s to say: they did the best they could with the information they had—and now we can do the same, with better information. Remember, we're still in Beta feel free to take a look around Sneakz Family Circle but it may be a week or two before the full book is up.

---

Help us pick what to fix next

We’ve started with Mother’s Bread because it’s simple and universally useful. Next up might be Sunday roasts, vegetables “the old-time way,” or even those legendary holiday spreads.

So here’s our question for you:

What old-school dish do you wish you could keep—if only it were a little better for you?

Is it stuffing, mac and cheese, pot roast, pound cake?

Send us your vote. We’ll pull it out of the 1912 pages, hand it to Eden and the Sneakz team, and give you back a version that still tastes like “the way mother used to make it”—just updated for the kids who will be telling your food stories one day.

---

Sneakz Mother’s Potato Sandwich Bread

Updated from a 1912 “potato loaf” for modern families

Soft, sliceable sandwich bread made with mashed potatoes, whole-wheat flour, and heart-healthy olive oil.

Makes: 2 standard loaves (8.5 x 4.5 in / 21 x 11 cm)
Active time: 30–35 minutes
Total time: 3–4 hours same day, or overnight with fridge rise

---

Olive Oil Upgrade (What Changed from 1912)

In the original recipe, the “fat” was likely butter, lard, or shortening. Here we:

• Swap to 3 tablespoons (40 g) olive oil

• Keep the crumb soft and tender

• Trade saturated fat for mostly monounsaturated, heart-friendly fat

• Get a mild, savory note that works with both sweet and savory toppings

Eden’s Note: “You won’t taste ‘olive oil bread’ here. It’s more like ‘better sandwich bread that happens to be nicer to your heart.’"

---

Other Key Changes vs. the Original 1912 Recipe

Besides switching to olive oil:

1. Flour & Fiber

   • Then: all white flour, vague amounts.

   • Now: a 50/50 mix of whole-wheat and unbleached all-purpose flour, with precise gram and cup measures.

   • Impact: More fiber, minerals, and satiety, better blood sugar curve, and more predictable texture.

2. Sweetener Amount & Role

   • Then: sugar is added but not clearly measured or justified—part sweetener, part yeast food.

   • Now: 25 g (1½ tbsp) honey/maple/sugar—just enough to activate yeast and add mild flavor, not a sweet bread.

   • Impact: Less added sugar overall; the bread leans “savory everyday loaf” instead of “almost-brioche.”

3. Hydration & Potato Use

   • Then: “Boil three potatoes” and “add water” without exact volumes; very “feel your way through it.”

   • Now: 500 g potatoes → 300 g mash, with 415 g (1¾ cups) reserved potato water at a specific temperature range.

   • Impact: Hydration is consistent, so home bakers can actually reproduce the same crumb every time.

4. Yeast & Fermentation

   • Then: Uses “yeast” and very long, room-temp rises (“three times its bulk”) over many hours.

   • Now: Instant/rapid-rise yeast, clear timing:

     • 60–90 min bulk rise (or overnight fridge option)

     • 30–60 min proof in pans

   • Impact: Safer, more predictable timing and flexibility with an overnight option that fits modern schedules.

5. Salt Control

   • Then: Salt is present but not clearly quantified.

   • Now: 10 g (2 tsp) fine sea salt, calibrated for the flour amount.

   • Impact: Balanced flavor without over-salting, consistent from batch to batch.

6. Method Clarity & Safety

   • Then: Instructions assume you already know how to knead, shape, and judge doneness; no temps.

   • Now:

     • Clear kneading cues (“smooth, elastic, slightly tacky”)

     • Shaping instructions for sandwich-friendly loaves

     • Internal temp check 195–200°F (90–93°C)

   • Impact: Beginner-safe, less risk of gummy/underdone loaves.

7. Health Framing & Use-Case

   • Then: Framed as an everyday bread to stretch ingredients and fill people up.

   • Now: Framed as a gut- and heart-friendlier base for breakfasts, lunches, and snacks, with usage ideas (toast + nut butter, veggie sandwiches, etc.).

   • Impact: Directly ties into Sneakz’ nutrition story and gives parents ideas for how to serve it.

8. Eden’s Asides (Modern Coaching)

   • Then: No guidance, just vibes.

   • Now: Practical prep notes that prevent common fails (“too soupy mash,” “sleepy yeast,” “don’t slice too early”).

   • Impact: Makes the recipe human and coach-like, especially for newer cooks.

---

Ingredients

For the potatoes

• 3 medium russet or Yukon Gold potatoes

  • Target weight 500 g / 1.1 lb total, peeled

• Cold water, for boiling

• Pinch of salt

For the dough

• 300 g mashed potatoes, warm (about 1½ cups, lightly packed)

• 415 g warm potato cooking water (about 1¾ cups, 100–110°F / 38–43°C)

• 40 g olive oil (3 tablespoons)

• 25 g honey, maple syrup, or sugar (1½ tablespoons)

• 7 g instant or rapid-rise yeast (2¼ teaspoons / 1 packet)

• 10 g fine sea salt (2 teaspoons)

• 325 g whole-wheat flour (2½ cups, spooned and leveled)

• 320 g unbleached all-purpose flour to start (2½ cups, spooned and leveled)

• Up to 60–70 g extra all-purpose flour (½ cup) as needed for kneading/adjustment

---

1. Cook and mash the potatoes

• Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1–2 inch (2.5–5 cm) chunks.

• Place in a medium pot, cover with cold water by about 1 inch (2.5 cm), and add a pinch of salt.

• Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook until very tender when pierced with a fork, about 12–15 minutes.

• Carefully ladle out at least 500 ml / 2 cups of the potato cooking water into a heatproof measuring jug.

• Drain the potatoes and return them to the warm pot for 1–2 minutes to steam off excess moisture.

• Mash thoroughly until smooth. Weigh or measure out 300 g (about 1½ cups) of mashed potatoes and let cool until just warm—not hot—to the touch.

Eden’s Prep Note: “If the mash looks soupy, keep it over low heat and stir for a minute to dry it out. Too much water here = sticky drama later.”

---

2. Combine the wet ingredients

• Check that the reserved potato water is warm, not hot (100–110°F / 38–43°C). If it’s too hot, let it cool a few minutes.

• In a large mixing bowl (or stand mixer bowl), combine:

  • 415 g (1¾ cups) warm potato water

  • 300 g (1½ cups) warm mashed potatoes

  • 40 g (3 tbsp) olive oil

  • 25 g (1½ tbsp) honey/maple/sugar

• Whisk or stir until mostly smooth. Small potato flecks are fine.

---

3. Add the yeast

• Sprinkle 7 g (2¼ tsp) instant/rapid-rise yeast over the warm potato mixture.

• Stir briefly to distribute and let stand for 5–10 minutes until slightly puffy or lightly foamy on top.

Eden’s Prep Note: “If nothing happens after 10 minutes—no foam, no bubbles—your yeast is probably dead. Toss it and start again. Don’t waste good flour on sleepy yeast.”

(If using active dry yeast instead of instant, bloom it separately in ½ cup warm potato water with a pinch of sugar until foamy, then add to the bowl.)

---

4. Mix in the dry ingredients

• Stir in 10 g (2 tsp) fine sea salt.

• Add 325 g (2½ cups) whole-wheat flour and mix until fully incorporated; the mixture will be thick and rough.

• Add 320 g (2½ cups) of the all-purpose flour and mix until a shaggy, sticky dough forms and most dry spots disappear.

• If the dough is still extremely wet and flowing, sprinkle in additional all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon (8–10 g) at a time, mixing each time, until the dough comes together in a soft, slightly sticky mass.

You’re aiming for a dough that clings a little to your fingers but doesn’t coat them in paste.

Eden’s Prep Note: “Err on the side of sticky. It’s easy to add a dusting of flour while kneading—impossible to un-add flour once it’s in.”

---

5. Knead the dough

By hand

• Lightly flour your work surface. Turn the dough out of the bowl onto the surface.

• Knead for about 8–10 minutes, using a push–fold–turn rhythm:

  • Push the dough away with the heel of your hand,

  • Fold it back over itself,

  • Turn it 90°, and repeat.

• Add only light sprinkles of flour as needed to keep it from sticking badly.

With a stand mixer

• Fit the mixer with a dough hook.

• Mix on low speed (about speed 2) for 6–8 minutes, stopping once or twice to scrape the bowl if needed.

You’re done when the dough is:

• Smooth and slightly glossy

• Elastic and springs back when gently poked

• Soft and slightly tacky, but not clinging in big chunks to your hands

Eden’s Prep Note: “If the dough is tearing instead of stretching, give it a 5-minute ‘time out’ under a towel and then knead again. Rest is magic.”

---

6. First rise (bulk fermentation)

• Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a clean bowl lightly coated with olive oil.

• Turn the dough once so it’s thinly coated with oil.

• Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel, beeswax wrap, or plastic wrap.

Same-day option

• Let the dough rise at room temperature (70–75°F / 21–24°C) until doubled in size, about 60–90 minutes.

Overnight option

• Let the dough start rising at room temperature for 20–30 minutes, then cover tightly and refrigerate for 8–18 hours.

• When ready to bake, remove from the fridge and let sit at room temp 30–45 minutes if the dough is very cold before shaping.

---

7. Shape the loaves

• Lightly grease two 8.5 x 4.5 in (21 x 11 cm) loaf pans.

• Gently press the risen dough to deflate and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.

• Weigh and divide into two equal pieces for even loaves.

• Working with one piece at a time:

  • Pat into a rectangle roughly the length of your loaf pan and about ½–¾ inch (1–2 cm) thick.

  • Roll it up tightly from the short side into a log, pressing lightly as you go to avoid air gaps.

  • Pinch the seam closed and tuck the ends under for a neat shape.

• Place each log seam-side down into a prepared pan.

Eden’s Prep Note: “If your log feels loose and squishy, unroll, tighten, and reroll. Snug rolls = even slices later.”

---

8. Second rise (proofing)

• Cover the pans loosely with a towel or lightly greased plastic wrap.

• Let the loaves rise in a warm, draft-free spot until the dough crowns about 2–3 cm / 1–1¼ inches above the pan rims, 30–60 minutes depending on room temperature.

• While the dough proofs, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).

The loaves are ready to bake when they look puffy and a gentle poke slowly springs back, leaving a slight indentation.

---

9. Bake

• Place the loaf pans on the middle oven rack, leaving space between them for air circulation.

• Bake for 30–35 minutes, until:

  • The tops are deep golden brown, and

  • The loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, or

  • An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 195–200°F (90–93°C).

• If the tops are browning too quickly around the 20-minute mark, tent loosely with foil for the remaining time.

---

10. Cool completely

• Remove the pans from the oven and let the loaves rest in their pans for about 5 minutes.

• Turn out onto a wire rack and cool for at least 45–60 minutes before slicing.

Eden’s Prep Note: “Warm bread smells like heaven and cuts like glue. Give it the full hour—your slices will thank you.”

---

How to Use & Store

• Breakfast: Toast with nut butter and sliced fruit or a drizzle of honey.

• Lunch: Turkey, hummus, or veggie sandwiches on thin slices.

• Snacks: Cubes of bread with cheese, bean dip, or olive oil + herbs instead of chips or crackers.

• Storage:

  • Store wrapped at room temp for 2–3 days.

  • For longer storage, slice one loaf, freeze in a freezer bag, and pull out slices as needed.

---

Join the Sneakz Family Circle (AI-powered ChatCommunity) for monthly ingredient deep-dives, kitchen hacks, and kid-friendly recipes that make healthy habits second nature. You can also drop a picture of an ingredient list and get a plain-speak breakdown of everything that's in the product. And now updated with everything Thanksgiving-ie.

---

Sign up for our free email and receive a 5 day course for working parents on better family nutrition. Feel free to share it with friends and family.

Are you ready to learn the secrets Food Manufacturers don't want you to know? Are you ready to become a Nutrition Ninja?

Learn how to:

• Create A No-Fuss-No-Muss Breakfast
• Banish Your Kid's Sniffles
• Understand an Ingredient label

Try our Educational Email Course for free...

The Working Parent's Nutrition Playbook for Kids