My grandmother was a baker extraordinaire. While I was growing up (forties & fifties) she baked everything, from bread to laced crust pies.
Of course, being as my grandfather was a baker by trade, it kind of ran in the family.
This should make you laugh. My grandmother, who raised six children, even polished my grandfathers high top work shoes every night, including the soles, and had them sitting just outside the kitchen door ready for him at 2am when he went to work.
She was quite the woman. I still can hear her saying ... "Buddy, do you want a cookie?" ;)
My grandmother was raising kids and helping with grandfather's lumber business in Czechoslovakia during WWII. In addition to her regular work, she had to deal with wartime shortages and air raids. Recipes had to be modified to work around missing ingredients. They made their own beer, wine, ersatz coffee, and bread, of course. Clothing was carefully mended and altered to accommodate children's growth during the long years of shortages during and after the war.
One of my great treasures is grandmother's treadle Singer sewing machine. My relatives recently arranged to ship it to me. When I think of the countless hours she sat at that machine, sewing for her family, I'm inspired by her love and diligence. I didn't have much time with her because of the Iron Curtain years, but the memories are good ones.