Today, however, I was babysitting, which meant full access to a usable kitchen!
(Aside: doesn't grammar dictate that you should use "an" before a word that starts with a vowel? Why don't words that start with u count?)
I decided that bread-baking sounded like a good plan to do with kids. They can mix everything together, and THEN!! they get to mush the dough all around with their hands! It was perfect.
I used the following recipe for Crusty White Bread:
2 packets of yeast
2 cups of warm water
2 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. salt
1/2 c. vegetable oil
6 - 6 1/2 c. flour
Dissolve the yeast in the water. Follow instructions on the packet.
Mix the sugar, salt, oil, and 3 cups of the flour together, then mix with the yeast mixture.
When it's well blended, add more flour until the dough is easy to handle.
Place the dough on a floured board (or counter) and knead for 8 - 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough in greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 45 minutes.
After dough has doubled in size, punch it down, separate it into two loaves, place in greased and floured bread pans, and let rise for one hour.
Bake for 35 - 40 minutes at 400 degrees.
That's a pretty simple recipe, so I decided to make it more exciting. When we were mixing up the first ingredients, I dumped some cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves into the dough until it looked spicy. (For this type of thing I don't use measurements. Eyeball it...whatever looks good is probably right.) Then, instead of separating it into two loaves, I decided that we should make mini-bread, and we baked it in a muffin pan! I made a mixture of some butter, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves and brushed it on top of each mini bread-muffin as a sort of glaze. Since they were smaller, I cut the baking time down to 20 minutes.
They turned out great!
And they're highly kid-friendly. Seriously. Beyond the kneading fun, the kids get to mix things, watch the dough "grow like a plant," smell the wonderful aroma of baking cinnamon, and feel accomplished that they made something. Also - IT'S HEALTHY! I mean, let's face it...even with the glaze it has no more than a total of 4 tablespoons of sugar. What's not to like?
1 comment:
Some words that start with a "u" do count!
"an unusable kitchen," for example..
"an udder," "an unseemly article of clothing," "an unforeseen turn of events," "an unlikely plan," "an unforgettable woman," "an umbrella," "an ugly v-neck t-shirt" (hah), etc.
It depends on the pronunciation, and since "usual" is pronounced as though it has a "y" ("you-sual") it gets "a" instead of "and." Same with "utensil," "uniform," etc. Whee... grammar!
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