Crash’s homework for religion class last week was to bake bread. His teacher had given him a simple recipe for it. There was no school yesterday, except for mom. She had school. Since she was out, I figured this would be the best time to make a mess worthy of three boys.
But first we cleaned. I managed to get Crash to do six chores. Six in ONE DAY!! Bang did five! Naturally, they were hoping our first chore would be to bake bread. Too bad, so sad.
But I’m not here today to tell you about the chores. I want to tell you about making bread. And I’m going to start nearly three years back…
[Flashback]
My parents traveled up to Canadaland in June of 2013. Bang would just be turning two. Crash 6. My mom wanted to make some bread with Crash while his baby brother napped. They had a blast.
And the bread was yummy. It didn’t last long. So you can imagine Crash’s excitement when it was time to do this again. Sans Nana, this time.
- 6 cups flour
- 4 Tbsp shortening
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 1 Tbsp instant yeast
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 3/4 cups very warm water
I measured it all out they dumped it all in.
Then it was time to knead. Bang didn’t want to get his fairy fingers all messy so he opted out of the kneading. Crash couldn’t wait to get his hands in there. So, as in the picture on the right with Nana, we doused our handing in vegetable oil and began kneading. We squeezed. We squished. We pinched all the lumps out. We laughed at how messy our hands were.
This mess, of course, ended up on the table where we finished kneading the bread (which is far different than the “kneeing the bread” Bang wanted to do).
Then we let it rise. Since they were allowed on the tablet for a half hour, we let it rise for a half hour. We probably should have waited the full hour. Hindsight.
We separated it into two loaf pans, stuck in the 350F preheated oven and set the timer for another half hour.
After they baked for a half hour, they looked done to us. We removed them from the oven, set them on a wire rack to cool then went to library.
*Sidenote: This has nothing with bread. At the library we got one of our favorite books – “Everybody Poops”.
Anyway, after we walked there and walked home the bread was cool enough to eat. Bang didn’t like. No surprise there. Crash loved it and ate three buttered slices.
Our next objective is try making potato bread… Mmmmmm
Looks good! Nice job!
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Thanks. I just made a ham, turkey, cheese, and mustard sandwich with it. It tastes like I’m going to have to make another 🙂
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Wow! Looks great!
I’m going to have to check out that book. I have a two year old who loves to yell out “I’m a poopie” (I want to poopie) everywhere we go.
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It’s hilarious. Pictures of poop. Pictures of people pooping. Pictures of animals pooping. I might just have to make a post about it 🙂
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An hour would have been better for rising time (the dough should double in size). Looks yummy!
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That’s what I figured. I knew it hadn’t risen enough but we were sort of on a time restraint because we were walking to the library and I had to get lunch into them first. Next time we’ll make sure it rises enough 🙂
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I’ve always been intimidated by making bread. Anything but banana bread, that is.
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6 ingredients and 2 hands are all that is required for this recipe. 🙂 Easy as that!
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“kneeing the bread” – Hahahaha. The bread looks delicious. Good enough to eat. Potato bread is on my list. Nothing smells better than baking bread. Cheers.
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After my mom made bread with them 3 years ago she mentioned making potato bread too. They didn’t get to it on the trip but I haven’t forgotten about the idea either 🙂 I made a ham and turkey and cheese sandwich with it today. It was delicious!
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Delicious looking and the look of pride on his face is priceless!
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He was pretty proud. He essentially made this on his own with the exception of me measuring out the ingredients. And really, I could have let him do that, but I let that be my job so we could all take part 🙂 It was delicious!
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The earlier you learn to cook the better and it is great family bonding . Awesome!
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Considering how my bread turned out, I’m kinda peeved that a 3rd grader outdid me! But way to go Crash 😀
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It was all in the kneading. He couldn’t wait to squish, squeeze, pound, and punch it 🙂
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My husband makes us homemade wheat bread each week for sandwiches. But instead of kneading it himself, we have a bread machine. It’s delicious.
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We used to have one, but we passed it on to my wife’s mom for some reason. Wenused to make pizza crust in it. It does make delicious bread. And there are so many different kinds to make!
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Looks like a wonderful time! I love this smell of freshly baked bread!
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Between the cleaning and the baking and the walking, the boys had no time to argue and fight. It made for a good day 🙂 There was the bonus of freshly baked bread, too!
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A great educational and leisure experience! It looks yummy, too! Did he take any to school for show and tell?
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It was delicious and made some great sandwiches. He took what was left of it to religion class hos evening to show his teacher. She was quite proud of him 🙂
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Love the photos of those messy hands! Really lovely post 🙂 The bread looks yum! I have never made potato bread, I would love to know how it turns out and the recipe you use. Sounds interesting! 🙂
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Crash couldn’t wait get messy hands. Bang had no desire to touch it. The potato bread will get a post of its own 🙂
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I will look forward to reading the post! 🙂 Sounds fab!
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Bread for homework?? That’s the best.homework.ever! Looks like he aced it. 😀
LOL..”everybody poops”. Sounds like a very interesting book. I’d love to read that. Have you ever read the “Who Poop in My Head” book? It’s in Dutch, but I know there’s an English version. Not your typical kids’ book, but hilariously funny! I somehow think you’ll “appreciate” that. LOL. Let me know if you want me to pop you a link. 😀
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The bread was great! It mafe some delicious sandwiches. Who pooped in my head sound awesome! I’ll have to look that one up.
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Let me save you the trouble of looking it up 😉 http://grubbsncritters.com/2013/06/the-who-poop-on-my-head-book.html
Which reminds me, we haven’t read that one in a while!
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Very impressive. It is my goal to learn how to bake with yeast this year…. and I’m 47. I’m totally jealous his loaves of bread look amazing!!
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This bread was increadibly easy. We just put everything in one bowl, kneaded it until the flower was all mixed inand then covered it to let it rise. Weshould have let it rise for an hour instead of just a half hour. Good luck with your!
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My son loves the dinasour that poops. You could try that 🙂
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I definitely will. The title alone makes me laugh! An elephant’s poop is huge. I can only imagine how big Dino dung is!
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he pooed out planets and a spacecraft if that helps you imagine 😉
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I now have two books about poop I need to read. Another blogger friend just told me about “Who Pooped On My Head” 🙂
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I am not sure but that sounds like the mole who went and searched who done it. If its not, there is another one for you
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Yep, that’s the one! I must be the only one who’s never heard of it.
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It is a good one 🙂
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