Baking

Toddlers are such a capable group of little people.  Their knowledge and abilities are a wonder to watch each day and this week we did a bit of  baking in our community.  Did I say baking?  Yes, these lovely children did their own baking this week.  With an adult watching, our young friend began the process with combining our dry ingredients as well as watching the wonder of yeast mixing with hot water.

As we moved on to mixing, we found our ingredients combining into something new that smelled delicious.  What would happen next?

Now we arrived at one of the best steps for toddlers...kneading!  What a sensory experience it was to feel of the dough in our hands and see it not letting go as well as watching the changing consistency in the bowl.

Then after waiting for it to rise (and a lot of peeking to see what it was doing under the towel) we kneaded again and turned our bowl of dough into mini loaves of uncooked bread.

We used our last bit of patience while the mini loaves cooked and finally got to enjoy our Toddler Bread!  It was a wonderful treat for us all and we hope you will try working with your toddler in the kitchen...you never know what the experience will bring.

Toddler Bread

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oats
• 3 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1/2 stick butter (softened)
• 1 cup hot water

1. Mix the yeast in the hot water
2. Add all the other ingredients and mix well
3. Knead
4. Let sit for an hour, knead again
5. Shape into a ball and flatten slightly. (We chose to make small muffin sized loaves)
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes