Bread Making Thursdays

Every Thursday we make bread at school, and it is a crowd pleasure so I thought I would share the recipe.

To make it easier when working with a lot of little hands at one time, I make sure to have everything available. I warm up the water before the children arrive.  I also have a large bowl for the bread set out, a smaller bowl for the water and yeast, several measuring spoons and cups.

They are all use to making bread at this point and so it goes smoothly, but when we started we talked

alot about keeping the flour in the cups and bowls and not making it snow on the floor, as well as using the palms of our hands to knead the dough instead of squiching our little fingers deep into it and getting stuck:) 

This is an adaptation of recipes I found on google while searching for Waldorf bread recipes. 

 It is really tasty and easy!

Ingredients:

4 cups of flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 cups of warm water

*1 tablespoon of honey and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar

OR

3 teaspoons of brown sugar (we have had better results with this)

We start by taking turns sprinkling the yeast in the water.  As we wait for it to bubble we then take turns adding flour with small measuring cups to the bowl.  This way everyone gets several turns scooping up the flour and adding it to the measureing cup.  Likewise we take turns pouring a little bit of the flour from the measuring cup into the bowl so everyone gets a turn doing that as well.  Then again, taking turns we add the salt and brown sugar.  ( if you are using honey, add that to the 2 cups of water before adding your yeast and then only add 1 teaspoon of brown sugar to your flour)  I mix the flour a little bit at this point making sure everything is sifted in. Next, everyone takes turns adding the yeast after they have watched it bubble.  They then get spoons and start mixing! 

For a final mixing I take over while they wash their hands, and I do a quick kneading of the dough.  we let it sit for 15-45 minuutes while we play.  After the dough rises each child gets a small piece to knead and shape as they wish.  I cook the bread at 390 degrees (my oven is a little off so 375 degrees should work in most ovens)  for 25 minute or until it is has a nice golden brown top.  Enjoy!!!