Bread and Little ones

Cooking with little children can be messy.  The trick is to make them feel included without letting them destroy the kitchen.  One way my grandmother and mother kept us occupied was letting us make our own little bread creations while they cooked the rest of dinner.  We sometimes made loaves or sometimes put blobs of dough together to form shapes of animals or plants.  We baked our creations and relished the hot snack.  The kitchen experience let us feel warm and cozy beside our mother while keeping us out of trouble.

One loaf of bread:

1-1/4 cup water warm
1 TBS yeast
1 TBS sugar
2-1/2 cups flour (part white, part wheat or all one type)
1 tsp salt
1 TBS oil or butter

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add flour to make a dough that is not sticky when poked with damp fingers.  Freeze the whole batch if desired. Make scones, form a loaf, roll out sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon for cinnamon rolls, roll out into wreath shapes or snip with scissors to create a braided look,  form dinner rolls in crescent shapes by rolling a triangle, or cutting the tops of the roll, or making Parker house shapes out of circles folded and pressed together.  The possibilities end with ones imagination.  Making bread is family fun.