Bread

Today my boys and I made bread. We had a good time and made a very big mess.

First we measured out the water, then we did the sugar. The sugar was the first mess. I was out of sugar in the sugar container, so I added some from the sugar bag. The bag slipped and I ended up dumping a good amount of sugar onto the counter and down the side of the oven. (I'll be pulling that out and cleaning it soon). Next after that mess was the dried milk. I had my 9 year old work on that. It wasn't going to be hard, pour the dry milk into the measuring cup and pour the cup into the bowl. A lot of dry milk ended up on the floor and table. All was well until we got to the flour and oil. The oil measuring cup got knocked to the floor and oil ended up on the floor. The flour is always a mess and we ended up with some on the floor too, but we had less flour mess than anything else. Get that spoon and mix, mix, mix! Get your hands into it and mix, mix, mix.

After measuring and mixing, we kneaded the dough. It was almost a chant I did to keep them going "Knead that dough, knead that dough!" My nine year old enjoyed it, but didn't knead well. The seven year old didn't like getting his hands messy and didn't have the stregnth to really get into it. He just kind of rolled it around. So, the dough got kneaded and brushed in oil before being put back into the bowl to rise. Guess what happens next. The kids run off to watch a movie and mom is left with the mess.

Do you remember that little story of the mother hen who makes the bread? That is what today is like. Who will help me make the bread? I will, I will! (Bread and mess is made.) Who will help me clean the mess? (hear nothing but silence and crickets chirping?) Who will help me eat this bread? I will, I will!

The bread turned out very good and was very tasty. We are having the missionaries from our church over tonight for dinner. I don't know what I'm going to feed them as a meal, but we will have fresh, homemade bread for dinner. Some butter and honey with it and, mmm! It will be good.

The recipie was actually pretty easy and I would be willing to try it again. I'm not sure about the helpers, though.... Actually, I want them to do it again. It is a good lesson on reading instructions and reading measurements. Next time, though, no running off when clean up time comes. My lesson is learned.