Eleanor has been wanting to have a cooking club ever since I accidentally mentioned that it might be fun, about a year ago. So this week I finally gave in.
Eleanor came up with the theme for the club (Eat the Alphabet! Applesauce, bread...vegetables, whipped cream, xray bananas...) and made the invitations. We sent them to 10 girls in Eleanor's class and I explained in a note that although 4 sessions are scheduled, not everyone can come to every session.
The first session went well. We made bread, fruit pizzas, and "silly sandwiches" (Eleanor's idea: stack saltines, sunflower seed butter, jam, or cheese and ham in 4 layers). One of the moms who was there watched her 3 year old son with Amanda and Luke (when he wasn't attached to my hip). The other helped with ingredients and washing dishes. They were both amazingly helpful and made my disorganization a little less painful.
I had really tried to be organized, getting out ingredients and mixing bowls the night before, making a schedule and thinking about how long things would take to do. I underestimated the amount of time mixing the bread would take, I overestimated the amount of time making the fruit pizzas would take... I forgot to get out measuring utensils, when I went to look for the refrigerated ingredients I couldn't find them...
In the grand scheme of things, the disorganization didn't matter. Making the bread was the biggest hit: messy and magical. The girls made sculptures out of their bread dough, so Eleanor got to eat the cat and the frog she made. Amanda made a butterfly, but she really doesn't like bread very much. The fruit pizzas were notable mostly because the "pizza dough" was from a vegan sugar cookie recipe, delicious. the silly sandwiches were, well silly. And the kids had fun playing together, most of the time (not when they were locking Luke and the other 3 year old boy out of the room saying "girls only!" Fortunately, that was relatively short lived.) One session down, 3 to go. Do you all have any more ideas of fun things to make with kids?
Basic Bread recipe
3/4 c very warm (but not hot) water
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/4 c white flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
Mix the water and sugar in a mug, sprinkle the yeast on top and stir. Let sit 5 minutes until yeast in foamy.
Mix flours and salt. Add yeast mixture and stir, then use your hands to make a lump of dough. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is stretchy. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour (we put it outside, in 100 degree heat).
Punch the dough down, knead and form into a loaf, rolls or sculptures (cats, frogs, worms, etc.). Let rise for about 30 minutes. Then bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until crust is brown and hard. Let the bread cool for a few minutes in the pan before cooling on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Eleanor came up with the theme for the club (Eat the Alphabet! Applesauce, bread...vegetables, whipped cream, xray bananas...) and made the invitations. We sent them to 10 girls in Eleanor's class and I explained in a note that although 4 sessions are scheduled, not everyone can come to every session.
The first session went well. We made bread, fruit pizzas, and "silly sandwiches" (Eleanor's idea: stack saltines, sunflower seed butter, jam, or cheese and ham in 4 layers). One of the moms who was there watched her 3 year old son with Amanda and Luke (when he wasn't attached to my hip). The other helped with ingredients and washing dishes. They were both amazingly helpful and made my disorganization a little less painful.
I had really tried to be organized, getting out ingredients and mixing bowls the night before, making a schedule and thinking about how long things would take to do. I underestimated the amount of time mixing the bread would take, I overestimated the amount of time making the fruit pizzas would take... I forgot to get out measuring utensils, when I went to look for the refrigerated ingredients I couldn't find them...
In the grand scheme of things, the disorganization didn't matter. Making the bread was the biggest hit: messy and magical. The girls made sculptures out of their bread dough, so Eleanor got to eat the cat and the frog she made. Amanda made a butterfly, but she really doesn't like bread very much. The fruit pizzas were notable mostly because the "pizza dough" was from a vegan sugar cookie recipe, delicious. the silly sandwiches were, well silly. And the kids had fun playing together, most of the time (not when they were locking Luke and the other 3 year old boy out of the room saying "girls only!" Fortunately, that was relatively short lived.) One session down, 3 to go. Do you all have any more ideas of fun things to make with kids?
Basic Bread recipe
3/4 c very warm (but not hot) water
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/4 c white flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
Mix the water and sugar in a mug, sprinkle the yeast on top and stir. Let sit 5 minutes until yeast in foamy.
Mix flours and salt. Add yeast mixture and stir, then use your hands to make a lump of dough. Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is stretchy. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour (we put it outside, in 100 degree heat).
Punch the dough down, knead and form into a loaf, rolls or sculptures (cats, frogs, worms, etc.). Let rise for about 30 minutes. Then bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until crust is brown and hard. Let the bread cool for a few minutes in the pan before cooling on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Comments
Mom
I got the proportions slightly wrong the day of the cooking club, so the bread that came out best was from the girl who only added 1 cup of white flour (instead of 1.5 cups...)
The bread worked out so well that I am thinking of making cinnamon rolls for the next club.