Bread Making (Krista)

Today, we made Advent Bread! This was the first of many bread-making adventures that we will have together--I am sure of it ;). The bread came out of the oven right before nap, so the full-day children got to sample some right out of the oven. We saved part of the loaf for the half-dayers (and their parents) to sample on Monday. We documented each step of the experience, and the photos will be posted soon, but for now, I wanted to give you the recipe, in case any of you want to bake bread over the weekend--it's SO fun!

Advent Spiral Bread

Supplies Needed:

2 ½ Cups Unbleached Flour

1 Package Dry Yeast

1 ½ Cups Milk

½ Cup Water

3 Tbsp. Margarine or Butter

3 Tbsp. Brown Sugar

1 ½ Tsp. Salt

2 ½ Cups Whole Wheat Flour

In a large bowl, mix flour and yeast. Heat milk, water, margarine, brown sugar and salt on low. Add to flour mixture. Stir several minutes

Add whole wheat flour until dough forms. Knead on floured table until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl. Cover and let rise until it doubles in bulk.

After the dough has risen, you will need to punch down the dough. The best way to do this is to let children pound the dough with their fists. After you have done this, shape your dough into a Spiral. If there seems to be too much, make more than one Sprial!

If you have star shaped cookie cutters, the children might like to cut stars out of excess dough and decorate their spiral with it.

Cover and let rise to double.

Place the bread into the oven in a pan and set at 400°F for 30 minutes.