sookoolyder

home made bread is one of those things that i would love to make all the time... in my mind a good mother bakes bread - to save money and to avoid all those preservatives and the sugar & salt in store-bought bread. however in my mind also was bread-making being an impossible & unrealistic task. but didn't previous generation make their own bread all the time? i've always had a mental block - assuming it would involve various long and boring hours of kneading and rising. finally i was inspired by a recipe in a kids cooking book and was surprised to find it so manageable and easy. so i am trying to make my own bread more often. this bread is super easy and tastes great. you can experiment with adding seeds, making rolls or loaves. i like making rolls and freezing them so i can pull out one or two at a time for lunch.

bread is a great thing to make with kids because they can really get their hands stuck in and sticky. little mr z loves playing with his hands in a bowl of flour. so our bread generally has the lovely added flavour of toddler snot.

Little Z: "i'm pretending this is soil" as his hands turn in to scoops and he makes digger noises. we have some lovely chats while we knead dough together. he told me recently that if could be an animal he would be a sookoolyder which is an animal that can jump really high in the air - higher than any other animal.

Gather:

25g butter

225g strong brown/granary flour

225g white flour

1 sachet (2tspns) yeast

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

275ml warm water

You can play around with the ratio of brown and white flour or the amount of salt and sugar. The main thing is that the mixing, kneading, rising, baking process can actually be very simple and quick.

pre-heat the oven to 220C/425F

mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl and rub in the butter. kids love doing this.

make a well in the middle and add the water

mix it up with a spoon and then your hands to make a dough ball

sprinkle lots of flour on a surface and knead the dough for 10minutes

put the dough in to greased loaf tins, make it in to rolls on a greased tray or plait it if you're feeling fancy

cover the dough with a warm damp tea towel and leave it to rise for an hour

optional - brush with beaten egg

optional - add seeds on top

bake for 20 minutes