Bread Baking Party

we had a bread baking day with our friends WildViolet and Magnolia and their parents and Yvie and Lisel and their parents. unfortunately I didn't take any pictures but I thought I'd share the recipe we used which was a Waldorf kinder bread recipe I found from the Shepherd Valley school  "A Collection of Recipes" pdf. I also used this recipe for our class stone soup party and had the kids shape their individual loaves. It worked fantastically, a single rise easy to work with and 15 mins to bake. And most importantly very yummy!


Enough for 20 children and 2 adults                                            Makes one loaf
3/4 cups honey or maple syrup                                                       3 tablespoons honey
5 cups warm water                                                                       1and1/4 cups warm water
2 packets (1/4 oz.) yeast (4 teaspoons)                                         1/2 packet yeast (1 teaspoon)
10-12 cups flour*                                                                         3-4 cups flour*    
2 teaspoons salt                                                                            1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil                                                                           2 tablespoons olive oil

*flour may be 50% whole wheat flour and 50% whole wheat pastry flour or 50% spelt flour
  and 50% spelt pastry flour

Combine honey, yeast and water in a large mixing bowl.  Water should be warmto-hot (if you cannot leave your finger in the water for five seconds, the water is
too hot).  Cover the bowl with a towel and leave for five minutes, until the yeast is
dissolved and foamy.
Large batch: Add 2 cups of the flour to the bowl, whisking until well mixed.  Add 2 more
cups and stir well with a wooden spoon.  Add just enough more flour so that the dough
is the consistency of muffin batter, up to 2 more cups.
   
Small batch: Add 1/2 cup of the flour to the bowl, whisking until well mixed.  Add 1/2
cup more and stir well with a wooden spoon.  Add just enough more flour so that
the dough is the consistency of muffin batter, up to 1/2 cup more.Cover the bowl
with a towel and let rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
Stir in salt and olive oil. Incorporate enough more flour, a half cup to a cup at a
time, so that the dough is moist, but not sticky (4-6 cups for the large batch, 1 1/2
cups for the small batch).  Flour a surface for kneading, using more flour as
necessary.  Knead dough until it’s smooth, about 5 minutes.
Shape into loaves or little balls for rolls (three to a muffin cup) and put into
greased pans or muffin tins.  Cover with a towel and let rise again in a warm spot,
about 45 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Bake loaves for 40 minutes, smaller muffins for 15-20, or until golden brown.


We ended are evening with a bread and soup dinner, a little wine and a lot of fun. we'll definately be doing this again.  Happy Baking :)