bread

The kids "helped" me make bread this morning. I don't know what came over me, but I decided to make yeast bread, the kind you mix, knead, let rise, punch, let rise, flip, let rise and bake. Q took off on me about five minutes into it, but The Bee hung around for the duration. Her job was to mix. At one point, after I had turned the dough out and was kneading, she had a wooden spoon and a bowl of flour. Shortly after that, we had a mess ... flour everywhere. She also decided to taste it, and I can't say that I know what a spoonful of flour tastes like, but from her reaction and the coughing I was hearing, it's not very good. Her word: yutty.

And, as a side note, no wonder pioneer women were so darn hardy ... kneading bread is hard work. It really gives the shoulders a bit of a work out ... I can't imagine devoting an entire day to making bread, but I'm sure that once you get a rhythm in place, it's smooth sailing. Most of the time spent making bread is either waiting for the dough to rise or doing dishes.

Our bread turned out beautifully, nice and golden. I've frozen half of it, and the other half we had with dinner.

If I was thinking I would have taken pictures. After all, the camera was right next to the mixing bowl. Maybe next time.