Baking

This is a loaf of bread my 7 year old made from a Family Fun Cooking with Kids cookbook. He did it all by himself (with the help of a Bosch mixer) and I admit I did help round out the shape a little. It was fun to just hand him the ingredients and measuring cups and watch him work. It was very tasty as well.

This next recipe is for whole wheat bread using hard white wheat that I got from my mother-in-law. I have made many loaves of bread and experimented with several recipes, but I think this will be my go to recipe from now on. It turned out beautifully on the first try (that's a first), it tastes good and my kids really like it. A few things, I only have a hand grinder to grind wheat, so I would cut this in half and only make two loaves at a time. The second thing I've learned is to let it knead in the mixer until it passes the window pane test, which means you can gently stretch a small piece of dough and it doesn't rip apart but rather gets to the point that it is translucent.

Hard White Whole Wheat Bread

5 c warm water
2 TBSP yeast
2 TBSP Brown sugar to start the yeast growing
Then add 2/3 c oil
2/3 c honey
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP salt
14 - 15 c White Wheat flour (just enough for the mix to clean the side of the bowl)

Mix in Bosch for 8 minutes. Let sit about 10 minutes, shape into loaves, let rise until it just starts to clean top of bread pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

The last recipe is for super easy, super yummy homemade granola. Since I don't like coconut, I leave it out. I also don't use the maple extract because I like the flavor of the nuts and oats more than the mapley taste. I received this recipe from my husband's cousin.

Granola

3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup coconut
1/4 cup plus 2T maple syrup
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup plus 2T brown sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 capful of maple extract

Mix the oats, almonds, pecans, and coconut on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
While the oat mixture is baking, put the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and heat on medium until the sugar is dissolved.
Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees. Mix the oat mixture with the syrup mixture, then spread out on the baking sheet and bake an additional 20-25 minutes.