ilultham

Sometimes I get silly ideas in my head - like making bread before school!  To  be fair it was only the dough that they were making. An enriched one to make apple buns for a bake sale at school. The dough was being tricky though and we must have got something wrong as it didn't pull together very well or quickly. Lots of kneading needed. It was only as we covered it over that I remember they had school photos that day and they were already covered in flour! I made them quickly run and get changed!  I finished making the buns in the day when the kids were at school and took them later when I met up with them for the after school meet up for the parents. I was pleased to see them go really quickly when I dropped them off!  What would you bake if you had to take something to school or another function? Do you gave a go to favourite to cook?

Last weekend we went to a food festival in Oxford. The whole day was really great, and a particular highlight was one of the talks I managed to sneak off to without the children.   It was with a man who has a company called "Bake with Jack", apparently he's on the TV but I've never seen him (not that I watch huge amounts these days so that's nothing to go by).  He did a demo where he made some apple cinnamon buns, he was a great speaker, really engaging and funny. I also picked up quite a few tips with baking.  The next day I then decided to make some, of course when baking I can't do much without my Middlest helping me!  We used the recipe from the Bake With Jack website , really easy to follow. I have to admit the one tip he kept saying was to trust the recipe, if he hadn't have said that then I'm sure I would have added more flour when kneading. To start with it went really sticky and normally I would have added extra flour to stop it sticking, but ...

Baking night again on Wednesday. I tend to leave the children to it, popping in &out doing other jobs, there to help them if they need it but to encourage them to be as independent as possible with their baking and they always try to get a few bakes on the go at once! They all learnt important lessons that night though - always read the instructions! Turns out a (heaped) tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda is a lot more than teaspoon! The lovely looking cookie bake nearly made us all puke as we spat it out, running to the bin! I think this bake will go down in family history! Good job we had meringues to take the taste away! What's the worst baking mistake you've made?

The children love being back at school with their friends.  But I do miss them a bit! So I'm trying to make sure that our evening are spent doing something and not filled with clubs each night, although they have started scouts again (children need less school and more scouts).  They quickly find something they want to do. wither around me or independent of me! Last night I was making Chelsea buns and my Middlest decided to make some biscuits.  What was really nice was how she took to the task (I tend to leave them, other than wiping down the surfaces in preparation) and got her brother involved. Whilst I was busy doing other jobs she was telling him the measurements and weighing out ingredients with him, teaching him the whole time and sharing the jobs.  Tonight all three got involved. I came back in from planting out some beans and they had started to colour some icing so they could decorate their biscuits.  They had a wail of a time doing it.  Some quite...