homeschool – Page 3 – Baking with Belle

No Sugar Added Whole Wheat Banana Bread

After playing with the Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread to keep the texture and look but cut the overpowering sweetness, we got to a more banana-y Low Sugar Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. I still thought we could limit the sugar content further, though, and use the chocolate chips, or a drizzle of honey or some jam to add sweetness and depth of flavor. Belle’s brother Buddy is eating solids and I’m trying to avoid added sugar in his food.

With yet another batch of overripe bananas, we set off to test the recipe.

Scraping yogurt — “Scrape, scrape, turn, scrape”

Belle’s fine motor control has really improved over the past few months (from 2 1/2 to almost 3), which allows her to do a lot of the two-handed coordinated movements without me as a stabilizer. A measuring cup of yogurt holds a pretty good sticky substance that requires one hand to stay stable and the other to be moving in and out while twisting. Pretty complicated. So long as the cup rests on the edge of the mixing bowl, I can be fairly certain the yogurt will make it into the bowl. Then, I refer back to our sequencing work, and have her “scrape, tap (into the bowl), and check” to see if she got it all.

Greasing a pan — Leaving visible grease won’t hurt a thing.

Similarly, she’s able to get the eggs and flour into the mixing bowl without assistance or (much) spillage, and she’s able to grease a pan fairly well. My challenge is to step back and let her, only swooping in after to make sure we got the yogurt fully scraped or the pan fully greased.

Belle is still a two-year-old, so impulsivity is hard to control. When she spotted eggshells that needed to be cleaned up, she got distracted by how easily they broke. Instead of ripping them out of her hands, we started talking about what she was doing and describing how it felt: crunchy, icky, sharp, so gross, crackly, fun.

Skills worked on:

following directions
sequencing
kitchen safety
asking for help
fine motor (scooping, scraping, and pouring)
counting
labeling
food prep!

Equipment:

mixer (stand or hand)
mixing bowl
small bowl (for eggs)
loaf pan
measuring cups
measuring spoons
spatula

We’re pretty happy with this recipe and like the sweetness level. It could easily handle nuts or chocolate chips. It’s also pretty flexible – margarine can sub in for butter, regular or Icelandic yogurt can substitute in for Greek yogurt, and if you’re short a banana it doesn’t much matter.

Recipe (40 min prep, 50 min bake, yield 1 loaf):

3 bananas
1/2 c. butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. 2% Greek yogurt
1 1/3 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Optional: 3/4 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325°F and grease a loaf pan.
Melt one stick of butter in separate bowl.
Beat together melted butter and bananas, leaving it chunky.
Add 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 c. Greek yogurt to butter/banana mixture. Mix well.
Mix in 1 1/3 c. whole wheat flour, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt. Optionally, fold in 3/4 c. chocolate chips.
Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan and spread it even. Sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top (optional).
Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Let cool completely before removing from pan. Store at room temperature or in refrigerator in an airtight container.

This recipe is part of our coronavirus/Covid-19 quarantine bake-along. See the previous recipe here: Rainbow Pasta. See the next recipe here: Irish Flapjacks.

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March 19, 2020May 5, 2021

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Rainbow Pasta

Belle wanted pasta (for like the 10th time in two days, because toddler palates are so very varied). I wanted to occupy her while I cooked and to make the food fun. Enter rainbow pasta!

Today’s target is a little learning about the color wheel and mixing colors, so the key is getting Belle to pay attention to what happens when red and yellow are mixed, or yellow and blue, or blue and red. At not quite 3, she’s a little young for predictions, though we try with “What do you think would happen if…?” Instead, we focus on pausing to observe the water after we add food coloring. “Let’s add a little bit more and see what happens – yes, it’s more red now! What if we add yellow? Is it still red or a little bit orange? More yellow? A lot a bit orange!”

Once the pasta is added, the next question is if it will change the pasta. Belle needed encouragement to “shake, shake, shake! Now check!” but eventually got it and was extra enthusiastic about rinsing the pasta and taste-testing for differences.

Shaking purple pasta — Buddy got into the action – shake, shake, shake!

We didn’t – but could have – used the differently colored pieces of pasta to actually build a rainbow on a plate or piece of paper, thereby reinforcing the order of colors in a rainbow and fine motor placement.

Skills worked on:

Early art (color wheel, rainbow)
Early science (predictions, observations)
Gross motor (upper body shaking)
Fine motor (drops of food coloring)

Equipment:

5 pint/quart jars with lids, or ziplock bags
Pot
Colander

Recipe (30 min, yield: 1 box of cooked pasta):

1 box of pasta (type doesn’t matter)
Food coloring (red, blue, and yellow at a minimum)
Water

Cook pasta according to directions. As it cooks, set up the dye stations.
In 5 jars or ziplock bags, add 2 tbsp water and 10 drops of food coloring as follows: Red: 10 drops red; Orange: 5 drops yellow + 5 drops red, Yellow: not applicable since you’ll use undyed pasta; Green: 5 drops yellow + 5 drops blue; Blue: 10 drops blue; Purple: 5 drops red + 5 drops blue. Note that none of this has to be precise.
Drain the pasta in a colander. Portion the pasta into your dye stations, putting 1/6 back into the pot.
Seal your dye/pasta container and shake! Get everything good and covered.
One color at a time, put pasta back into colander to rinse off excess dye, then add back into the pot. Toss and serve with your favorite sauce or topping.

This recipe is part of our coronavirus/Covid-19 quarantine bake-along. See the previous recipe here: Irish Brown Soda Bread. See the next recipe here: No Sugar Added Whole Wheat Banana Bread

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March 19, 2020March 19, 2020

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Irish Brown Soda Bread

It’s almost St Paddy’s Day, so time for some good brown bread, slathered in butter and jam, or dipped into stew. Or, I suppose, for sandwiches, though Belle and I prefer to eat our sandwiches deconstructed.

Because this is a bread that relies on baking soda instead of yeast, we didn’t recap the yeast fart discussion from yesterday’s pizza dough, but instead used it as a springboard to talk about Ireland. Hey, if we’re going to be self-isolating, Mama can relive her glory days of backpacking across Europe.

Sequencing in flour measurements — Sequencing: scoop, tip, check. Does it need a lot more, a little more, or a little less?

Well, let’s back up. Belle doesn’t really have a concept of “countries” yet, but she does understand islands (we live on the shore). So Ireland is an island where some people live, and they eat a lot of this bread. They have a lot of whole wheat flour because it doesn’t cost much and is easier to make than white flour, and they have oats because they’re easy to grow and healthy to eat, and the bread helps them stay full when they work on their farms.

Pouring buttermilk — Gross motor: Belle has a heavy and full jar of buttermilk to pour accurately into the bowl.

That last bit is a bit unsupported by research, but the dense, slightly sweet bread is definitely filling, and when we’re talking about a largely rural, historically poor country, cheap and filling eats are definitely important to farmers.

Mixing by hand — Sensory vocabulary: Belle called the dough “chilly”!

Ireland is also a superstitious country – hence the cross on the bread to let the devil or fairies out. Belle has enormous confidence in her ability to use knives despite rarely getting a chance to touch them, and this very simple scoring of the loaf was as good an opportunity as any to allow her to make a few cuts without worrying about precision. We said a little prayer for the world while we were at it.

Knife skills — Belle’s solo attempts weren’t deep enough, but at almost 3, she is patient enough to wait for me to explain our cuts and then help me with them.

While the bread was in the oven, we talked a bit more about St Patrick, shamrocks, the color green, pictures of Ireland, and Irish farms. I put on a cartoon for Belle: the St Patrick episode of Veggie Tales. Slightly older children might also enjoy Ballybraddan, an Irish cartoon about a grade school hurling team that can be found on YouTube, but when I previewed it, I knew the pacing would be a bit too slow for Belle.

Skills worked on:

Knife safety and skills
Fine motor (whisking, scooping)
Measuring
Sensory (hand mixing)
Cultural unit study (Ireland)

Equipment:

Large mixing bowl
Spatula
Measuring cups and spoons
Knife

Recipe (25 min prep, 45 min bake, yield 1 12″ round loaf):

This recipe is modified from Best of Irish Traditional Cooking by Biddy White Lennon.

4 c whole wheat flour (or white)
1 1/2 c white flour
1/2 c old fashioned oats, optional
1 generous tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 c raisins, optional
About 2 c buttermilk (or scant 2 c milk plus 2 tbsp white vinegar)
2 tbsp molasses (substitute honey or maple syrup)

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C.
If substituting for buttermilk: Whisk together 1 3/4 c milk and 2 tbsp white vinegar. Let sit 5-10 min, until slightly curdled.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl: 4 c whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 c white flour, 1/2 c old fashioned oats, 1 generous tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 c raisins.
Add 2 tbsp molasses to the buttermilk or buttermilk substitute and whisk til dissolved.
Create a well in the dry ingredients, add buttermilk/molasses mixture, and mix quickly by hand until a soft dough is formed.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until dough is smooth – no more than a few minutes.
Form dough into a disc 1 1/2-2″ deep (about x” in diameter), then use a sharp knife to score deeply a cross or X. Move loaf onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 40-45 min. Tap on the bottom to check that it’s done. The loaf should sound hollow.
Cool on a rack. Eat within a day if left on the counter or 3 days in an airtight container, or slice and freeze up to three months. Stale bread excellent for croutons.

This recipe is part of our coronavirus/Covid-19 quarantine bake-along. See the previous recipe here: Pizza Pie See the next recipe here: Rainbow Pasta

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March 15, 2020March 19, 2020

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Pizza Pie

On Belle’s baking wishlist today: pink donuts, bagels, ba’na bread, pancakes, and lollipops. Her faith in my ability to make lollipops is adorable…I imagine I need corn syrup, flavoring, sugar, maybe food coloring? But we started pizza dough last night, so that’s what we made today. Also, it’s Pi(e) Day.

Belle’s speech has gotten a lot clearer since the last time we posted recipes, which means I’m getting to talk about baking science, in terms an almost three year old would understand. Hooray! Our recipe calls for yeast, which is where we focused our science lesson.

Yeast in the jar: napping

Yeast with warm liquid: taking a bath and swimming and having babies and farting

Adding whey to yeast — Belle is pouring by herself, which risks not everything making it into the bowl, but is great for motor control.

Adding sugar: something for the yeast to eat

Bubbly, foamy liquid: yeast farts after eating

Risen dough with bubbles: from all the yeast farts

Risen yeast dough with bubbles — A bit of plastic wrap right on top of the dough captures the yeast farts!

Can you tell we have a lot of conversations about bodily functions? In reality, the active dry yeast is more or less in hibernation without moisture. If the liquid is too hot (greater than about 110°F), the yeast will be killed. If the liquid is too cold (less than about 95°) the yeast won’t multiply. Giving it sugar allows for quick eating and multiplying. Starch, like flour, is a better food for longer term consumption, and the gluten strands in it trap the CO2. Once salt is added, it creates a less-ideal environment for yeast multiplication, so there’s not as much foaming or CO2 off-gassing. CO2 is the byproduct of fermentation (this process of multiplying), and when it gets trapped in the gluten, the dough rises. There are some cool experiments floating around the internet that examine this process in a more scientific manner, but for our purposes, we just make dough.

Meanwhile, we are still focused on some of our usual skills: sequencing (scoop, tip, check), labeling our tools (now including a thermometer), size comparisons (“we need a spoon twice as big”) and sensory vocabulary (wet, sticky, dusty).

Mixing a shaggy dough by hand — Hand mixing the dough is a sensory experience!

Skills worked on:

Early science (fermentation, life cycle, liquid/solid/gas)
Vocabulary
Kitchen improvisation and flavor combinations (what tastes good together on a pizza?)
Fine motor (scooping)
Gross motor (mixing, kneading, stretching dough)
Early math (estimates, halving dough)
Patience (overnight rise)
Measuring

Equipment:

Mixing bowl
Thermometer
Measuring spoons
Plastic wrap or tea towel

Recipe (30 min active prep, overnight rise; yield: 2 pizzas):

This recipe is adapted from Domestikatedlife‘s New England Invite, by Kate Bowler. I love this cookbook and highly recommend it!

1/4 tsp active dry yeast (there are about 2 1/4 tsp in a standard yeast packet)
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 c warm whey or water (100-110°F)
3 1/4 c flour
2 1/2 t salt
Flour or cornmeal for dusting
Sauce
Herbs and spices
Toppings
Cheese

Warm 1 1/2 c whey or water to 100-110°F. Whey is a byproduct of drained Instant Pot yogurt in our house and takes about 50 sec to warm in a microwave on high; it will give a lacto-fermented flavor a little like sourdough. Otherwise, tap water is fine. Use a thermometer to ensure correct temperature. Wait for it to cool, if necessary.
Measure out 1/4 tsp of yeast into the mixing bowl. If you use part of a package of yeast, put the remainder in an airtight container to keep humidity out.
Sprinkle 1 tsp sugar on top.
Add the warm liquid to the mixing bowl, and wait 5 minutes. It should be a uniform foamy tan now, definitely not clear liquid with visible granules.
Add 2 1/2 tsp salt to the liquid to slow yeast fermentation, then add 3 1/4 c flour (or whole wheat flour).
Use one hand to mix flour and liquid into a shaggy dough and form into a ball.
Divide into two bowls. Cover each with a tea towel or plastic wrap and place the bowl in a warm place like near a radiator or in a closed oven with the oven light on. Let rest 12-24 hours. Dough will double.
The next day, oil or flour hands and punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead back into a ball. At this point, you can put it into an oiled ziplock bag to freeze (allow 24 hours to thaw in fridge).
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Stretch the dough in your hands, using gravity to help you. Use cornmeal liberally to prevent sticking.
Top with sauce, toppings, and cheese. Meat should be pre-cooked; small, uniformly sized veggies may be frozen or fresh.
Cook on pizza stone or cookie sheet until cheese bubbles and dough seems firm, about 15 min. Let cool 3-5 min before cutting and serving.

This recipe is part of our coronavirus/Covid-19 quarantine bake-along. See the previous recipe here: Coconut Macaroons See the next recipe here: Irish Brown Soda Bread

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March 14, 2020March 15, 2020

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Coronavirus, Quarantine, & Kids

My grad school, undergrad university, high school, and grade schools are all closed today and for the foreseeable future. My town’s school system is open – for now – but is sending out daily updates and a pamphlet titled “How to Talk about Coronavirus to Your Kids.” It’s a strange world we’re living in. But Belle is almost 3 and Buddy isn’t yet 1 and we can still shield them from the uncertainty by giving the family a routine. Here, at home, we bake.

“But I don’t bake,” you say. Don’t worry. This is simple stuff (and if not, ask and I’ll walk you through it with pictures) and who cares if it gets messed up? Not my kid.

“But I don’t even know what supplies I need,” you protest. I got you. Here’s your 14-day quarantine Amazon Pantry/Instacart order, for daily baking:

7 lbs butter (baking takes up a lot of butter – but you can often substitute margarine if you don’t care that cut out cookies don’t hold their shape and biscuits aren’t perfectly flaky, or I’ll give you some recipes that work through your giant tub of Crisco instead. Recipes often call for unsalted for a precise saltiness, but whatever, use what’s available.)
15 lbs flour (almost certainly overkill but if you start making bread every day you’ll go through it quickly)
5 lb sugar (I like lower sugar recipes but this is the most standard size available)
2 lb confectioners sugar (aka powdered sugar; multiply that if you like to frost things as it’s a key component of royal icing and buttercream frosting)
12 oz cocoa powder (add a 4 oz jar of ground espresso for depth of flavor, optional)
Baking soda, baking powder, and salt (if you don’t have a box/can that’s at least half-full already. Kosher salt is useful for pretzels.)
24-30 oz semisweet or dark chocolate chips (please note that these are also useful as potty training bribery and snacks for mamas who didn’t get to finish their cold coffee from 4 hours ago)
Sprinkles (just get a variety, more if you don’t feel like decanting them back into their containers after some, er, overly enthusiastic sprinkling)
Spices (cinnamon, mostly. Add cloves and ginger for a warming fall profile. Cream of tartar for play dough.)
2 doz eggs (more if you want to use them for omelettes, etc)
1 jar active dry yeast (or 6 packets; more if you want to make bread daily)
4+ oz vanilla extract (most recipes call for 1 tsp, which means you get 6 recipes worth of vanilla out of a 2 oz bottle…or a little less because of sloshes and never getting that last drop)
2 oz almond extract (optional, if you like the flavor)
Old fashioned oats (optional, if you like oatmeal cookies or granola. Use whatever variety is already in your pantry if necessary.)
Dried fruit, like raisins, craisins, and dried cherries (optional, if you like them)
Fresh citrus, especially lemons (optional, usually okay to drop from a recipe)
Crisco (optional, but good for greasing pans and as a butter alternative)
Coconut (optional, but key for macaroons)
Food coloring (optional, but fun)
1-2 bears of honey (optional, and yes, a bear is a unit of measure!)

We will also use whatever is already in your pantry: tea, canned pumpkin, peanut butter, maple syrup, and so forth.

“But we don’t have a stand mixer!” you declare. No problemo. Hand mixers and even mechanical egg beaters (if the butter is soft enough) work just fine. Look around the house to find a hard canister if you need a makeshift rolling pin. Equipment and supplies that will make this easier:

Mixer
Mixing bowl
Rolling pin
Silicone spatula
Parchment paper
Hand soap
Forks/knives/spoons
Cookie sheet
8 or 9″ square or round pan (or 2, or one of each)
Muffin tins
Cookie cutters, optional (but more fun than upside down glasses)
Pie plate, optional
Oven (but I’ve made cookies in a toaster oven)
Aprons (Belle has not once kept everything in the bowl and that is a-ok)
Some sort of kitchen tower or uncushioned chair to get kids to counter level

“Cool, what are we baking?” There’s the spirit! I mean, what aren’t we baking? Bread so you don’t have to go to the store, scones/muffins/quick breads for tomorrow’s breakfast, snacks, all kinds of dessert, pasta, pizza, holiday treats…perhaps the baking gods provide divine guidance to your child and you end up with a mysterious concoction! We can do a bake-along though to keep this easy.

Here we go.

Day 1: Coconut Macaroons

Day 2: Pizza Pie

Day 3: Irish Brown Soda Bread

Day 4: Rainbow Pasta

Day 5: No Sugar Added Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Day 6: Irish Flapjacks

Day 7: Sweet Potato Fries

Day 8: Pretzels

Day 9: Snickerdoodles

Day 10: Shortbread

Day 11: Mac & Cheese

Day 12: Pumpkin Bread

Day 13: Goldfish

Days 14-16: Gingerbread House

March 12, 2020April 25, 2020

Baking with Belle2 Comments

Size Comparisons

Size comparison is a multi-disciplinary skill that draws on language and cognition, as well as an early math skill. At about 2.5 years old, Belle should be learning the concepts and words for big vs little. She’s categorizing objects (these are measuring cups, those are measuring spoons), comparing the sizes, and learning to understand and pronounce the words.

(Interestingly, even though /l/ is hard to say, little actually sounds more or less like /little/. If we tried to have her say small, it would come out closer to /daw/ because she simplifies the consonant cluster. So big vs little it is!)

In the kitchen, there are a bunch of things I can use to point out the sizes. We start with two items: the big bowl and the little bowl. “Crack an egg into the little bowl, then wait for Mama to pick out any shells. Now pour it into the big bowl.”

Belle uses measuring cups as scoops for flour and sugar – I can lay out a big and little scoop and ask her to pick the little scoop. Once she has that down consistently, I can add a third scoop (the medium scoop) and introduce that concept.

Belle hasn’t quite figured out the superlative –est ending, but I use it with the measuring spoons. “We need a quarter teaspoon. Which is the littlest spoon?” She’ll grab something that isn’t the tablespoon – good, because it is littler. “See how that spoon is still bigger than this spoon?” I can ask, showing the 1/2 teaspoon. “Which one is the littlest, the one that doesn’t have any spoons smaller than it?” She won’t start expressing it for another year or so but will start understanding it sooner.

I can also expose her to the superlative -est or the little/medium/big concept less explicitly. Our flour and sugar are in gallon size glass jars, while whole wheat flour is in a three-quart glass jar and brown sugar is in a two-quart metal canister. We keep chocolate chips and such in quart-size mason jars. So when we’re looking for the next ingredient, I can ask Belle, “where’s the brown sugar?” She usually points, but is used to me eliciting speech with “The big jar or the little jar?” and pointing myself to the two sugar jars.

Or maybe it’s flour we’re looking for – “the big jar or the medium jar?” Or chocolate chips – “are they in the littlest jar?” – phrased in a way to take advantage of her tendency to echo the last word or two of what she hears.

Even our spatulas are useful – “do we need the big spatula or the little spatula to scrape the peanut butter out of the scoop?” I try to give her an opportunity to fail, so if the big spatula won’t fit in the quarter-cup measure but that’s the one she chose, I hand her the big spatula anyway. When Belle fails because it’s too wide, she adds that to the mental list of dimensions she has to check next time.

Check around your kitchen – what do you have in multiple sizes that can be used for size comparisons?

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October 31, 2019

Baking with Belle