I was all ready to begin my bread making yesterday afternoon when dd piped up that she wanted to make something "all by myself." She ran and got a recipe book and found a recipe for pretzels. It wasn't a good recipe b/c the measurements were in ounces - so I sent her to find a different one.She came back with an old Martha Stewart Kids' Magazine (we both LOVED that magazine - sorry that it ever ceased publication) and a simpler recipe. At first I didn't plan to let her do it all herself b/c I didn't think she could do it - plus sometimes it's hard to relinquish control in the kitchen...easier to do it myself...less messy...less time.
But then (thankfully) I saw the proverbial light - and just kept my hands off the project. Dd has helped me bake bread before and has been a good little kneader when I've needed her to knead - so she kind of new how it all worked to make some pretzel dough.
The only thing I did was make some reminders like "do you think you ought to start the water boiling" or "should you turn on the oven to pre-heat".
I also took the pretzels out of the oven for her.
They turned out great! Some were sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and some with coarse salt.
She was excited to have made something from start to finish on her own.
4 comments:
Oh, how wonderful that your daughter cares enough to try new things! It's a rare girl who could manage a complex yeast recipe all by herself!
It's great to see children willing and wanting to help out ! Those pretzels looked yummy !
My daughter, age ten, also loves to make pretzels. She likes the homemade ones much better than the bought ones.
She has a good reason to--she can't eat the regular ones due to her allergy to dye and preservatives.
It was really hard for me to let my daughter use the kitchen by herself, but now I'm loving it. I just wish she wanted to make something besides cupcakes and cookies... you know, like maybe she could make dinner instead. =)
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