Spoil ‘Em Then Shock ‘Em

I've kind of adopted this little policy in my head that if I know I'm going to challenge the kids' taste buds one week I'll spoil them a little bit the week before. Call it a false sense of security, if you will. This is not to say that we go crazy and make, say, candy houses and chocolate flowers (although now that I've said it the idea intrigues me) or break out a box of mac and cheese (I'm not the least bit intrigued by that idea), but I'll usually give them a break with something I know they're going to love—like things made with enriched bread dough. The only trouble with yeast bread was that I couldn't figure out how to accomplish some good artisanal loaves in these short, once-a-week classes. First of all, we don't have a mixer big enough to handle a large amount of dough and all that mixing and kneading by hand would more than likely be too difficult for all the kids (including my Young Epicureans) and secondly, there simply isn't enough time for all the mixing, rising, punching, rising, and proofing in one class.

And then I found this:

 

What a great book! The mixing is minimal and the dough does all the hard work by itself. All the kids have to do is combine the ingredients in a bowl, make sure everything is incorporated, and then leave it on the counter to rise. Then it goes in the refrigerator for up to five days. It's so easy that I was even able to have the Kids Café class mix small, individual batches and combine them in one big plastic container for later use. There were variations in each little batch, but together they made a great dough.

For Friday's Young Epicureans class I mixed the initial batch of dough (they mixed another one later for the Kids Café class). While I was mixing someone came into the kitchen to talk to me and I lost track of what I was doing. As a result I halved the amount of water I needed and doubled the amount of honey. Since we were doing sticky buns in that class I decided to let it go, but cautioned the kids that it was going to take extra time to rise. Because of my error we didn't bake any that night and instead everyone took them home to rise overnight for baking in the morning. Just so I could see the results myself I brought a batch home too and was pleasantly surprised.

(I'm most likely going to adopt the accidental recipe and use it instead of the recipe from the book!)

That same night the Young Epicureans made Souffléed Banana Pancakes with caramelized bananas and every one of them came out great. (Unfortunately I was camera-less that night, so you'll just have to take my word for it.)

Two days later my Kids Café kids made pecan sticky buns too, but they also made Challah bread.

They enjoyed rolling and braiding the dough.

And they decorated with poppy seeds.  A few of them seemed underwhelmed with the size of their loaves, but their disappointment dissolved the moment the hot, steaming, golden breads emerged from the oven.

My favorite part of the day (and I think it might be theirs too!) is when they get to taste what they've eaten. Inevitably a group of them ends up under the small table having a conversation while they devour the fruits of their labor.