Very quick blog entry about baking with my kids. As I'm typing they are discussing the threat of war between the US and North Korea on the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2. Scary stuff, everybody should just bake instead of threatening to drop nuclear bombs.

My son asked to play with some dough, so I got on the case early to prepare some for him. I decided after he'd finished playing I'd make some dinner rolls for lunch sandwiches plus some hamburger rolls for the freezer to keep for another day. I ended up with about half a pound spare so I quickly made a small cottage loaf to use it up.

Today's dough was a soft dough. So, 20oz strong bread flour, 1/2 oz salt, 1 oz of fat (I used butter), 11.5 fl oz tepid water into which 1/2 oz of dried yeast. Leave the yeast to activate, good beer head when ready. Mix in a mixer with dough hook for around 10 mins. Make sure it's soft and more tacky than a loaf dough. Form into a ball, back in the bowl cover and prove for 45 minutes to an hour.

When doubled in size sprinkle some flour on the table cloth (ours is plastic) and I gave the kids half a pound of dough each to play with. Couple of child knives (not real knives) and some pastry cutters. Wind the kids up and let them go.

Dinner rolls are 2 oz each rolled into a ball with enough room to double. Hamburger rolls are 2 oz also, made into a ball, rest for a minute, sprinkle with small amount of flour then rolled with a pin in both directions to make them flat and circular. Cover and prove until they double (30-60 minutes). Preheat over before they are ready to 225C. Dinner rolls should be sprinkled with flour using a sieve prior to baking. Bake until they are ready, golden on top making sure the bottoms don't burn (lift one up after a few minutes to check)

Cottage loaf is a bit more difficult so I'll do a video for that one.

Cool on the trays, eat when cool or freeze.

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