Baking With Kids

My son have spent some time with his father in Sweden but right now he´s on the plane on his way to California. It´s terrible to be apart from him but SO wonderful when he finally comes back. It makes our time together very valuable. I´m so grateful for every minute with him.

My son loves baking. He´s been baking with me since he was newborn, just like Hayley. Some of the things we love to bake together are: pizza, cinnamon buns, bread, chocolate cake and cookies. He enjoys baking almost everything. He truly loves making his own pizza. I think he enjoys baking pizza more than anything else, I have to ask him when he gets here.

Some things that are important to think about, to make baking with kids a success are:

·       Make sure you have plenty of time, it´s not fun if you´re under time pressure.

·       Choose to bake something that you can master without too much trouble. You want your main focus to be on your child.

·       Don´t wear your best clothes! It can be messy sometimes.

·       Place all the ingredients you are planning to use in front of you before you start baking.

·       Talk to your child and explain what you are doing. They learn so fast. Take the time to answer questions.

·       Let the child help with everything that it´s possible for a child his/her age to do. Baking is an excellent opportunity to make math fun for your child. There´s so much math in baking (measuring, temperature, dividing the dough in pieces, counting how many pieces there are etc...)

·       Let the child have his/her own tools.

·       Don´t mind the mess! You can clean afterwards. Concentrate on the fun instead.

·       Give a lot of praise for every effort your child makes.

 

Is there anything else that you find useful to consider when baking with kids? What do you enjoy baking with your kids?

My Baking Addiction



Cinnamon bun  (Kanelbulle, Swedish)

When I was a little girl I dreamed about having a horse and living on a ranch. When I dreamed about work I didn´t dream about working with horses.

I wanted to be a baker. I was very sure of that. My mom baked a lot and she always took the time to let me have my own dough and to make my own bread (or pastries). She didn´t mind the mess and for that I´m forever grateful. I didn´t get to keep my mom for long, she died when I was 12 years old. Some of the best conversations we had were during our baking sessions. My favorite childhood memories surround those times with my mother baking in our tiny kitchen.

In 1995, three years after her death, I became a student at a baking school in Sweden. For three years I studied the art of baking at Palmcrantz Skolan. My studies included a lot of early mornings in the school bakery and in bakeries around the city of Östersund, Sweden (where the school is situated).

We also studied chemistry. Baking is actually a lot of chemistry! I will explain more about that later on and why knowledge about this makes baking easier, and not more complicated as some might think.

During my years in school I learned how to bake many different kinds of bread, pastries, cakes and cookies. Swedish bread and gourmet pastries are my specialties but not the only things I bake. I love experimenting and my opinion of a fun morning (when the rest of the family is still asleep) is making up new recipes.

My first boss used to say that we should practice "learning by doing." I like that! It´s something I still practice today.

Before the birth of my first child I stopped working professionally as a baker. The early morning work didn´t really match life with a baby. I loved working as a baker and I still love baking. I love everything about it; deciding what to bake, mixing the ingredients to exactly the right consistency, the feeling of the dough under my hands, the smell of the bread in the oven and the sight of perfect bread made by my own hands. It´s easy when you know how to do it, and I´m about to tell you just how easy it is!

This blog is only about baking. This is about baking from scratch. You won´t find any mixes in the recipes here.  I´m going to write about important things to think about while choosing ingredients, temperatures, fresh yeast v/s dry yeast, sourdough, baking with kids, and of course plenty of easy to follow recipes!

I´m more than happy to answer any questions you may have about baking.

Is there anything in particular you want me to write about? Just tell me!

I´m constantly asked when I´m going to start my baking blog and publish my first recipe book, now it´s finally happening. I´ve been very excited about writing a baker´s blog for a long time. However, a blog is only fun with interaction! Come on, join me and invite all your friends! The more the merrier. We´re going to have lots of fun together and I promise you that you will learn a lot about baking.

Looking forward to see you in my kitchen!

/Maria Northcutt

Ps. If you want to know more about me I also write a blog about my family´s ranch http://discoveringranchlife.blogspot.com.