Baking with a Toddler

Walking away from the scene of the crime.

A blurry shot of the floury butt.

She doesn't just wear it, she also eats it.

Finished Product: not bad under the circumstances.


The orders have slowed down for a bit over here at Bklyn Bakes, leaving me more time to try to train my toddler to love baking.

My grandmothers trained me from the time I could stand, constantly reminding me that I'd have trouble landing a man if I couldn't make a decent chocolate pie or Italian cream cake. Luckily for them, I liked it anyway, despite my feminist nature, and clung to their teaching even while disagreeing with their ideology.

I can't really tell if Stella likes to bake yet or not. She seems delighted by the messy part of it, as evidenced by the photo of her pants after she slid around in a mixture of flour, oats and wheat germ.

I have to come to terms with the fact that Stella may never have an affinity/obsession with baking like her mother. But at least the child will understand that making your own brownies and yellow cake is far too easy to resort to using, ahem, a mix.

For your enjoyment, here's an incredibly easy and healthy recipe for Irish Brown Bread, to be made with or without the aid of a toddler.

Irish Brown Bread

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups wheat flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cup buttermilk
2 T. honey

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix buttermilk and honey in a small bowl. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry mixture, and mix gently until just combined. Turn onto a floured surface, knead a couple of times, and form into a circle. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 400 degrees and bake an additional 15 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when you tap it. Let cool 20 minutes.

*NOTE: All orders for Bklyn Bakes are fulfilled WITHOUT the messy help of a toddler.