Baking with Juni

One of the things I'm so excited about as Juniper gets older is baking and doing crafts with her.  She has always shown interest in the kitchen and always wants to be involved; this time we baked bread! I don't think she gets the full concept of it all but when we put the dough in the cast iron pot and then opened the lid an hour later to find this loaf she was in complete awe. With her wide eyes and jaw dropped she was in shock that we made that.  Once it cooled I let her hold it and she was so proud and excited that I let her hold it all by herself (you can see it in her face), it was seriously the cutest experience with her.  And when I set it down to get that one "hero shot" she came behind me to the coffee table and pulled out her plastic knife and said "mama cut" "mama eat".  We of course had a piece with butter and honey and we both really enjoyed it, there's nothing like

Crusty No-Knead Bread

recipe from Just A Pinch

makes 1 loaf

3 cups of bread flour (all-purpose can work well too)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water

Dutch oven (I used 5.5 qt) or oven-safe large bowl with a lid

Directions:

1. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. If you’re adding any additional ingredients add them in with the flour before adding any liquid. Add the warm water and mix together with a wooden spoon until it forms a shaggy dough. Don’t overwork the dough and don’t worry about it looking pretty!

2. Cover the bowl with a lid, plastic wrap, or towel and place in a warm non-drafted area.  Let it sit at room temperature for 12-24 hours, don’t disturb it and let it do its magic!

3. After the dough is bubbly and at least doubled in size preheat the over to 450ºF. Place your Dutch oven uncovered into the oven and let it preheat for 30 minutes.

4. While your Dutch oven heats remove your dough from the bowl and turn onto a well-floured surface.  With floured hands work dough into a ball and let it sit for 30 minutes covered with plastic wrap.

5. Carefully remove the Dutch oven and place the dough in the middle and place lid on top and put it back into the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Carefully the remove the lid and let the bread continue to bake for 10 minutes to get golden brown.