Teaching Kids to Use the Bread Maker

One of the easiest ways to get your kids involved in cooking is teaching kids to use the bread maker. Young hands rarely have the stamina and power to properly knead a good loaf, and the process can take such a long time that they may have lost interest by the time it comes round to baking the bread. A bread maker shortens the process considerably, and is fairly easy to use. Each bread maker will operate differently, so it's more important to think about the process of teaching your child how to use it.

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Bread Making Process

As with any machine, you will need to allow plenty of time when you're teaching kids to use the bread maker. Even the simplest bread machine comes with a wide variety of options and settings so you should get your child to follow this learning process:

• Watch
• Advise
• Supervision
• Independence

These stages will allow your child to get a feel for the whole process and leave them with the skills to make fresh and tasty loaves for the rest of the family.

Learning by Example

The first part of teaching kids to use the bread maker is to get them to watch you in action. This is important as they are expensive pieces of equipment, and letting your child loose on the controls may end up damaging the machine. Go through the steps for making your child's favorite loaf, explaining what you're doing at each stage, and ask them questions to make sure they understand why you're doing what you're doing.

Learning with Help

The next stage of teaching kids to use the bread machine is to perform the actions again, but this time, have your child to tell you what to do. At this point, you are allowed to step in if they've missed a step or are asking you to do things in the wrong order. If this does happen, get them to think back to the watching you stage and the reasons behind the sequence of actions

Supervision

Now that your child has seen the process, and has got it down in their head, it's time to let them to try out for themselves. At this stage, you should be in the kitchen with them, but only step in if they are about to do something dangerous. You may end up with several ruined loaves, but they will learn directly why each step of bread making is necessary, and with your guidance, will correct the error for the next loaf.

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Make teaching easier with our activities and recipes compiled in one easy to read format.

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Independence

When you feel that your child has made several successful loaves, it's time to trust them with the machine. Give them a set of food challenges, such as making enough bread for the family for a week, or making different fruit loaves for an afternoon party as ways of increasing their confidence and expanding their repertoire. Make sure that you get them to taste a bit of each loaf so that they learn to quality control themselves, and ask them for their honest feedback.

Teaching kids to use the bread maker can be a big step in turning your child into a chef, as the results are very impressive for a relatively small amount of effort. The most important things will be to make sure that you know how to operate the machine fully, and that you have the time and the patience to teach. The supervision stage may take a long time, depending on the learning style of your child, so be ready to go through a lot of flour, yeast and time to help give them the confidence to get it right.

Your bread machine manual will come with bread recipes that will be an excellent start to this process however you can also buy bread machine cookbooks.

Buying a Bread Maker

Bread machines come in two sizes a small machine that makes 1 pound loaves or you can buy a larger machine that can make 1, 1 1/2 and 2 pound loaves.



Cuisinart 2 pound machine



1 pound loaf machine

I think it is important for kids to learn how to make bread from scratch too so you can move on to this kids cooking lesson once they've mastered machine baking.


Try these Food Trivia Worksheets

10 Recipes You Can Make With a Bread Maker

Cinnamon Rolls using the Bread Machine

A simple and easy recipe to try with your kids this weekend.

• 1/4 cup water warm
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 cup milk warm
• 1 egg room temperature
• 1/2 cup or 3 1/2 oz. instant vanilla pudding
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Add ingredients in the order listed to your bread machine. Turn the bread machine to the dough method. When it is done, take out and roll into a rectangle with a rolling pin.
With pastry brush, brush melted butter on top of the dough. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins. Roll up jelly roll style, slice and put in a 13x9 casserole dish. Let rise for 30 minutes-1 hour and bake or put in refrigerator overnight. In the morning bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Drizzle with cream cheese frosting.
 

Pizza Dough

When making bread, the bread machine takes all of the ingredients combines them and mixes and kneads them to the perfect consistency. So why not allow your machine to do all of your work for your pizza dough. Bread makers usually have a setting for this and the dough will be mixed and kneaded until it is perfect every time. Try a homemade pizza dough recipe here.

Bread Maker Bagels

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 Cups of water
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 Cups of bread flour
• 1 3/4 tsp yeast
• 1 Tablespoon sugar

Directions
Place all the ingredients except the sugar into the baking pan. Place the baking into the bread machine and select the dough cycle. When the kneading is completely stop the bread machine. Remove the down to a lightly floured surface, cover with a bowl and let stand for 10 minutes. Shape the dough into a cylinder 12 inches long. Cut the cylinder into 9 pieces then push your thumbs through the middle of each piece for form a bagel. Spray a baking sheet lightly with a non stick cooking spray.

Place the bagel pieces onto the prepared baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft free area for 20 minutes or until doubled in size. Bring a pot of water to a full boil. Sprinkle the sugar into the water then submerges one bagel at a time, upside down with a slotted spoon for 20 seconds or until slightly inflated. Remove the bagels and place back on the baking sheet. (This is when you'd add toppings, see note below.) Bake the bagels for 15 minutes or until nicely browned and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom. Makes 9 bagels

Add Toppings to your Homemade Bagels

If you'd like to add toppings to your bagel, do this after you boil them. Add toppings in a bowl or flat plate and dip your boiled bagel into the topping. Then bake. Toppings could include:

• Sesame seeds
• Poppy seeds
• Dried chopped onions
• Garlic salt
• Kosher salt
• Or add in chopped raisins or fruit before rolling into shape

What Else to Make in your Bread Machine

• Homemade Bread


• Specialty Breads - like this Italian Herb Bread or Sunflower Seed Bread


• Jams- you can even make jam with your bread maker. With the heating and mixing that bread makers do, it is a perfect environment for making jams, jellies, preserves, conserves and marmalade. Just prep your favorite fruit, toss it all in with the needed ingredients and by the time you get home, your fruit will be properly mushed.


• Pasta Dough- create the perfect pasta dough, ready to roll, cut and cook.


• Cakes- mix and cook cakes, yes in a bread maker.


• Bread Pudding-This can be done one of two ways, either with the bread being made first by the machine, then being turned into pudding, or using already cooked bread you recently made and adding it back into the machine.


• King Cake- A traditional Mardi Gras favorite in the South, king cake is a mix between a bread and a cake, both of which your bread machine should be able to achieve. Why not have the best of both worlds? Just don’t forget to decorate it. Learn more about Mardi Gras King Cake.

More Baking Activities

Easy Bread Recipes

Easy Baking Recipes

Working with Dough Theme Kids Cooking Camp

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~Appliances, ~Air Fryer, ~Blender, ~ Bread Maker, ~ Crock Pot, ~Instant Pot, ~Microwave, ~Toaster Oven ~Waffle Iron

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