# data[].attributes.body
Check out this link for live video cooking lessons.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Schools have closed due to COVID-19. In the face of uncertainty, we want to assure you that Food Literacy Center is here to help. We are committed to serving our students and our community.

As a nonprofit focused on preventative health, we have skills and tools to share to help us get through this together. We're rolling up our sleeves to release resources for families to learn and cook together.

Please know that we are thinking of you and your family during this challenging time. Your health matters to us! All of these resources are free. We hope they offer some hope and joy to your home.
-Amber Stott, CEO & Chief Food Genius

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Schools have closed due to COVID-19. In the face of uncertainty, we want to assure you that Food Literacy Center is here to help. We are committed to serving our students and our community. As a nonprofit focused on preventative health, we have skills and tools to share to help us get through this together.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The smell of kindergarten bread baking in the oven is a welcome staple in Waldorf schools around the world. Apart from the wonderful aroma and homey feeling it instills in many of us, there are actually many pedagogical reasons behind why we make bread. Baking bread with children has the potential to weave together many of the important aspects of life, to strengthen their practical skills and abilities and harness their abundant energy. The whole culture of bread-making, its recipes, stories, songs and poems has the ability to educate children and support their healthy development.

We often espouse the importance of play in Early Childhood and our kindergartens allow for ample free and imaginative play, but work also plays an important role in the Waldorf preschool. Teachers intentionally work in the presence of the children and with their help. Important jobs like making soup, washing placemats and napkins, ironing and of course, baking bread have their designated day of the week. Children willingly participate in this work because they long to knead, chop and even clean up. Participating and imitating this work enables the children to learn to do their fair share and to help others.

Children can also experience an interconnected world when we encourage them to see and participate in a whole process from start to finish. When each step is visibly linked with the one that went before, a real understanding of connection arises. It is important for children to experience that bread is actually the result of someone's work, that it comes from stalks of wheat that are threshed from grain. In our kindergarten classroom, children will grind the wheat by hand using a hand grinder. They will then take the flour and help mix it with water and yeast to form the dough. Then, the fun of kneading can begin. Children will knead and shape and form the dough into rolls which are then baked in the oven. They smell it as it bakes. Snack is always preceded by the saying of grace so the mood brings an awareness and an appreciation of all that is given to us by the earth. The baked bread is then enjoyed with butter and honey- yum.

Bread baking is thus an important and valuable part of the Waldorf Early Child curriculum. The delicious smell and samples that sometimes make their way home are certainly an added bonus!
Recipe for Merrily We Meet Bread
Ingredients:

- 2 cups warm water

- 2 tablespoons yeast

- 1/4 cup of honey

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 1 tablespoon salt

- 3 to 4 cups whole-wheat flour

- 3 to 4 cups white flour

Grease baking sheets (a pizza stone also works well). Measure 1 1/2 cups water; add yeast and 1/2 of honey. Set aside till yeast has bubbled and foamed. In a separate bowl, mix 3 cups each of flour and salt. Pour in yeast mixture, oil and remaining water and honey. Add extra flour as necessary to nice consistency of dough - not too sticky, not too dry. Sprinkle a bit of flour on surface for kneading. Knead for 10 minutes. Form into a ball and place dough in lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm spot till doubled in size (about 1 hour). Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Punch down dough, knead again and form into balls or shape into one loaf. Bake - mini rolls in muffin tins ~12 min, rolls for ~20 min, loaf for ~45-55 min. If you place a bowl of water into the oven while the bread is baking, it gives the bread a nice crust.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why We Bake Bread - Suncoast Waldorf School

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The smell of kindergarten bread baking in the oven is a welcome staple in Waldorf schools around the world. Apart from the wonderful aroma and homey feeling it instills in many of us, there are actually many pedagogical... Read More

# data[].attributes.body
This lesson is by Fairfax parent and ESY Teacher Kori!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
LCS FFX Elementary Cooking Lesson GNOCCHI

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Everyone seems to have a favorite playdough recipe, and many old favorites have been included here. Some require cooking and some don't; some are meant to be eaten and some are not. Choose the recipe that best suits your needs and the ingredients you have on hand. Store playdough in a covered container or Ziploc bag. If it sweats a little, just add more flour. For sensory variety, use playdough warm or cool as well as at room temperature.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Make Playdough | Homemade Playdough Recipes - FamilyEducation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Everyone seems to have a favorite playdough recipe, and many old favorites have been included here. Some require cooking and some don't; some are meant to be eaten and some are not. Choose the recipe that best suits your needs and the ingredients you have on hand.

# data[].attributes.body
Recipes from LCS students.

# data[].attributes.body
Ms. Michelle's favorite kind of bread!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We independently select these products-if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Not all of us are so lucky to have a sourdough starter passed down to us from our bread-baking forefathers and foremothers. Thankfully, making a fresh batch of starter is as easy as stirring together some flour and water and letting it sit. That's right!

How to Make Sourdough Starter

No expensive heirloom starters, mashed-up grapes, or mysterious rituals required - just flour, water, and a little bit of patience. Here is how to make your own sourdough starter from scratch. Easy-peasy.

What Is Wild Yeast?

Before you get started, let's talk about wild yeast, which is the key to a sourdough starter.

Before we had active-dry yeast or instant yeast, we had wild yeast. Actually, we still have wild yeast. It lives everywhere - in the air, in a bag of flour, on the surface of grapes. Domesticated commercial yeast replaced wild yeast for most baking because it's easier for companies to mass produce, it's easier for bakers to store and use, and it proofs our breads and pastries in a fraction of the time.

By contrast, wild yeast can be fussy and finicky. It needs a medium, a sourdough starter, in order to be useful to bakers. This medium has to be constantly maintained and monitored. Wild yeast also likes cooler temperatures, acidic environments, and works much more slowly to proof breads.

So why bother? Because wild yeast is amazing stuff! The flavor and texture we can get from breads and other baked goods made with wild yeast are no contest to breads made with commercial yeast - the flavors are more complex and interesting, the texture is sturdier and more enjoyable to chew.

What Is a Sourdough Starter?

A sourdough starter is how we cultivate the wild yeast in a form that we can use for baking. Since wild yeast are present in all flour, the easiest way to make a starter is simply by combining flour and water and letting it sit for several days. You don't need any fancy ingredients to "capture" the wild yeast or get it going - it's already there in the flour. (Also, the yeast adapts to whatever environment it is in. So even if your cousin in San Francisco gives you some sourdough starter, it will eventually no longer be true San Francisco sourdough, but rather New York sourdough or Austin sourdough or London sourdough.)

After a day or two, bubbles will start to form in the starter, indicating that the wild yeast is starting to become active and multiply. To keep the yeast happy, we feed the starter with fresh flour and water over the next several days, until the starter is bubbly and billowy. Once it reaches that frothy, billowy stage, the starter is ready to be used.

Using Whole-Grain Flours to Make a Starter

This recipe uses regular, everyday all-purpose flour, but you can certainly make sourdough using whole-wheat, rye, or any other kind of flour. Wild yeast is everywhere, after all!

If this is your first time making sourdough, I'd recommend starting with all-purpose flour because it tends to behave the most predictably. If you're feeling ready to branch out, just start feeding the starter with whatever whole-grain flour you would like to use for baking. Personally, I keep a constant batch of all-purpose sourdough starter in my kitchen, and if I want to make a rye starter or a whole-wheat starter, I scoop 1/4 cup from my all-purpose starter and use that as the seed for a new starter with the whole-grain flour.

How to Use This Starter in Bread Recipes

This starter uses equal parts flour and water, a 1:1 ratio, which I find to be the most versatile for baking. To use this starter in any recipe, take a look at the ratio of flour and water the recipe is calling for in their starter. Next time you feed your starter, just feed it the ratio of water and flour called for in the recipe. If you want to stick more closely to the recipe's sourdough, just scoop out 1/4 cup of your starter and feed it with the ingredients called for in your recipe's starter.

Once you're done with your recipe, go back to feeding your starter equal parts flour and water.

How To Make Your Own Sourdough Starter

Instructions

Ready to make your first loaf? Start here!

Emma Christensen

Contributor

Emma is a former editor for The Kitchn and a graduate of the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts. She is the author of True Brews and Brew Better Beer. Check out her website for more cooking stories.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How To Make Sourdough Starter from Scratch

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We independently select these products-if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Not all of us are so lucky to have a sourdough starter passed down to us from our bread-baking forefathers and foremothers. Thankfully, making a fresh batch of starter is as easy as stirring together some flour and water and letting it sit.

# data[].attributes.body
Whole wheat flour makes your bread even more healthy!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Yield 1 loaf

Time 45 minutes, plus 5 hours' rising

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour

½ cup whole rye flour

½ cup coarse cornmeal

1 teaspoon instant yeast

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Oil as needed

Preparation

1. Combine flours, cornmeal, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest about 4 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Oil a standard loaf pan (8 or 9 inches by 4 inches; nonstick works well). Lightly oil your hands and shape dough into a rough rectangle. Put it in pan, pressing it out to the edges. Brush top with a little more oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 1 hour more.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake bread about 45 minutes, or until loaf reaches an internal temperature of 210 degrees. Remove bread from pan and cool on a rack.

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This recipe is a variation on the original no-knead bread, which Mark Bittman learned from the baker Jim Lahey It's an attempt to bake a loaf with a higher percentage of whole grain The results are wonderful: you can use 100 percent whole grains, you can vary their percentages all you want (though all-rye bread doesn't rise much at all) and you can add nongrain flours, sweeteners or dairy

# data[].attributes.body
"No-Knead" means you do not need to fold the bread dough over and over again.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add 2 cups water (it should be about 70°F) and stir until blended. You'll have a shaggy, sticky dough; add a little more water if it seems dry. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for about 18 hours at room temperature (a couple of hours less if your kitchen is warmer; a couple more if it's cool). The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.

2. Lightly flour a work surface, transfer the dough to it, and fold it once or twice; it will be soft but not terribly sticky once dusted with flour. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough additional flour to keep the dough from sticking, gently and quickly shape the dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton (not terry cloth) kitchen towel with cornmeal, semolina, or wheat bran (or use a silicone baking mat); put the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with more flour or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel (or plastic wrap) and let rise for about 2 hours. When it's ready, the dough will be more than doubled in size and won't spring back readily when poked with your finger.

4. At least a half hour before the dough is ready, heat the oven to 450°F. Put a 3- to 4-quart covered pot (with the cover)- it may be cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, or ceramic - in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. (Slide your hand under the towel and just turn the dough over into the pot; it's messy, and it probably won't fall in artfully, but it will straighten out as it bakes.) Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned; the bread's internal temperature should be 200°F or more. (If at any point the dough starts to smell scorched, lower the heat a bit.) Remove the bread with a spatula or tongs and cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Faster No-Knead Bread
Reduce the initial rise to 8 hours; skip the 15-minute resting period in Step 2 and then shape the dough in Step 3. Proceed immediately to Step 4.

Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread
Substitute whole wheat flour for up to 2 cups of the all-purpose flour.
Recipe from How to Bake Everything

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Makes 1 large loaf Time 24 hours, almost entirely unattended Since I first shared this innovation - the word "recipe" does not do the technique justice - in the New York Times in 2006, thousands of people have made it.

# data[].attributes.body
Ms Michelle baked her first loaf of bread during the closure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you're new to homemade bread, there is no easier recipe than this simple yeast bread. The recipe produces a soft crust and a moist center while using the most basic ingredients that can be found in most kitchens.

Beginners will find this to be the perfect introduction to baking great bread. You can use it to learn about the essential ingredients that go into bread, practice your kneading and other techniques, and discover the perfect baking time in your oven.

Start with one loaf to see how it turns out. If needed, you can make slight adjustments on a second loaf. Your family will not mind your trials, and you'll quickly find why baking your own bread is so much better than buying it at the store.

Experienced bakers will also find that this recipe is a perfect base for experimentation. If you're adventurous, feel free to alter and play with it to create your own flavored bread recipes.

3/4 cup warm water

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

1/2 cup milk

3 cups all-purpose flour (approximately)

Mixing the Bread Dough

Prepare and Bake the Bread Dough

1. Put the dough in a greased or buttered bowl, turn the dough over so that the top of dough is greased.

2. Cover and let rise for until doubled, about 30 minutes. If your kitchen is chilly or drafty, place the pan in the oven with the light on for this step or you may not get a proper rise.

3. Shape the dough. Score the risen dough by cutting three slashes across the top with a sharp knife.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you're new to homemade bread, there is no easier recipe than this simple yeast bread. The recipe produces a soft crust and a moist center while using the most basic ingredients that can be found in most kitchens. Beginners will find this to be the perfect introduction to baking great bread.

# data[].attributes.body
Careful, this drink stains plastic!

# data[].attributes.body
No more butter at the store? No problem!

# data[].attributes.body
Recipe is on the last page.

# data[].attributes.body
You can mix and match what you put inside the spring rolls.

# data[].attributes.body
Adding the persimmon is optional!

# data[].attributes.body
You can make your avocados ripen faster by putting them all together in a paper bag outside of the fridge.

# data[].attributes.body
Orange carrots are the sweetest, but colorful carrots make this recipe very beautiful.

# data[].attributes.body
Healthy, easy snack you can make quickly in the oven.

# data[].attributes.body
You can substitute the nasturtiums and sorrel for other leafy greens (spinach, basil, arugula, etc) or harvest some from your neighborhood,

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tips and advice on cooking with your kids.