Things You'll Need:
- 1 cup milk
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 2 tbsp. vegetable shortening
- 2 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- Dry yeast (one package)
- 6 1/4 cups white flour
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Two big mixing bowls
- One small bowl
- Two loaf pans or one cookie sheet
- 3 tbsp. vegetable shortening
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Step 1
Heat 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of water in a microwave oven for about a minute. Put the milk and water in a big bowl.
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Step 2
Help the child measure out 2 tbsp. of shortening. (Scoop the shortening into the spoon and then have the child press it down so it fills the spoon and level it off with his finger.) Add the shortening to the milk and water.
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Step 3
Help the child measure out 2 ½ tsp. salt---level off each spoonful---and then 2 tbsp. of sugar, and add them to the bowl.
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Step 4
Cut open the package of dry yeast. In a different, small bowl, combine the yeast with 1/4 cup warm water. Stir, and let the yeast stand for 5 minutes.
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Step 5
Help the child add the dissolved yeast and 3 cups of flour to the milk-water-and-sugar mixture. Mix this up well. It will be very wet and gloppy. When measuring the flour, help the child level off the flour with a finger or a butter knife.
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Step 6
Add 2 more cups of flour to the dough, and mix it some more. Take the 1/4 cup measuring cup, and let the child fill it with flour. Dump this on a tabletop, and then pour the dough out onto the tabletop. The dough will be very loose, almost like a cake batter.
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Step 1
Now you will knead the dough. Explain and show to the child that kneading means you push the dough away from you with the palms of your hands, and then you pull the far edge up and over toward you. This folds the dough. Turn the dough a little to the right, and repeat the pushing and folding action. Turn again, and repeat.
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Step 2
Knead the dough with the child a few minutes. Let it rest 10 minutes.
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Step 3
Fill the 1 cup measuring cup almost to the top with flour. This should be all the flour you will need for the rest of the recipe. Reach into the cup and get your hands floury as often as you need to (to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands), while you go on kneading the dough.
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Step 4
Knead for 10 more minutes, until the dough becomes smooth and loses its stickiness. You can drop extra flour on the dough, too, or on the table if you have to.
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Step 1
When you are done kneading, take another big mixing bowl. Rub some shortening all over the inside of the bowl. Put the dough into this, and turn it over a few times so that it picks up the grease from the sides of the bowl.
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Step 2
Cover the bowl with a clean towel, and let the dough rise about 2 hours.
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Step 3
Punch the dough down with your fist, and let the child punch it down also. This releases excess gas that the yeast has made. Divide the dough into two pieces and while you shape one into a loaf, let the child shape the other one into a loaf as well. You can either roll each piece into a ball and put it on a cookie sheet---also greased with shortening---or you can roll the dough into a sausage and lay it in a greased loaf pan.
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Step 4
Cover the loaves again, and let them rise about an hour. When the hour is almost up, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Step 5
Uncover the loaves and then put them in the oven. Bake them for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and continue baking for 30 minutes more. Remove your finished bread from the oven.
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Step 6
Cool the bread on wire racks.
