Slave Bread

Today my slaves... er... I mean my children decided they wanted to do some cooking, so instead of the usual fairy cakes I thought bread would be a whole lot more useful, and considerably more interactive!

The recipe we used was from 'The Ultimate Cooking Book by Jane Bull (pub DK), so is very simple to use but with little fuss could be jazzed up with herbs or olives or sun dried tomatoes. This is a fab childrens cookery book, and as my daughter is now 8, she can do everything in here with very little help (interference) from an adult.

750g 1 1/2 lb strong white bread flour

450ml 3/4 pint warm water

1 tspn salt

2 tblspn oil

7g (1 sachet) easy blend yeast

1 egg (optional) to glaze.

makes 8 large or 10 smaller rolls.

1. Put all the ingredients except the egg in a large bowl and mix them together.

2. Sprinkle the worktop with flour and take the mixture out of the bowl.

3. To knead, press your fist hard into the dough, then turn it and do it again.

4. Knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be stretchy, not sticky.

5. Divide the dough into smaller pieces or pull off chunks to plat with.

6. Choose a design, try making faces!

7. Set the oven to 220 degrees C/ Gas Mark 7

8. Place rolls on a greased baking tray making sure you place the shapes as far away from each other as possible.

9. Cover the tray loosely with clingfilm and leave it in a warm place. Leave it until it's double it's size, approx 30 minutes.

10. Brush the bread with beaten egg and decorate with nuts, seeds and dried fruit if desired.

11. Bake for 10-20 mins. The smaller shapes will cook quicker, so take them out sooner.

The kids had so much fun making these, the squidgy dough making part was great, and then their artistic side was won over by fashioning bread rolls into all sorts of shapes. We had hedgehogs, ladybirds and even a cat! Funny faces and wiggly worms too! And I have to say, it was so tasty, I might have to force them to make some more!