Pay it Forward

My nephew Jack came over yesterday to do some baking as part of a school/community project. King Arthur Flour has been to his school, handing out supplies and demonstrating techniques in exchange for a loaf of baked bread to donate to the Salvation Army. The program is called 'Pay it Forward' and every child is given 2 kinds of flour, yeast, a recipe book, a dough scraper, and bags to package 2 loaves of bread  - one to keep for their family, and one to bring to school on Monday. Clearly, whoever came to demonstrate was a real pro, because Jack could do every trick he was shown - pretty cute...

flipping over flour onto the dough scraper...

kneading with his little ham hands. You can't tell from these photos, but he's kind of a badass, especially on the football field. The dough knew who was boss...

in fact, it was kind of a learning experience for me, as I don't bake loaf bread very regularly (flatbreads, yes.) We recently found a bread machine in storage, and have been making bricks ever since. But, this was inspiring, and I think I might just give it a try. It smelled and tasted great!

and just one more photo that I snuck of the girls sleeping with their heat lamp last night. Not much different from the red light all of the rotisserie chickens are lined up under at the supermarket. Luckily, they've never been to the supermarket!