I find that if I get too engrossed in a project, I tend to let "benign neglect" turn into "ignoring" when it comes to the kids. As a (potential) homeschooler, I think my biggest issue/fear will be wondering if I'm a big fraud, which basically boils down to feeling like I'm not doing enough. In my heart, I know I'm doing just fine, but this is just that basic fear in the back of my mind.
Anyway, today I was working/struggling/fighting with a baby blanket for Kellen. It was a total failure. Something about mixing fleece, knit ribbing, and a satin blanket border was sending me into a tizzy. :) As I ripped out more of the tiny zig-zags so I could throw the satin border away, I realized that it might be a good time to take a break and do some baking with the girls.
My sister is a preschool teacher, so whenever I see her I ask for activities and book recommendations. We were fortunate to get to see her and her family over Easter and she passed along a recipe for soft german pretzels. I'm not a big white flour carb eater,but I do like to bake and the kids enjoy it too. In this very easy recipe, I decided to use 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour and 2 cups of white flour(instead of 4 cups of white). The kids had a good time helping with the measuring and mixing. The especially enjoyed using their hands to roll out their snakes and make different shapes for the pretzels.
We made our initials and some knots. We also had a little math lesson. I'm totally the mom that asks leading questions. The girlsasked if we could have cinnamon and sugar on some of the pretzels. After agreeing, I asked how many we should do. Revie, my 4 year old, said 3 regular and 3 cinnamon sugar. I asked if that would cover all of them andafter fumbling around a bit she looked stumped. So we scooted and sorted intopiles for each topping.It was cool to see the recognition that we'd have 2 pretzels left over (since we had 8 total). Baking really makes math a hell of a lot more fun, especially fractions.That's way over my girls' heads, but we talk about it when we measure and when we cut things up. Just saying words like halves, fourths, eighths, and percents is a great introduction to math. And when they get to eat the lesson, they enjoy it!
Overall, pretzels were super easy and the girls had a great time. Were they as good as Auntie Anne's? No, my recipe doesn't include the 1/2 pound of butter. But the girls had fun and they were tasty enough for me to eat, so that is a win. Kellen enjoyed the pretzels too.
According to the Auntie Anne's website:
The largest pretzel ever baked weighed 431 pounds and was 12 feet across, created by Auntie Anne's franchisees from Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Here's the recipe if you're interested. I'd love to give someone other than my sister credit, but I don't have any clue where this recipe originated.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 envelope (2 1/4 t) active dry yeast
4 cups of flour
1 T honey
1t salt
1 egg
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Mix warm water, yeast and honey. Set aside for five minutes.
3. Mix salt and flour in a separate bowl. Add yeast mixture to flour misture and stir together.
4. Beat the egg and set aside.
5. Take a handful of dough and roll it into desired shape. (The more the dough is handled, the fatter the pretzels will be.)
6. Brush pretzels with beaten egg. (This makes them shiny.) Then sprinkle with salt.
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