"Mom, I'm Bored!"

What do you do on a rainy day when your 9 year-old comes to you and says, "I'm Bored!" You suggest she could clean her room. No takers there. "How about playing Barbies or organizing your American Girl Doll stuff." A simple negative nod of the head. "How about playing a good old-fashioned board game? You know the ancient ones that you actually have to roll the dice and move the men, like Life, Sorry or Monopoly?" About now, I'm getting the look like I have three heads all of a sudden. Hmmm. I'm almost out of ideas until I look out the window to see big drops continue to fall from the very gray sky outside. The nester in me knows that there is nothing better than the smell of fresh-baked bread on a gray, cozy, we-might-as-well-stay-inside day.

"Hey. I know. How about learning how to make bread with me?" I reluctantly suggest.

"Sure!" The cute, little nine-year old girl, replies.

So we both don our favorite aprons and get to work. Come along. We'll show you how it's done.

The recipe for Fool-Proof Homemade

Whole Wheat Bread

This is for real, folks.
We're actually going to pretend we're 21st century
pioneers and grind our own wheat!

Lucky for us, we have just the wheat we need.
Soft, white winter wheat.

Start by slowly putting 10 cups of your
wheat in your wheat grinder.
It takes a few minutes. It's loud.
It sounds like an airplane taking off.

A few minutes later,
you've just made your very own
healthy, fresh, whole-wheat flour.

Here' the staring ingredients.
Flour, salt, yeast, oil, honey, dough enhancer and water.
That's all folks!

First, pour 6 cups of warm water into your mixing bowl.
We're using my prized Bosch mixer.
I think this thing could actually mix cement.

Then add a few cups of flour and.......

mix for a few seconds.

Then add 1 1/2 t. salt.

Add 2 T. dough enhancer.

(Don't ask me what it does. It just does it.)

Add 1/2 c. oil.

Any kind will do.

Add 1/2 c. honey.

(Here's a tip: By adding your oil first, your honey

won't stick to the same measuring cup.)

And finally, add 3 heaping T. of yeast.

Yes, I said, heaping.

Add a few cups of flour a little at a time,

until the flour that was previously ground is gone.

When all the flour is finally in, let the dough mix

for 10 minutes.

10 minutes is up.

You should have a beautiful dough that is

beginning to clear the sides of the bowl.

With flour, less is more.

You know what I mean.

Oil your countertop with a little bit of oil.

Pour out all of your beautiful dough.

Dough. It's a miracle in the making.

Our dough will make 6 perfect loaves.

But today, since we're tricky, we're going to make

four regular loaves and two special loaves.

One cinnamon loaf and one loaf with cinnamon AND raisins.
My Handsome Husband LOVES Cinnamon Raisin Bread!

Aren't they lovely?

Ready to rise.

Place your ready loves in an oven that has been

preheated to 170 degrees and then turned off.

They should rise beautifully and double in about 30 minutes.

About 30 minutes later, they've doubled in size.

Simply turn your oven on to 350 degrees and press Start.

About 30 minutes later, the smell of heaven

starts to permeate the house.

You know your loaves are perfect when their

internal temperature reaches 190 degrees.

Oh man does it smell good in here!!

Six perfect loaves.

Bread. The staff of life.

Great job, Kellie!

You did it!

It's finally time.
Let's test them out.

And the verdict is?

YUMMY!!!

So, the next time your 9 year-old girl says, "I'm bored!" You'll know exactly what to do!!