"The importance of this bread is both physical and psychological."
- S.Montanaro. Understanding the Human Being.
Physical as the child experiences food in it's solid state and psychological as it is often the first food the child feeds to himself.
He hasn't actually eaten any yet. He is still working on getting it to his mouth. It won't be long - such great practice.
Bread is also nice to hold and pull apart.
Caspar demonstrated to Otis how to eat the bread. After watching Caspar's exaggerated eating movements, Otis starts moving his tongue around his mouth.
And bread makes the most wonderful crumbs.
This is the recipe we use the most when making bread by hand. We frequently change the quantities. Today Caspar measured out the flour and he isn't so accurate and I wasn't watching. We just even out the texture with a little more water until it feels right.
1.5 cups of warm water, 1.5 tablespoons yeast, 0.25 cup honey, 0.25 cup oil (we use olive oil), 1.5 teaspoon salt, 4-5 cups of flour
Dissolve yeast and honey in warm water, add oil and salt and mix, add flour, knead for approximately five minutes, let dough rise for 20-30 minutes in warm spot until double in size, knead briefly and divide if making bread rolls, bake at 180oC for around 30 minutes or until brown.
I sourced this recipe many years ago and have over time adjusted it slightly. It's not perfect bread but it's easy and edible.
Many Montessori texts recommend dipping the bread in olive oil. We don't usually do this ourselves so we leave the bread plain for Otis. Soon we will add some spread or dip. Perhaps hummus?
