Baking bread in your kitchen at home is always magical. It permeates the whole house with wonderful aromas that will surely make each member of the family hungry with every whiff. Having the children involved in the bread making will not only teach them a basic cooking skill, but it will also subtly guide them into the nuances of chemistry and math.
To get your children excited about baking bread, why don’t you try baking some Rainbow Swirl Bread together? If you have a bread maker machine, try out this magical and easy Rainbow Swirl Bread recipe with your children.
Fun Rainbow Swirl Bread Recipe
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cooking Time: 1 hr 30 min
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 egg, beaten
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Preparation
- In a small pan, warm up the fresh milk, condensed milk, and butter together. Make sure not to scorch the milk.
- Remove the bread maker pan from the machine. Pour the warmed milk mixture into the bread maker pan. Then add the beaten egg, sugar, salt, and the all-purpose flour, in this order. Poke a hole in the center of the mixture and pour in the yeast.
- Put the bread maker pan back inside the machine. Lock it in place. Close the lid of the machine and select the corresponding buttons on the panel to start making the bread.
- Open the lid after a few minutes to check if the ingredients are properly mixing. Wait for a couple of minutes more and open the lid again to check on the consistency of the dough during the kneading process. Check that the dough is springy and not sticky nor dry. Close the lid and wait until the machine rings to signal the end of first proofing.
- Remove the bread maker pan and transfer the dough onto your work table. Flatten the dough out. Divide the dough into the desired number of colors. Be creative with your color palette. It can range from just a simple 2-color combination or the full eight colors of the rainbow.
- Mix in the different colors per dough ball. Flatten out each dough ball to the estimated rectangular size of the bread maker pan. Layer colored dough on top of each other. Then roll in the stacked dough, starting from the short side. Pinch sides to seal. Transfer the rolled dough back to the bread maker pan and lock the pan back into the machine. Close the lid.
- Proof to rise for another 30 minutes. Turn on the machine to finish baking the bread. When done, transfer the rainbow bread from the pan to a cooling rack.
Recipe Tags
The Rainbow Swirl Bread is a fun bread to make. You can unleash your creativity with the colors you choose. You can choose to go with the all the colors of the rainbow or just limit it to two or three of your children’s favorite colors.
You can also opt to play with patterns for the rainbow swirl. When the bread has cooled, slice it up for the big reveal. You might end up with a swirly polka dot or a staid checkerboard design.
If you don’t want a sweet swirl bread like the recipe above, you can always work with a basic white bread recipe. Remember to divide the basic dough into smaller balls so that you can knead in your chosen colors.
If by chance, you are a beginner baker, challenge yourself and start to learn how to make homemade bread. When you have baked your first loaf, you will find it easier to forego buying anything from the bread aisle since you can simply make your own bread.
Making some Rainbow Swirl Bread will surely add a festive touch to your children’s sandwiches when they eat it for lunch at school or during snack time with friends. Try baking one either through the traditional way of proofing and kneading or through the quick and easy bread machines now available. Whatever you decide, you and your children can sing together: “red and yellow and green and pink, purple and orange and blue, we can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow true…” every time you bite into the delicious Rainbow Swirl Bread you baked together.
This recipe originally appeared on the Village Bakery website at https://www.village-bakery.com/teach-kids-bake-using-fun-rainbow-swirl-bread-recipe/
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