Kitchen table activity

"Table activities" is a phrase that Cap coined to describe structured parent-led/parent-designed "work" times.  Usually it's something that takes place at our big table in the front room and looks pretty school-y.

As I shift gears and refocus my lens on a more eclectic homeschooling approach (from a fairly straightforward unschooling one), I am using the foundational concept already in place, "table activities", but putting my own spin on it.

This afternoon the kids and I are making bread in the bread machine.  It has probably been about a year, maybe a little more since the machine has been used.  I recently saw a picture of GFCF sandwich bread over at M.A.G. and thought, "what a magnificent loaf!"  Inspired, I've gathered the necessary ingredients and this afternoon declared we were having a "kitchen table activity".

GF flours go bad quicker than wheat flour.  Storing them in the fridge goes a long way towards keeping them fresh longer.  However, this also means that they need to be brought back to room temp before being used for baking.

So, the kids and I pulled out the flours and mixed up a batch of bean flour blend.  We also got the other ingredients out (it's good to get eggs to room temp before using them in baking, too) and ground up some flax seeds in the mini-processor to make flaxmeal.  Now we're waiting for a bit before putting everything in the bread machine.

We'll let you know how our loaf turns out!  A delicious homemade bread, would be a terrific cost-saving measure as we look towards a year of really tightening our belts.