“Blow wind blow and go mill go.

That the miller may grind the spelt.

Baker may take it and into bread make it

And bring us a loaf in the morning

Bring us a loaf in the morn.”

Hello everyone,

This Quill we continue our series exploring the daily rhythms of karri kindergarten, and today come to Wednesday....known as bread day. Yes, it’s the well-loved day when visitors exclaim “What a wonderful smell” as they enter the kindergarten any time after mid-morning! Our sourdough made the previous day has risen overnight and is ready to be made into rolls for morning tea. We all sit around the table and the teacher and assistant knead the dough whilst singing the above song.

Sometimes we sing this one too;

“Five currant buns in the bakers shop. Round and fat with sugar on the top. Along came a child with some money one day. Bought a currant bun and took it right away. Four currant buns......etc”

The dough is divided into enough portions for each child to shape two small buns, which they decorate with sultanas. Sometimes we make extras to share at lunch time, too.
We use spelt flour to make our bread which we are very lucky to obtain from one of our kindergarten families, who mill the grain on their farm. They have also provided us with some spelt grain which we mill at kindergarten with our German-made hand mill. In this way the children are able to develop an understanding of the process of creating flour for our bread.

A few years ago with encouragement and advice from Kristy we switched from using commercial yeast to sourdough, a fairly simple process and we’ve had very good results. It has meant the process of bread making take a little longer, but the resulting bread is more nutritious and easily digested, and the children seem to enjoy the sour dough taste.
The sourdough starter is simply made by mixing flour and water and adding to it each day for about four days. It is then kept in the fridge and refreshed each week.
To a cup of the starter I add two cups of lukewarm water and two cups of flour. This is mixed together in the morning and allowed to sit at room temperature. By the afternoon it has started bubbling and we add more flour, salt and a bit of olive oil and mix to make a dough. This is then covered and allowed to sit overnight. The next morning it is warmed over hot water and kneaded to make a pliable dough.

Once ready we allow the buns to rise for a bit longer before placing them into the oven to cook. Then we have to wait until morning tea to eat our delicious creations, which are shared around, we may get our own, or one a friend has made for us...its a lucky dip!!

With warm wishes,

Denise