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Easy Bread Dough Recipe to Cook with Kids

One of our favourite recipes to cook with kids is bread. A simple tradition we have is to bake a loaf of bread at home once a week with the kids. This easy bread recipe is ideal as you can use it for a 2lb loaf or you can make it into some extra cute little hedgehog rolls. The kneading, watching it rise and then enjoying the flavor filled finished loaf is fantastic for the kids and it does taste extra nice as well.

When I set about making bread with the kids we tried a few different recipes. But we settled on this one as it’s easy to remember and they can do a lot of it themselves.

simple bread dough recipe to cook at home

Ingredients for Easy Homemade Bread Recipe

3 cups strong bread flour – you can use all purpose flour but add an extra teaspoon of yeast
pinch of salt
1 packet of active dry yeast or 7g of easy-bake yeast
2 tablespoons of vegetable or sunflower oil (you can replace this with butter if you wish)
1 cup of warm water
1 tablespoon of sugar


Cerys from Rainy Day Mum cooking with her young son J at the dinning room table. They have a bowl infront of them and J is leaning over the bowl looking at the ingredients that Cerys is mixing. Both are wearing kitchen aprons and there is a rolling pin on the table.

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Making bread with kids

Although I normally cook with the kids on the kitchen counter with them standing on a footstool – because of kneading the bread I have found that the kids find it easier to make bread at the table where they can knead the dough easier.

1. First off add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix well.

2. Make a well in the middle and add in the oil and the warm water (it should be hand hot and no more).

preschooler making bread at the kitchen table pouring water into a bowl full of flour

3. Stir the mix until it comes together and then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead.

child kneading bread with sticky fingers

4. A tip that I learnt from watching The Great British Bake Off – lightly oil your hands and the dough won’t attach as easily.

child kneading bread dough on a pink mat

5. It takes about 5 – 10 minutes to knead the dough into a nice smooth dough, and I often find myself taking a turn with the kids as well.

6. Once the dough is kneaded and smooth make into shapes that you want and then put it in a warm place (room temperature in spring and summer is fine) to let the dough rise and to double in size (the proofing process) covered with plastic wrap or towel – this takes around an hour.

bread dough proofed in a loaf pan

7. Decorate if you wish

8. Preheat the oven to 180C (my setting for my fan assisted oven)

9. Add to a greased loaf pan or onto a baking tray

10. Then bake for 15 – 20 minutes for rolls, 20 – 30 minutes for loaves. They should have a golden brown crust and when turned over the bread when tapped should be hollow sounding.

11. Leave on a wire rack to cool if you can before you slice for your lunch.

Printable Recipe Card and Booklet for this Simple Bread Recipe

bread dough rising with a recipe card for kids to use beside it on a marble counter top

We now have the Easy Bread Dough Recipe as a visual recipe card in our store. For you as a parent the easy recipes here on Rainy Day Mum are set up as printed sheets like the image above.

For your older kids we have created a recipe booklet that contains the recipe so that they can flip through and follow as they cook.

flip through recipe booklet for easy bread dough from rainy day mum next to a loaf tin with bread dough ready to rise.

The recipe card can be purchased by clicking on the button below.

easy bread loaf recipe to cook with kids at home

Easy Bread Dough – Cooking with Kids

Cerys Parker
Very simple and easy recipe for baking bread with kids or yourself. Relatively quick and works fantastically for bread, rolls and snacks. Perfect for some cooking in the home or classroom.
4.10 from 11 votes

Recipe Video

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes
Course bread
Servings 1 1/2lb loaf or 4 small rolls
Calories 1651 kcal

Equipment

  • Bowl
  • spoon
  • Loaf Tin

Ingredients
 
 

  • 500 g strong bread flour
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 packet quick action yeast
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower oil vegetable oil will work as well
  • 240 ml warm water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions
 

  • Put the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.
  • Make a well in the centre of the bowl
  • Add in the vegetable oil and the warm water
  • Mix with a spoon until a dough is formed
  • Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface
  • Knead for 5 – 10 minutes until smooth
  • Make into shapes or put in a loaf tin
  • Leave in a warm place for around an hour until doubled in size
  • Decorate if you wish
  • Preheat the oven to 180C
  • Cook 15 – 20 minutes for shaped rolls or 20 – 30 minutes for loaves
  • Test to see if cooked by tapping the bottom with your knuckle – hollow sound = cooked
  • Leave to cool and enjoy.

Nutrition

Calories: 1651kcalCarbohydrates: 284gProtein: 45gFat: 34gSaturated Fat: 4gSodium: 21mgPotassium: 375mgFiber: 9gSugar: 13gCalcium: 56mgIron: 3mg
Keyword Bread Recipes, Cooking with Kids, easy recipes
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easy bread dough recipe to cook with kids

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bread-board

Why not bake this bread and then serve on this handmade Breaking Breadboard from Etsy. It’s made in the UK and ships World Wide.

This is by far the best cooking with kids set I have found that includes everything that you need to start cooking and baking. The apron is ideal to grow with your child and the knives included will cut through fruit and vegetables but not skin so they are great for learning to use a knife safely.

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Author
Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

12 Comments

  1. The only thing I found with this recipe is no oven temp was given..

  2. At what oven temperature did you bake this at?

  3. I had some dough rising and checked my email — to find this post! Some of the buns are now hedgehogs. 🙂 Adorable!
    ~Lee

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